This year, Keeping said, wildfires on several continents have already burned an area the size of Alaska — more than half a million square miles — 50 percent more than the average over the past 25 years. He added that almost all countries in West Africa and the Sahel region of North-Central Africa have experienced record-breaking forest fires.
But the wildfire season is just getting started in many parts of the world, so “with this fast start combined with the forecast for El Niño … we’re looking at a particularly severe year,” he said.
Large fires burning in “normally lush regions” of East Asia, including Myanmar, Thailand and Laos, have been linked to severe droughts, which in turn have been linked to human-induced climate change. “Given how populated the region is, these fires are of particular concern,” the scientists said, adding that they know ecosystems are drying out more quickly during periods of low rainfall due to warming.
Keeping said a strong El Nino “could have a major impact on bushfire risk” later this year, increasing the likelihood of extremely hot and dry conditions in Australia, as well as the northwestern United States and Canada and the Amazon rainforest.
Otto said that even if El Nino “leads to very extreme conditions later this year, it’s not a cause for panic.” “It comes and goes. Climate change, on the other hand, is going to get worse and worse unless we stop burning fossil fuels. So climate change is causing a stir.”
A constructive response is within reach, he said, “because we know what to do about it. We have the knowledge and the technology to move far, far away from fossil fuels.”
This story appeared first Domestic Climate News.
