Carbon dioxide emissions from wildfires have increased by 60% worldwide since 2001. According to a study.

Carbon dioxide emissions have nearly tripled in some of the most climate-sensitive northern boreal forests.

The study, conducted by the University of East Anglia in England, was published Friday with the help of faculty at the University of California, Merced.

“As the Earth continues to warm, our planet’s temperate and boreal forests are under fire,” UC Merced School of Engineering professor John Abatzoglou said in a statement. “Fire activity is the result of a complex interaction of factors, but the increasing prevalence of fire-friendly weather has exacerbated the scale of bushfires.”

Abatzoglou was part of the research team that grouped world regions into regions with similar climate, environmental and human controls. These controls affect wildfire patterns, according to the study.

What causes forest fires to increase?

Fire-friendly weather conditions and increased forest growth rates were linked to increased carbon dioxide emissions. Rapid warming in high northern latitudes is aiding these trends, according to the study.

One of the world’s largest tracts, encompassing the boreal forests of Eurasia and North America, had fire emissions nearly tripling between 2001 and 2023.

Forests are burning more completely as fires burn hotter and release nearly 50% more carbon per unit area burned than in the early 2000s.

The study also examined how wildfires destroy human lives and property while causing carbon emissions at higher rates than in previous decades.

Are wildfires increasing in California?

California and the Western United States have experienced numerous wildfire disasters over the past decade, including the 2018 Camp Fire that killed 85 people.

“Increasing tropical wildfires, like what we saw in California in 2020 and the northeastern United States during the 2023 Canadian fires, also contribute to significant levels of smoke that will lead to hazardous air quality events,” said Crystal Kolden, director of the UC Merced Center for Fire Resilience. a statement.

Forests help remove carbon from the atmosphere and reduce global warming rates. Carbon offset projects rely on permanently storing carbon in forests, and forest fires can prevent this, according to research.

Fires outside the tropics are emitting half a billion tonnes more carbon dioxide than two decades ago, the study found, and the long-term impact depends on how forests recover.

Multiple funding agencies supported the research, including the National Science Foundation.

Wes Woods II covers West County for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at [email protected], 805-437-0262 or @JournoWes.

This article first appeared in the Ventura County Star: Research: CO2 emissions from forest fires have been increasing since 2001