New Research Points To Root Causes Of Last Year’s Worldwide Wildfire Outbreaks

These days, it has become commonplace to hear reports about devastating fires scorching wide swaths of land across the U.S. and around the world. And while there has long been evidence suggesting that climate change was a primary factor in the worsening trend, researchers now say they have proof about how much of an impact the warming planet has had.

“State of Wildfires”

According to a new report published in the Earth System Science Data journal, the 12-month period starting in March 2023 ushered in a much higher number of wildfires than usual.

As the authors of the “State of Wildfires” report determined:

• Carbon emissions from those wildfires was 16% higher than average
• A total of 8.6 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide was released into the atmosphere
• Canada’s boreal forest represented nearly one-fourth of those global emissions

Since the expansive snow forest has historically helped absorb carbon, the recent shift was particularly damaging to the environment, researchers noted.

In addition to simply offering facts and figures, the scientists behind this report also ventured into a discussion of the role that climate change has had on the rate of wildfires.

“More frequent and intense”

Tyndall Center for Climate Change Research senior fellow Matthew Jones noted that factors such as widespread droughts caused by climate change have caused the wildfire risk to skyrocket — even in areas where such blazes had not typically been common.

“Wildfires are becoming more frequent and intense as the climate warms, and both society and the environment are suffering from the consequences,” he said.

This perpetuates a vicious circle in which carbon emissions expedite climate change, which in turn increases the global wildfire risk.

Researchers found that there was an abnormally high number of wildfires across much of the Amazon and into parts of Venezuela.

Chris Agee August 15th, 2024

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