Fires are now destroying twice as much forest cover worldwide than at the turn of the century. In fact, compared to 2001, wildfires are now destroying roughly 3 million hectares more each year, equivalent to the area of Belgium, according to satellite data compiled by Global Forest Watch (GFW), the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the organization : University of Maryland. 70% of the area consumed by fire in 20 years is in the maritime forest, which covers much of Russia, Canada and Alaska and is one of the largest carbon sinks on the planet. In Russia, 53 million hectares have been burned since 2001, almost the size of France.
Fires account for more than a quarter of the total loss of forest cover since the turn of the century, with the rest due to deforestation or other natural causes (hurricanes and floods), according to the study. Eventually,…
Source: Le Figaro
