According to a recent study, carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted from forest fires grew by 60 per cent across all forests globally since 2001.
- The study used machine learning to look globally at the difference between forest and non-forest fires by segregating them into 12 forest ecoregion pyromes.
- ‘Pyromes’ are defined as regions where forest fire patterns are affected by similar environmental, human, and climatic factors, thereby revealing the elements pushing recent increases in forest fires.
- Grouping forests into pyromes enabled the authors to isolate the impacts of climate change, apart from other influencing drivers such as land use and vegetation.
- The study stated that anthropogenic climate change is one of the drivers of forest fires, resulting in more frequent and severe droughts causing fire favourable weather, known as ‘fire weather’.
