What's driving the increase in forest fires?
Climate change is a major driver of forest fires, as warmer temperatures and drier conditions make forests more flammable.
Nancy is Research Manager for Global Forest Watch (GFW) within the Food, Forests and Water program. GFW is an international initiative originated by WRI to provide improved data and information about the world’s forests by merging the latest technology with on-the-ground partnerships. Nancy works to identify thematic and geographic research priorities for GFW and leads the acquisition and generation of new data and analytical content.
Climate change is a major driver of forest fires, as warmer temperatures and drier conditions make forests more flammable.
A new study published in Nature Climate Change has found that forests absorb a net average of 7.6 billion metric tonnes of CO2 per year.
In 2014, governments, companies, NGOs and Indigenous groups committed to a series of goals to protect forests, but in 2020, we're further from meeting them than we were six years ago.
Planting new forests is a powerful natural climate solution, but how to do this is still under debate. Could natural regrowth be the most effective approach?
Letting forests regrow naturally has the potential to absorb up to 8.9 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year through 2050.
Forest fires have been increasing dramatically, as global warming is leading to longer, harsher droughts and more extreme weather events.
Puerto Rico is no stranger to extreme events. Throughout recorded history, the island has been in the eye path of more than 50 tropical storms. It’s still recovering from last year’s Hurr...