This summer, raging wildfires have highlighted the impact of climate change on human health. Wildfires have claimed the lives of more than 30 people this season, and many have faced ill health from exposure to smoke.
The changing nature of wildfires around the world is one of the tragic impacts of climate change highlighted in Our Future on Earth 2020. – a report released Friday by Future Earth, an international network of researchers.
The report includes a survey of 222 leading scientists from 52 countries who identified five global risks: abandoning climate change mitigation and adaptation; extreme weather events; severe loss of biodiversity and destruction of ecosystems; food crises; and water crises.
They identified these risks as the most serious in terms of the impact on the health of the planets – the health of human civilization and the state of the natural systems on which it depends.
Notably, scientists have highlighted the threat posed by the interaction and feedback loops between these risks. In other words, each of these global risks aggravates each other in such a way that it can lead to a global systemic crisis.
For example, these are not just wildfires – they are a combination of wildfires with drought, loss of biodiversity, floods and ecosystem degradation.
We shouldn't think of them in isolation, as politicians sometimes think, for example, when we suggest responding to wildfires by simply removing vegetation.
Ultimately, the report makes you wonder: Will humans continue to thrive on Earth? The answer depends on whether we can act urgently to reduce our impact on the planet.
Hopefully there can be something good from this summer's devastating wildfires. They can simply help us understand the urgent need for climate action. The health and well-being of future generations depends on this.
Sources: Photo: ohn Sirlin / EyeEm
