Is climate change responsible for wildfires in the world?

Is climate change

responsible for wildfires in the world?

Wildfires have destroyed communities around the world. What causes forest fires? Why do places like Greece, Portugal and Malawi suffer particularly?

What are wildfires?

Wildfire is uncontrollable with its extension in a range of terrain

such as forests, tree lands and grasslands. It often occurs in rural areas.

These hell :

• are known to swallow up ecosystems

• forests and pastures for hundreds of millions of years

• according to National Geographic.

Surface fires :

which are in the form of land fires, occur when the soil is filled with organic matter

for example :

sacrificing a peat (turb) and heating up.

Land fires can worsen for a long time until conditions line up

allowing them to climb to the surface.

However :

1. surface fires will feed on
2. dry or dead plants
3. and be accelerated by dried grass.

Forest fires not only affect nature :

but also negatively affect the environment because of the vast amounts of

carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases they release into the air.

Forest fire smoke is

filled with hazardous air pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide

PM2.5 :

aromatic hydrocarbons, lead or ozone.

The PM2.5 contaminant from forest fire smoke can be particularly dangerous.

It can cause and increase bad skin :

1. bowel
2. kidney
3. eye
4. nose
5. liver
6. heart
7. lungs

• brain and nervous system diseases.

• It has also been linked to premature deaths in the general population

• according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Forest fires can preserve ecosystems' health

by eliminating insects and plant-damaging diseases.

They also :

give way to the growth of new herbs

shrubs and herbs, meaning new areas for animals and birds to live and eat.

The space created :

by the fire can also mean a larger area of sunlight :

• meaning that trees and small plants can thrive better.

• Some plants even need wildfires to survive.

• A prime example is tree cones

because they need to heat up before they release their seeds.

Some organisms will require massive fire every few years

while some species need a handful over a century to ensure species' sustainability.

Is climate change causing forest fires?

According to National Geographic

wildfires have been occurring for hundreds of millions of years as a natural event.

It can be ignited by a lightning strike :

or a man-made spark :

and the terrain can sometimes determine how quickly it spreads

as the fire will move slowly down the hills but at a higher speed.

However :

• it is the environment that facilitates wildfire conditions

• and with climate change causing further droughts

• as well as creating drier and warmer conditions

• areas are becoming more vulnerable to wildfires.

Starting in recent weeks, severe fires have broken out around the world

as we continue to suffer severe weather conditions.

Some 1,100 firefighters were :

dealing with the blaze that plagued Portugal's Udimera area

while Hawaii declared a fire emergency in Maui, which has so far killed 96 people.

Climate change plays a role.

In the pre-industrial climate

the risk of :

forest fires ravaging Greek Rhodes was at least 50 times lower

according to The Conversation.

Soil and plants dry up due to high temperature resulting in deprivation of moisture. This lack of water dried up vegetation, making some areas more flammable.

However :

it is important to recognize that although climate change provides

a habitat that allows forest fires to thrive and burn at rapid rates

this factor alone cannot ignite a fire

there is still a need for spark or lightning.

In Greece, 23% of :

forest fires were said to be caused by arson :

while many started as a result of fires burning in shrubs to get rid of unwanted plants or on farms to get rid of unwanted crops or to stimulate the growth of new plants.

It is unclear how the forest fires started in Portugal.

However :

Hawaii's governor and wildfire experts believe that weather conditions coupled with ignition, have increased the severity of fires on three islands: Maui, Hawaii and Oahu.

Maui also suffered an "abnormal" drought level in August

according to the US drought monitor.

Will climate change :

lead to more forest fires?

Forest fires may become more common and ferocious in the coming years.

If global warming exceeds 2 ° C, very hot weather will occur at a faster pace.

Even if countries are able to :

• stop the temperature rise at 1.5 degrees Celsius

• as stipulated in the Paris Agreement, 40% more of

• the Mediterranean region is expected to burn.

A report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Grid-Ardenal predicted that the number of forest fires would increase by 50% between now and 2100.

Land-use change :

as well as the climate crisis, are causing an increasing trend of

forest fires in areas where there has never been a problem, such as the Arctic.

According to a UNEP

paper entitled The Spread Like Forest Fires:

• The Escalating Threat of Unusual Landscape Fires

• forest fires will increase by 14% by 2030 and 30%

• by 2050 and then a massive 50% increase by 2100.

As a result, UNEP and Grid Ardenal urged Governments to

radically shift their expenditures and increase investment in forest fire prevention.

They also :

stated that firefighters' health safety standards must be higher worldwide.