North Macedonia has declared a state of emergency for 30 days in response to the wildfires that have been raging through the country for the last four days. That means the government in Skopje can centralize all resources and forces and take complete command of the situation from local communities. The scorching heat and strong winds have already resulted in huge damage.

More than 18 wildfires are currently burning and the situation is critical in many parts of North Macedonia, especially in the eastern region bordering Bulgaria, where evacuations began on Thursday. Firefighters, police officers and the army have been joined in the fight to stop the spread of the fire by many volunteers who are often armed with just shovels and rakes.

Although it's still too early to assess the loss caused by the wildfires, initial estimates suggest it will exceed the losses of the past five years combined. The damage to nature and wildlife cannot be measured. Thousands of hectares of woods have already been destroyed and experts say it will take decades — if not centuries — to recover.

Experts agree that although climate change is responsible for the extreme weather that caused the latest disaster, human factors are also in play. At least three people suspected of arson were arrested in recent days. The authorities have said human error and carelessness are other possible causes. The opposition has blamed the government for acting too late and too slowly.

Critics have said authorities were unprepared for a disaster of such proportions. Firefighting trucks, like the ones pictured above, have been in service on average for more than 28 years. Most are literally from the previous century, with the majority being donations dating from the days of the former Yugoslavia. North Macedonia has three firefighting planes, but none are operational.

Firefighters in North Macedonia are fighting an around-the-clock battle to stop the flames from spreading into populated areas. Here, a group of firefighters takes a nap near the road between Berovo and Delcevo after a 14-hour shift. Over the past week, temperatures in the area have rarely dipped below 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) during the day.

German forests are dying in part due to drier and hotter summers, and heat-loving bark beetle plagues that have destroyed ubiquitous spruce trees. More trees died in Germany in 2020 than in any other previous year, including beech trees planted widely in the past decade for their climate resilience. This week's national forest summit titled "Waldsterben 2.0" (Forest Dieback) asks what can be done.

While the climate crisis and rampant bark beetles are a major cause for concern, the forest summit aims to rethink and realign the way forests are managed. One example is the widespread planting of fast-growing spruce conifer trees after World War II in areas where they are not native. Making up 25% of German forests today, spruce is an Alpine tree that requires wet and cold conditions.

"It is the artificial forest that is dying," said German forester and author, Peter Wohlleben. "It's not a natural forest, it's not a primeval forest," he told DW. "In the next 10 years or so, we could see 50% or more of the forest dying because of bad management." Spruce forests only retain around 5% of rainwater due to soil compacting during harvesting. Dry summers compound their plight.

"To fight climate change, it would be best to leave the forests alone," said Wohlleben, the author of the bestseller "The Hidden Life of Trees." "Ecosystems when left on their own are much more resilient." He said monoculture forests must once again be populated by diverse native species. Wohlleben is the founder of the Forest Academy in western Germany, which is hosting the crunch forest summit.

Trees are community-minded — they learn from each other, especially in times of drought, said Wohlleben. When one tree recognizes that water is running out, they then pass on the information to other trees and collectively reduce water consumption. "The more we disturb this social network, the weaker the forest gets," the author told DW.

"Biodiversity protection must be the basis for whatever we do," said Judith Reise, a researcher at Germany's Öko-Institut, about the strategies driving this week's forest summit. Diverse and climate-resilient forest ecosystems need time, becoming carbon neutral after 400 years, she said. But so far only 2.8% of German forests are protected for biodiversity, well short of a 2020 target of 5%.

The oldest existing stand of undisturbed forest on the German island of Vilm is only around 300 years old, explained Reise. "We don't have wilderness in Germany," she said. Forests have been overmanaged for timber extraction, but also due to a cultural belief that forests are also for recreation, and that unsightly dead and fallen wood — that is essential to biodiversity — must be cleared.

But the forest summit on August 5 and 6 will also consider the need to promote the sustainable harvesting of timber to fight climate change, especially by replacing high carbon-emitting building materials such as steel and concrete. "This could be a very powerful solution," said Christopher Reyer, a researcher at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and forest summit participant.

