The thousands of forest fires that hit Canada this year emitted the equivalent of more than 1 billion tons of carbon dioxide (CO2), an unprecedented record, Canadian authorities announced Friday.
The value is almost equal to the annual emissions of Japan (1,120 million tons of CO2 in 2021), the fifth largest polluter in the world, and higher than the annual emissions of the entire global aviation sector in 2022 (almost 800 million tons). tons of CO2).
“This summer has turned into a real marathon,” said Michael Norton, director general of the Canadian Forest Service, as the western part of the country braced for another heat wave.
“Our preliminary estimates indicate that the emissions of the current season exceeded the equivalent of 1,000 million tons of carbon dioxide,” he said.
Michael Norton also warned that the risk of fire should be “above normal” until September.
At the end of July, carbon emissions from wildfires in Canada were more than double the previous maximum annual record from 2014, according to data from the European Copernicus observatory.
The ‘megafires’ registered this year spread throughout the country with great intensity, breaking records in many provinces.
This Friday, Canada was on maximum fire alert for exactly 90 days, the longest on record, after 50 days in 2021.
“This year’s bushfire season was very instructive, it showed us what awaits us if we do nothing to reduce emissions,” Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said during a news conference in Vancouver on Friday. .
The ruler pointed to global warming as the “main cause” of the ‘megafires’, which resulted in four deaths.
The fires have so far burned 13.5 million hectares, equivalent to the area of Greece, almost double the area of the last absolute record, which dates from 1989 with 7.3 million hectares, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire. Center (CIFFC) . .
Since May, Canada has received help from almost 5,000 firefighters from 12 countries, including Portugal, in June.
More than 200 evacuation orders were issued, forcing an estimated 168,000 Canadians to temporarily leave their homes.
British Columbia, the hardest-hit province this month, is expected to experience unusually high temperatures this weekend and next week, exacerbating the drought.
Source: TSF
