More than a third of all global tree losses last year — 9.3 million hectares — were caused by forest fires, and the damage is expected to be even more widespread with climate change being the primary driver behind it, a new report says.
Analysis from the Global Forest Watch, a forest monitoring platform, suggested that the amount of trees burnt down across the world has nearly doubled in the past two decades. Forest fires result in three million hectares of tree loss per year compared with 2001.
The increase in fire activity is likely to be driven by climate change, as the drier landscapes create the dry conditions for forest fires. The emissions released from these fires further exacerbate climate change as part of a “fire-climate feedback loop”, which have accounted for the recent devastating fires in France and elsewhere, the researchers said.
Northern high-latitude regions, which house boreal forests, have been most affected by forest fires. Though forest fires are a natural function of how these forests function, the regions are warming at a faster rate than the rest of the world.
Nowhere is the devastation clearer than in Russia, which experienced an unprecedented loss of trees last year. The country accounted for 5.4 million of the 9.3 million hectares burnt globally. Russia's 31 per cent increase from 2020 was attributed to prolonged heatwaves that the Global Forest Watch said was “practically impossible” without human-influenced climate change.
Wildfire explodes in size as blazes rip through California and Montana
-
A home burns in Mariposa county, California, where firefighters are battling to bring the Oak blaze under control. AP -
California officials said firefighters arrived at the scene early but were not able to contain the blaze. Getty -
The fire began on Friday and is closing in on the Yosemite area, home to some of the largest and oldest sequoia trees in the world. Getty -
California Highway Patrol officers stand next to a car that crashed into a ditch as the driver attempted to flee from the fire in Mariposa county. AP -
Firefighter Joanna Jimenez holds a dog she found wandering in a fire evacuation zone in Mariposa county. AP -
An aircraft drops flame retardant to control the fire. Reuters -
The ruins of a home gutted by the fire smoulder near Midpines, north-east of Mariposa county. AFP -
A row of mailboxes tagged with evacuation notices sit along Triangle road in Mariposa county. Bloomberg -
The fire has consumed at least 6,314 hectares of land, an area more than half the size of Paris. Reuters -
Mariposa county residents check a fire incident map not far from billowing clouds of smoke. EPA -
An aerial view of the fire as it approaches Yosemite National Park. Reuters -
Firefighters look on as the Oak Fire burns in Darrah, Mariposa county. Reuters -
A firefighter douses flames near Aromas, California. AP -
More than two decades of drought and rising temperatures have made California more vulnerable to bushfires. AFP -
The blaze in Mariposa county represents a dangerous new front in the fight against fires in the western US. AP -
Allison Baggett watches as the Oak fire burns close to her home in Mariposa county, shortly before evacuating. Reuters
Elsewhere, factors such as deforestation have made tropical forests more susceptible to wildfires.
In the Brazilian Amazon, where deforestation hit a record high in January, fires used to clear land after trees have been cut down can encroach into surrounding forests.
“As a result, almost all fires that occur in the tropics are started by people, rather than sparked by natural ignition sources like lightning strikes,” the report said.
Fires accounted for nearly half of tree losses in the Amazon in 2016-17, suggesting that the rainforest could be reaching a climate tipping point. This means it could emit more carbon than it stores, releasing billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and exacerbating climate change.
Forests are critical to the environment because of their ability to store carbon and keep the planet from warming. They also act as effective air-filtration systems and provide habitats for myriad animal species.
Any solution to reduce fire activity would have to include drastically reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the researchers said. Scientists also called for limiting burning fields and ending deforestation. Doing so, they said, would make forests more resilient.
World leaders at the Cop26 summit in Glasgow, Scotland, last year pledged to reverse deforestation in an effort to restrict global warming to 1.5ºC above pre-industrial levels.
US President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed into law a climate and social spending bill that Democrats say will reduce US gas emissions by 40 per cent by 2030. However, that falls short of Mr Biden's goal of reducing emissions by 50-52 per cent by 2030.
