Boreal forests could be a planet-warming ‘time bomb’ as wildfires expand, says new study
CNNMar 01, 2023
Authorities in Siberia declared a state of emergency on Monday, as more than 110 forest fires raged across an area of about 75% of the area of New York City amid unusually intense heat and thunderstorms.
On Monday, Interfax news agency reported that 620 personnel and 33 ground vehicles and planes were involved in extinguishing blazes over 61K hectares in the Republic of Sakha. The area is home to roughly 1M people — authorities say there are no immediate threats to any settlements.
The clock is ticking as shown by recent events in Canada and Siberia. Wildfires in the northern latitudes are a time bomb of carbon being exacerbated each year, that have already released record-high levels of planet-warming emissions into the atmosphere. Wildfire-triggered greenhouse emissions must be addressed as part of the ongoing climate crisis.
While climate change could be one of many factors in this situation, the best way to handle wildfires in northern latitudes is to practice better forest management. Decades of mismanagement have led to extraordinary quantities of dry timber — it's time to clean out this threat through better policies and practices.
There is an 85% chance there will be at least 2˚C of global warming by 2100, according to the Metaculus prediction community.