Canadian wildfires pose huge health risks
- June 9, 2023
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
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Canadian wildfires pose huge health risks
Subject :Environment
Section: Climate Change
Context:
- Climate change is worsening the scale of wildfires worldwide, as rising temperatures lead to longer and more destructive fire seasons.
- Some of the biggest cities in North America, like Montreal, Toronto and New York, are shrouded in heavy smog with around 400 fires burning in Canada.
Details:
- This year has already seen unusually severe wildfires in Russia, Spain, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Central America, according to Copernicus, the EU’s earth observation monitoring programme.
- New York City’s air quality remains in the “very unhealthy” category as more thick smoke poured south from Canada’s devastating wildfires.
- Children, pregnant people, older adults and people with heart or lung disease are especially vulnerable to the small particulates generated by these fires and these particles can be carried vast distances.
- Significant impact on Indigenous Peoples.
Forest fire or Wildfire:
- Forest fires can be defined as any uncontrolled and non-prescribed combustion or burning of plants in a natural setting such as a forest, grassland, brushland, or tundra, which consumes the natural fuels and spreads based on environmental conditions.
- Fuel, Oxygen, and heat sources help the spreading of wildfires:
- Fuel is any flammable material surrounding a fire, including trees, grasses, brush, and even homes. The greater an area’s fuel load, the more intense the fire.
- Air supplies the oxygen a fire needs to burn.
- Heat sources help spark the wildfire and bring fuel to temperatures hot enough to ignite.
- Causes of increased wildfire:
- Climate change-induced warming.
- Land use change and land management practices.
- High atmospheric temperatures and dryness (low humidity)
- Extraction of non-wood forest products
- Industrial development and resettlement.
- Impact of wildfire:
- Delay in achieving the SDGs.
- Loss of flora and fauna
Consequences of Wildfires:
- Wildfires emit billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere which causes harm to climate and living organisms.
- This can also impact the carbon cycle due to excess CO2 and loss of vegetation.
- High-intensity forest fires destroy flora and fauna.
- Wildfires can impact the economy as many families and communities depend on the forest for food, fodder, and fuel.
- It burns down the small shrubs and grasses, leading to landslides and soil erosion.
- It can change the microclimate of the area with unhealthy living conditions
- Excessive forest fires can also add to the ozone layer depletion process.
UNEP call to prevent wildfire:
- The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) called on global governments to adopt a new ‘Fire Ready Formula,’ as it warned that incidences of wildfires would rise in the future.
- The UNEP report also projected that the number of wildfires is likely to increase by up to 14 per cent by 2030. It is projected to spike by 33 per cent by 2050. It would rise by 52 per cent by 2100.
- Integrated wildfire management was key to adapting to current and future changes in global wildfire risk.
The new “Fire Ready Formula” focuses on planning and prevention | ||
Serial No | Budget item | Percentage share of the total on wildfire management recommended |
1 | Planning | 1 % |
2 | Prevention | 32 % |
3 | Preparedness | 13 % |
4 | Response | 34 % |
5 | Recovery | 20 % |
FireAId: AI to predict and fight wildfires
- It was launched in 2022 by the World Economic Forum (WEF).
- It aims at using artificial intelligence to effectively manage wildfire.
- The multistakeholder initiative that collaborates resources from governments, civil society and the private sector was formulated by Koç Holding, Turkey’s largest industrial conglomerate, and was joined by Deloitte, an international professional services network, that brought on board its own AI technology to develop a ‘digital twin’ for fire management.
- The project was made operational in the South Aegean and West Mediterranean region of Turkey, since a quarter of the country’s wildfires occurred there in 2010-2021 and accounted for 75 per cent of the total burned area during the period.