Canada’s record wildfires in 2023 produced more carbon emissions than the burning of fossil fuels in all countriesaccording to a study published in the journal Nature.
It is enough to remember that in July of last year, the smoke from the Canadian fires reached Madrid after being felt in the skies of Zamora and Galicia.
Suspended particles produced by the fires in the Canadian country have crossed the Atlantic Ocean, reaching Portugal and Spain in the form of a big cloud and that we could even notice the burning smell.
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Following these fires, Canada has become the fourth largest carbon emitter in the world due to these disasters. Only China, the United States and India produced more carbon emissions than the terrible Canadian fires. events of last year, a dark year for Canadian forests.
The study, titled, Carbon emissions from forest fires in Canada in 2023(Carbon emissions from forest fires in Canada in 2023), concludes that the fires in Canada “emitted more pollutants into the atmosphere (as CO2) than the annual fossil fuel emissions of seven of the world’s ten most polluting countries. Only China, India and the United States emitted more CO₂ than the thousands of fires recorded in Canadian forests in 2023.
Millions of hectares burned
Unusually high temperatures and drought have helped fuel the worst season of thousands of wildfires in the country’s history, burn 15 million hectares of landan area of approximately double that of the Autonomous Community of AndalusiaTo give us an idea, the fire destroyed 89,068 hectares in Spain during the year 2023.
“We find that the magnitude of carbon emissions is 647 TgC (570-727 TgC), comparable to the annual fossil fuel emissions of major countries, with only IIndia, China and the United States are the countries that emit the most carbon each year“, conclude the authors of the study.
To conduct the study on carbon emissions from Canadian fires, they were tracked from space”using bottom-up and top-down approaches. “Bottom-up approaches use satellite observations to track fire activity.”
carbon sink
Canadian forests cover a vast area of nearly 362 million hectares, which isequivalent to 8.5% of the world’s forest area and they are an important carbon sink, absorbing fossil carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and slowing the rate of global warming.
“However, the climate change This increased forest fire activityacting by removing the carbon absorption capacity of these forests,” report the authors of the study.
Scientific concern
Scientists fear that exceptional burning of Canada’s boreal forest could affect the global climate change projectionssince forests play a role important role in capturing carbon that warms the planet.
Another study in Nature Ecology & Evolution even warned that the frequency and magnitude of the phenomena Extreme wildfires worldwide They appear to have doubled over the past 20 years, with the most spectacular 6 being those since 2017.
The future that awaits us
Although temperatures were extreme by historical standards, climate projections indicate, according to the study authors, “that these temperatures will probably be typical of the 2050seven in a moderate climate mitigation scenario
These conditions are likely to cause an increase in fire activity and suppress carbon absorption by Canadian forestswhich will increase concerns about the long-term sustainability of these forests as carbon sinks.
