Global population exposure to wildfires has grown by 40 per cent in 20 years
Environment — di Andrea Barolini
A study reveals a sharp increase, in just two decades, in the exposure of the world's population to wildfire-related risks.
Global population exposure to wildfires has grown by 40 per cent in 20 years
A study reveals a sharp increase, in just two decades, in the exposure of the world's population to wildfire-related risks.
The fact that rising global average temperatures increase the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events has been confirmed by a vast body of scientific research, as well as by the United Nations' own Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the IPCC. Equally well established is the fact that increasingly severe and prolonged heatwaves, combined with extended periods of drought, create ideal conditions for the outbreak of often devastating wildfires across the globe. For this reason, quantifying the increase in wildfire-related risks is an important measure for understanding just how real and present the climate crisis is in all of our lives — and, consequently, how necessary and urgent it is to act against it.
Spain and Portugal have been hit really hard by wildfires this summer. HT @xruiztru
Wildfires have affected 440 million people worldwide
A study published on Thursday 21 August in the American journal Science analysed the current level of global population exposure to wildfires. The results are alarming, if not surprising: the risk has increased by 40 per cent in just twenty years. Between 2002 and 2021, the period covered by the analysis, severe wildfires threatened as many as 440 million people worldwide.
According to the scientists behind the study, there is no doubt about the reasons for this rapid increase: in recent years, climate change has driven a sharp rise in the number of days "with conditions conducive to the development of extreme wildfires." This is due to the fact that periods of extreme weather events have grown by 54 per cent.
Days with extreme weather events up 54 per cent in 20 years
This is a worrying situation not only from a climatic and environmental standpoint — wildfires contribute to CO2 emissions into the Earth's atmosphere, triggering a vicious cycle that only serves to exacerbate the climate crisis — but also for the social security of affected populations, especially in the world's poorest regions. "Although wildfire disasters in North America, Europe and Oceania have attracted the greatest media attention, 85 per cent of the risk is concentrated in Africa," the researchers emphasise in the study.
Spain is battling fierce wildfires, but is not alone.
Spanish and Italian firefighting airplanes are on the frontline, alongside many other teams sent via the #EUCivilProtection Mechanism.
Together, we continue the fight against the blaze.
🇪🇺🤝🇪🇸
@EjercitoAire
Spanish and Italian firefighting airplanes are on the frontline, alongside many other teams sent via the #EUCivilProtection Mechanism.
Together, we continue the fight against the blaze.
🇪🇺🤝🇪🇸
@EjercitoAire
To this must be added the death toll. The study puts the staggering figure of 1.53 million deaths as those "attributable each year to air pollution caused by wildfires."
1.53 million deaths from wildfire smoke
Finally, the analysis concludes that alongside climatic conditions, human activities also play a significant role. Whether deliberate or accidental, these are responsible for 84 per cent of wildfires recorded in the United States and for over 90 per cent of those that have occurred across Mediterranean Europe.