Climate change driving unprecedented forest fire loss: data
- Data showed 2021 was one of the worst years for forest fires since the turn of the century, causing 9.3 million hectares of tree cover loss globally
- Data released on Wednesday showed that the equivalent of 16 football pitches are lost every minute due to forest fires, supercharged by climate change
Forest fires supercharged by climate change are burning twice as much global tree cover as 20 years ago, according to data released on Wednesday showing the equivalent of 16 football pitches are now lost every minute.
The research showed in unprecedented detail how wildfires have progressed over the past two decades, with the blazes claiming an estimated three more million hectares each year – an area the size of Belgium – compared with 2001.
Researchers from the University of Maryland used satellite imagery to map areas of tree cover lost, including that burned by what are known as stand-replacing forest fires.
These are fires that kill all or most of the forest’s canopy and which cause long-term changes to forest structure and soil chemistry.