Climate Change becomes a Burning Issue by Inter Press Service 3:36pm 16th Aug, 2003   August 15, 2003    LISBON - Nature and the human hand came together to set off fires this summer such as Europe has not seen before. Authorities took steps to stop people starting fires, but the really difficult questions arose over steps to stop global warming.    Scientists have not established a direct link between global warming and the fires that became particularly devastating in Portugal, France and Spain this summer. Nor could such a link be expected. But most people see the two phenomena as related.    Vacation homes were threatened by approaching forest fires near La Bouverie in southern France,on July 30, 2003. The intense heat wave that has baked much of Europe for weeks, fueling deadly forest fires, causing drought and damaging crops, has convinced many people that global warming is a reality. While experts caution that you cannot read too much into a single hot summer or natural disaster, Europe does seem to be experiencing extreme weather with growing frequency.    German environment minister Juergen Trittin dismisses suggestions that record-breaking temperatures are only normal fluctuation in climate. Seven of the ten hottest summers recorded in Germany since the 1860s have come in the last 13 years, and global warming has something to do with that, he says. A poll conducted for the news channel n-TV shows 63 percent of Germans agreeing with him.    The fires that have broken out in Europe and North America in the heat have concentrated the debate on global warming, even if the temperatures have not by themselves started the fires in most cases.    ”About five percent of the fires were due to natural causes, 95 percent were caused by human activities such as carelessness, actions related to agricultural land, and pyromaniacs,” Jesus San Miguel, coordinator of the European Forest Fires Information System (EFFIS) told IPS.    ”During summer, forest areas become more densely populated, mainly by tourists,” Miguel said. ”Carelessness in some of their activities, such as smoking or barbecuing are frequently the origin of forest fires.”    But Miguel acknowledges that climatic conditions are a major factor in how far and how fast the fires spread. Fires are inevitably easier to control when it rains or humidity is high. The ignition may have come from people, but dry forests burn far more quickly and easily.    Portugal has seen the worst of the fires. More than 215,000 hectares of forests have burned down in Portugal since the first large fire began July 27, according to the National Forestry office. Independent scientists say up to 325,000 hectares of forest may have been destroyed. The fires have claimed 15 lives. Material losses are expected to exceed a billion dollars.    Portugal's worst year before this one was 1991, when 182,486 hectares of forest went up in flames. Forest fires have broken out frequently through the summers since then. The fires this year mark the worst ecological tragedy in 50 years.    In Spain fires have burned tens of thousands of hectares of forest, forcing evacuation of thousands of people from their homes. The fires began in the west along the border with Portugal, but have also caused heavy losses in other parts of the country. In Catalonia firefighters reported Thursday that some 7,400 hectares had burnt since Sunday, killing six people.    Global warming has become an issue because there is no fire without heat, and much of Europe has been at its hottest this year. Temperatures reached 41 degrees Celsius in Milan and Torino in Italy, the highest recorded there since record-keeping began 250 years ago. Austria has not seen such high temperatures since 1768. Britain recorded its hottest day at 38.1 degrees in Gravesend in the south. Officials say the high temperatures multiplied the risk of fires by five    As the fires have broken out beyond Europe, so has the debate over them. At its peak a week ago a blaze burning across 18,000 hectares of Canada's western-most British Columbia province forced evacuation of 10,000 people. Some affected residents are now calling on authorities to publicly connect the drought-like conditions that fanned the flames to climate change.    ”We were contacted by people in British Columbia near the fires,” says Elizabeth May from the Sierra Club of Canada, a leading organization that works on environmental issues including climate change. ”They said why isn't anyone making the link? We see that there's a link between the forest fires and climate change.”    Most scientists agree that global warming and extreme weather events like forest fires and floods result at least in part from the burning of fossil fuels. The controversial Kyoto Accord seeks to limit the burning of fossil fuels and the consequent emission of ”greenhouse gases,” but has been rejected by several countries, led by the United States.    Fires have consumed less forest in North America this year than in earlier years on average, but the trend is upward, says Mike Flannigan, a researcher with the Canadian Forest Service. ”It doesn't mean that every year there's going to be fiery infernos burning across the land, but that we're going to have more bad fire seasons per decade,” Flannigan told IPS. ”By the end of this century we're looking at a doubling of area burned in Canada.”    Increased forest fires could lead to a vicious circle. They would mean more carbon emissions, which could then add to higher temperatures, and lead to more fires. ”If you have major fires, there could be some very significant impacts on the carbon budget,” Flannigan says.    If the fires are a result of global warming, authorities are trying to fight them with some local cooling. In Portugal, where the burnt area this summer is about eight times the size of capital Lisbon, twice the size of Malta, or about the size of 50,000 football stadiums, authorities are considering long-term measures to curb people from provoking fires in burning conditions.    ”It is essential that out of the ashes of the catastrophe the foundations emerge for a serious restructuring of Portugal's forests,” Jose Manuel Alho, president of the League for the Protection of Nature told IPS.    ”It is necessary to preserve our natural wealth, our biodiversity,” he says. That must include ”burning correctly in the winter in order to keep the forests from blazing in the summer.” The League has asked also for greater control over uncontrolled urban development within forest areas.    As local authorities explore ways to cool down human actions before ignition stage, the raging fires in a heat wave have underlined the debate on global warming--because people say they are beginning to feel it.    Copyright © 2003 IPS-Inter Press Service
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