(CU)_Over the recent years, wildfires have become increasingly common in several parts of the globe, as a warming planet and changes in land use patterns trigger unplanned fires n forests and grasslands. Western United States, eastern Australia, central India and northern Siberia are already seeing more blazes and a recent UN report found that their likelihood are only expected to increase over the coming years.
The report, published by the UN Environment Programme on Wednesday said that the risk of catastrophic wildfires globally could increase by more than 50 per cent by the end of this century, and that governments are ill prepared to confront their deadly consequences. The study also found that areas once considered safe from major fires, including the Artic are no longer immune. The polar region is “very likely to experience a significant increase in burning,” the UN agency said, adding that the southern Amazon of South America, as well as tropical forests in Indonesia are also likely to experience increased bushfires.
“Uncontrollable and devastating wildfires are becoming an expected part of the seasonal calendars in many parts of the world,” Andrew Sullivan, one of the report’s authors from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation in Australia, said.
According to UN researches, many countries are spending too much time and money attempting to battle wildfires instead of trying to prevent them. The report pointed to changes in land use, such as logging, which increase the likelihood of these adverse events. State officials from the United States recently unveiled plans to invest 450 billion to reduce risks of fires by thinning forests more aggressively around areas where nature and neighbourhoods collide. However, only a fraction of the funding has been released by President Joe Biden’s administration.
