Forest fires will increase 30% by 2050 and 50% by the end of the century due to the climate crisis

Global warming, droughts and land-use changes will generate fires even in regions never affected by these disasters, warns a new report from the UN environmental agency, which calls on governments to adopt strategies based on prevention and preparedness, which integrate ancestral knowledge.

Advancing climate change will increase the risk of devastating wildfires worldwide in the decades to come, warns a study released Wednesday by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and GRID-Arendal, a Norwegian-based environmental non-profit organization.

The publication calls the phenomenon a global wildfire crisis and projects that those disasters will increase by 30% by 2050 and more than 50% by the end of the century.

The more than 50 scientists from around the world who produced the report cite global warming, droughts and land-use changes as the cause of this threat of disaster generated by human activity.

According to the forecasts of the analysis, no corner of the planet will be safe from forest fires, which could affect even the Arctic and other regions that were not at risk.

Change of strategy

To address this danger, the authors of the research strive for a radical change in the strategies of governments, calling on them to base them on prevention, preparation and the proper allocation of budgets.

“We must minimize the risk of forest fires with better preparedness: we need to invest more in reducing fire risk, working with local communities and strengthening the global commitment to combat climate change,” said UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen.

The study highlights that forest fires disproportionately affect the world’s poorest countries, with impacts that last long after the fire goes out, impeding their progress towards sustainable development and exacerbating social inequalities.

The costs of rebuilding after fires are often beyond the reach of low-income countries, the paper stresses.

Health and environment

In addition, smoke from wildfires directly affects people’s health, causing respiratory and cardiovascular impacts.

As for nature, wildfires ravage wildlife and natural habitats, and have placed some species of animals and plants closer to extinction. It is estimated, for example, that the 2020 bushfires in Australia wiped out billions of domestic and wild animals.

Scientists stress that wildfires and climate change exacerbate each other and explain that wildfires worsen with climate change through increased drought, high air temperatures, low relative humidity, lightning and strong winds, resulting in warmer fire seasons, dry and prolonged.

Wildfires worsen climate change by devastating sensitive, carbon-rich ecosystems such as peatlands and rainforests, turning landscapes into powder kegs and making it difficult to stop rising temperatures.

Understanding to prevent

The report underlines the urgency of better understanding the behaviour of forest fires as their prevention requires a combination of science-based data and monitoring systems, indigenous knowledge and strong regional and international cooperation.

In the line of the practices of indigenous peoples, they highlight, for example, the fires caused in some areas of Africa to eliminate vegetation and avoid forest fires that would be more serious and less controllable. Communities in many places have managed land in this way for centuries. UNEP invites the integration of this type of traditional knowledge into fire policies.

It also calls upon Governments to adopt a formula that allocates two thirds of the budget to combat these phenomena to planning, prevention, preparedness and recovery; and the other third of resources to the response when fires occur.

Currently, wildfire responses receive more than half of budgets and less than 1% is allocated to planning and prevention.

Firemen

The publication draws attention to the dangers that firefighters face when carrying out their work and calls for stricter international standards to ensure their safety and health.

The UNEP executive director said firefighters and emergency services workers who risk their lives to fight forest fires “need more support.”

This involves raising awareness of the risks of smoke inhalation, as well as minimizing traps that can endanger their lives and giving them access to adequate hydration, nutrition, rest, and recovery between their active shifts.

The study is published the week before the resumption of the session of the United Nations Environment Assembly in Nairobi, Kenya, which will be attended by representatives of 193 countries.

Source: UN News