Summer heat waves, agriculture, forestry and related issues: an introduction

Changes in the frequency and/or intensity of extreme weather and climate events have profound and significant health, societal, economic, and environmental impact across large areas of Europe. The dramatic summers of 2003 and 2012 should be considered a training experiments of the impacts of climate change. The objective of this editorial is to briefly introduce non health-related impacts of summer heat waves, with special regard to the impact on agriculture, animal husbandry, forest ecosystems and natural vegetation. A brief introduction to the 11 thematic reports which complete this special issue is given.