fires Forest area worldwide has doubled in the last 20 years, especially in boreal forests, according to a study released Wednesday, “probably” due to climate change.
The situation is especially dramatic in countries such as Russiawho lived fires unprecedented last year, while the El Niño phenomenon exacerbated the loss of forest cover in Latin Americaexplains joint report Global Forest Service (GFV), World Resources Institute (WRI) and University of Maryland.
Compared to 2001, over the past two decades fires Every year, about 3 million hectares of land are destroyed, which is equivalent to the area Belgium.
70% of the territory engulfed in flames is concentrated in the forests to the north, in the regions Russia, Canada and Alaska, the largest deposits of carbon on the planet so far.
Russia lost 53 million hectares over the past two decades, equivalent to the area France.
But the situation is dramatic Brazilwhich during this period lost 9.5 million hectares, which is 15% of the global volume.
“Two-thirds of these losses occur in primary forests, which are important reserves of carbon and biodiversity,” the text explains.
Brazil and Bolivia hit hard
Bolivia lost over the past two decades 1.6 million hectares.
Researchers University of Maryland They used satellites to determine the area of the fire.
The problem of forest fires due to climate change, the struggle to save the environment | Font: AFP
fires They represent, according to the study, about a quarter of the total loss of forest mass since the beginning of the century in the world.
The rest is caused by deforestation or natural causes (hurricanes and floods).
Loss of forests due to fires annually worldwide increases by 4%, that is, an additional 230,000 hectares.
And about half of this increase comes from fires are most important in boreal forests, “probably as a result of warming in northern regions,” the researchers add.
In Europe, satellite monitoring service Copernicus warned last week that fires forestry reached a record level this year.
Tens of thousands of hectares were lost in France, Spain D Portugal.
Climate change is “probably a major factor” in this increase.
Dog days, which dry up forests and make them brittle in the face of the threat of fires, are five times more likely today than they were a century and a half ago.
and those fires at the same time exacerbate greenhouse gas emissions, which causes a “feedback cycle”.
“In these boreal regions, CO2 has accumulated in the ground for hundreds of years and has been protected by a wet layer,” GFW analyst James McCarthy told AFP.
“These firesmore often and more severely, burn that top layer and release that CO2,” he added.
This dynamic, the study warns, could cause boreal forests to cease being carbon stocks in the medium term.
The researchers are calling on governments to strengthen forest protection and fight deforestation.
“Forests are one of the best defenses against climate change,” McCarthy explained.
(According to AFP)
Source: RPP
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