UN predicts sharp increase in wildfires due to warming

Global warming will cause a sharp increase in the number of wildfires in the coming decades and governments are insufficiently prepared for this. The United Nations Environment Agency (UNEP) states that in a report in which environmental organization GRID-Arendal also contributed.

The agency forecasts an increase of 14 percent by 2030, 30 percent by the end of the 1950s and 50 percent by the end of the century. There is also a risk of devastating fires in the tundra in polar regions and other regions where wildfires did not occur before.

Governments should deal with this threat very differently by doing much more on prevention. Two thirds of the expenditure should go to planning, prevention, preparation and recovery and the rest to combat. Now, on average, more than half of the budget goes to fire fighting and less than 1 percent to prevention.

Ecosystems

Wildfires and climate change reinforce each other, according to the researchers. Large fires destroy ecosystems such as peat bogs and rainforests, turning landscapes into “tinder boxes”. This makes it more difficult to combat global warming. In the United States alone, economic damage from wildfires can amount to more than 300 million euros annually, according to the report.

UNEP advocates the use of scientific models and monitoring and more regional and international cooperation. A major UN meeting will begin in Nairobi, Kenya, at the end of this month.