FIRES — A scourge in the 21st century
Our planet faces a growing climate emergency that translates into a planet in flames year after year.
The figures regarding the area burned and the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) released into the atmosphere annually due to forest fires leave us with a feeling of great apprehension regarding the need to contain the temperature increase to 1.5°C compared to the pre-industrial era.
Let’s see:
1. Forest fires emit large amounts of greenhouse gases. These gases trap radiation emitted by the planet and retransmit some of it back to Earth, intensifying global warming.
2. With the disappearance of the forest canopy, there is a significant reduction in the atmospheric CO2 absorption capacity, inducing a greater greenhouse effect.
3. The smoke released contains pollutants that worsen air quality and affect weather patterns, contributing to droughts and more extreme temperatures.
4. Climate change, with rising global temperatures, intensifies heat waves, alters wind patterns, increasing their intensity and frequency, promotes longer dry periods, lower atmospheric humidity, and drier vegetation. This creates ideal conditions for more frequent, intense, and rapidly spreading fires.
A vicious feedback cycle is established that accelerates global warming and fuels fires.
It is true that without ignition, temperature alone does not trigger a fire, and there is data that attributes approximately 98% of fires to human activity. Many are intentional and criminal, and some are caused by negligence and irresponsibility.
The figures regarding the area burned and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are astronomical and should make us very apprehensive.
JUST SOME DATA:
The following data only account for CO2 emissions and not for atmospheric retention of this gas, due to the lack of forests that burned, which absorbed the corresponding CO2 during photosynthesis. It also does not account for other greenhouse gas emissions produced, nor for all the other extensive damage caused by the fires.
GLOBAL DATA FOR 2023-2024 (through September), according to the CMAS “State of Wildfires 2023-24” Report.
Year 2023 — 7.96 Gtons of CO2
Year 2024 — 5.9 to 8.1 Gtons of CO2
(1 Gton = 1.10 to the 9th power 1.10^9)
Emissions above 16% of the historical average.
OTHER DATA:
Year 2022 between June 1 and August 31
European Union + United Kingdom
23.5 million tons of CO2.
Hundreds of thousands of hectares burned in SW Europe.
Year 2024
The most affected regions of the world were Portugal, Spain, and Brazil.
Brazil recorded a record number of fires, 278,000 outbreaks, mostly in the Amazon and Pantanal.
It lost 30 million hectares. This represents a 5% increase compared to 2023. (1 hectare = 1 ha = 10,000 m2)
Global fires resulted in 4.1 Gtons of emissions, more than four times the emissions from air transport in 2023.
Countries such as Bolivia, Belize, Guatemala, Guyana, Mexico, and Nicaragua suffered impressive forest losses.
The 2024 fires affected both tropical and boreal forests.
In Europe, 400,000 hectares burned.
In September alone, an area of 450 km2 burned in Portugal.
2025 (until August 31)
In the EU, more than 1 million hectares of forest were burned.
In Portugal alone, 254,000 hectares of forest burned, corresponding to 7,000 fires. The country had the largest burned area in the EU.
Emissions in the EU correspond to 37 million tons of CO2, comparable to the annual emissions of some medium-sized countries.
In Portugal, between 2010 and 2025, the burned area corresponds to 1.97 million hectares.
The global forest covers 3.3 million hectares.
No references were made to other areas of the world due to a lack of public data.
It’s chilling and extremely worrying to see the scale of this data.
We must ask ourselves if this chaos continues, can we accept that we won’t exceed a 1.5°C temperature increase compared to the pre-industrial era by 2030?
Thousands of scientists are warning!
Reports from a wide range of organizations have been published!
There is abundant literature on the causes of climate change and its consequences!
ARE WE GOING TO IGNORE IT?
ARE WE GOING TO REMAIN PASSIVE?
ARE WE GOING TO ALLOW THE ANNOUNCED DESTRUCTION OF THE PLANET?
ARE WE GOING TO ALLOW SKEPTICS, FOR THEIR OWN CONVENIENCE, TO LEAD THE PLANET TO DISASTER?
We can already observe the consequences of climate change in various parts of the world. It’s easy to predict what will happen if the temperature rise exceeds 1.5°C, for which we will all be responsible and affected.
IT’S TIME TO REPORT!
IT’S TIME TO ACT!
IT’S TIME TO SAY NO TO THIS STATUS QUO!
IT’S TIME TO PUT PRESSURE ON GOVERNMENTS AND DON’T ALLOW THEM TO IGNORE OR FORGET THE REALITY THAT WILL LEAD US TO CATASTROPHE!
JOIN THIS CLIMATE EMERGENCY ASSOCIATION. TODAY WE ARE FEW, TOMORROW WE WILL BE MANY.
THE FIGHT IS EVERYONE’S!!!
References:
Reports:
State of Wildfires
CAMS/Copernicus/UEA (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Services)
Global Forest Watch
ICNF (Nature Conservation Institute)
WWF Portugal (World Wide Foundation for Nature)
Gabriela Delgado