A wildfire that burned through at least 7,780 hectares (30 square miles) in about a week and devastated forests in southern Spain was brought under control thanks to steady rains. The downpour helped the firefighters, who were backed by some 50 aircrafts. The blaze was one of the most difficult to combat in recent times in Spain. Some 2,600 people were forced to flee their homes.

Unprecedented flooding — caused by two months' worth of rainfall in two days — has resulted in devastating damage in central Europe, leaving at least 226 people dead in Germany and Belgium. Narrow valley streams swelled into raging floods in the space of hours, wiping out centuries-old communities. Rebuilding the ruined homes, businesses and infrastructure is expected to cost billions of euros.

While half of Europe is drowning, elsewhere areas are going up in flames: Large fires raged, particularly in Greece, Italy and Turkey. They have caused unforeseeable monetary damage, while thousands of people in Europe have lost their homes and their belongings.

In addition to deadly wildfires, Italy also battled record heat temperatures, with the Italian Health Ministry issuing the maximum possible heat warning level for many cities. On the island of Sicily, 48.8 degrees Celsius (almost 120 degrees Fahrenheit) was measured on August 11 — a new European heat record. The heat could make existing fires worse, or lead to new ones.

Meanwhile, the Dixie Fire continues smoldering in California. It's California's largest fire on record, and among the most destructive in the state's history — it wiped the town of Greenville off the map. Although it's about 60% contained, the fire continues to burn two months in. Meanwhile, hot and dry conditions continue in the region, spreading fears of more fire.

Earlier this summer, record floods also hit parts of India and central China, overwhelming dams and drains and flooding streets. The downpours have been particularly heavy, even for the rainy season. Scientists have predicted that climate change will lead to more frequent and intense rainfall — warmer air holds more water, creating more rain.

As nations flood in northern Europe, Mediterranean countries like Greece were in the grip of several heat waves. In the first week of July, temperatures soared to 43 degrees Celsius (109 Fahrenheit). Tourism hot spots like the Acropolis were forced to shut during the day, while the extreme heat also sparked forest fires outside Thessaloniki, which helicopters tried to douse.

"It is an unprecedented reality in Sardinia’s history," said Sardinia's Governor Christian Salinas of the ongoing wildfires that have scorched the historic central western area of Montiferru. "So far, 20,000 hectares of forest that represent centuries of environmental history of our island have gone up in ashes." Around 1,500 people were evacuated from the island by the end of July.

Intense heat is becoming more common, as seen in late June in the US states of Washington and Oregon and the Canadian province of British Columbia. Scorching temperatures under a "heat dome," hot air trapped for days by high pressure fronts, caused hundreds of heat-related deaths. The village of Lytton recorded a high of 49.6 Celsius (121 Fahrenheit) — and burned to the ground the next day.

Heat and drought are fueling one of the most intense wildfire seasons in the West Coast and Pacific Northwest regions. Oregon's Bootleg Fire, which burned an area the size of Los Angeles in just two weeks, was so big it created its own weather and sent smoke all the way to New York City. A recent study said the weather conditions would have been "virtually impossible" without climate change.

To the south, central Brazil is suffering its worst drought 100 years, increasing the risk of fires and further deforestation in the Amazon rainforest. Researchers recently reported that a large swath of the southeastern Amazon has flipped from absorbing to emitting planet-warming CO2 emissions, pushing the rainforest closer to a "tipping point."

After years of unrelenting drought, more than 1.14 million people in Madagascar are food-insecure, with some now forced to eat raw cactus, wild leaves and roots, and locusts in famine-like conditions. With the absence of natural disaster, crop failure or political conflict, the dire situation in the African nation is said to be first famine in modern history caused solely by climate change.

The number of people fleeing conflict and natural disasters hit a 10-year high in 2020, with a record 55 million people relocating within their own country. That's in addition to some 26 million people who fled across borders. A joint report released by refugee monitors in May found that three-quarters of the internally displaced were victims of extreme weather — and that number is likely to grow.