The currency logged its sharpest intra-day fall in more than two weeks on Monday
asia2 hours ago
The number of major wildfires worldwide will rise sharply in coming decades due to global warming, and governments are ill-prepared for the death and destruction such mega-blazes trail in their wake, the UN warned Wednesday.
Even the most ambitious efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions will not prevent a dramatic surge in the frequency of extreme fire conditions, a report commissioned by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) concluded.
“By the end of the century, the probability of wildfire events similar to Australia’s 2019-2020 Black Summer or the huge Arctic fires in 2020 occurring in a given year is likely to increase by 31-57 percent,” it said.
The heating of the planet is turning landscapes into tinderboxes, and more extreme weather means stronger, hotter and drier winds to fan the flames.
Such wildfires are burning where they have always occurred, and are flaring up in unexpected places such as drying peatlands and thawing permafrost.
“Fires are not good things,” said co-author Peter, an expert in forest fire management at the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
“The impacts on people — socially, health-wise, psychologically — are phenomenal and long-term,” he told journalists in a briefing.
Large wildfires, which can rage uncontrolled for days or weeks, cause respiratory and heart problems, especially for the elderly and very young.
A recent study in The Lancet concluded that exposure to wildfire smoke results, on average, in more than 30,000 deaths each year across 43 nations for which data was available.
Economic damages in the United States — one of the few countries to calculate such costs — have varied between $71 to $348 billion (63 to 307 billion euros) in recent years, according to an assessment cited in the report.
Major blazes can also be devastating for wildlife, pushing some endangered species closer to the brink of extinction.
Nearly three billion mammals, reptiles, birds and frogs were killed or harmed, for example, by Australia’s devastating 2019-20 bushfires, scientists have calculated.
Wildfires are made worse by climate change.
ALSO READ:
Heatwaves, drought conditions and reduced soil moisture amplified by global warming have contributed to unprecedented fires in the western United States, Australia and the Mediterranean basin just in the last three years.
Even the Arctic — previously all but immune to fires — has seen a dramatic increase in blazes, including so-called “zombie fires” that smoulder underground throughout winter before bursting into flames anew.
But wildfires also accelerate climate change, feeding a vicious cycle of more fires and rising temperatures.
Last year, forests going up in flames emitted more than 2.5 billion tonnes of planet-warming CO2 in July and August alone, equivalent to India’s annual emissions from all sources, the European Union’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) reported.
Compiled by 50 top experts, the report called for a rethink on how to tackle the problem.
“Current government responses to wildfires are often putting money in the wrong places,” investing in managing fires once they start rather than prevention and risk reduction, said UN Environment chief Inger Andersen.
“We have to minimise the risk of extreme wildfires by being prepared.”
The currency logged its sharpest intra-day fall in more than two weeks on Monday
asia2 hours ago
Aaron Pierre and Kelvin Harrison Jr have come on board to voice the younger versions of Mufasa and Scar
entertainment2 hours ago
US FDA is gathering additional information on the matter, while Indian authorities have recently inspected the plants of the companies
asia2 hours ago
The total size of the offering remains unchanged at 900 million shares, representing 25 per cent of the company’s total issued share capital
markets2 hours ago
India's foreign ministry called the Washington Post report 'unwarranted and unsubstantiated', which stated that an officer in the intelligence service was directly involved in the plan
world2 hours ago
More than 34,000 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory since war broke out
world3 hours ago
The list of products whose licences were suspended included traditional medicines for asthma, bronchitis and diabetes
asia3 hours ago
The mercury is set to rise to 38ºC in Abu Dhabi and in Dubai
uae4 hours ago