Climate Change and Forest Fire Link

Climate Change and Forest Fire Link

Part of: GS Prelims and GS-III – Climate change

In news

• Scientists have noted that human-induced climate change promotes the conditions on which wildfires depend.

Important value additions

Wildfire 

• It is also called forest, bush or vegetation fire.
• It is any uncontrolled burning of plants in a natural setting such as a forest, grassland which consumes the natural fuels and spreads based on wind, topography.
• These can be incited by human actions, such as land clearing, extreme drought or in rare cases by lightning.
• Three conditions needed for a wildfire: fuel, oxygen, and a heat source.
• Globally, forest fires release billions of tons of Carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
• Hundreds of thousands of people die due to illnesses caused by exposure to smoke
• Factors: (1) Climate change increases the frequency; (2) Poor land and forest management