Implications of changing climate for global wildland fire
Abstract
Wildland fire is a global phenomenon, and a result of interactions between climate–weather, fuels and people. Our climate is changing rapidly primarily through the release of greenhouse gases that may have profound and possibly unexpected impacts on global fire activity. The present paper reviews the current understanding of what the future may bring with respect to wildland fire and discusses future options for research and management. To date, research suggests a general increase in area burned and fire occurrence but there is a lot of spatial variability, with some areas of no change or even decreases in area burned and occurrence. Fire seasons are lengthening for temperate and boreal regions and this trend should continue in a warmer world. Future trends of fire severity and intensity are difficult to determine owing to the complex and non-linear interactions between weather, vegetation and people. Improved fire data are required along with continued global studies that dynamically include weather, vegetation, people, and other disturbances. Lastly, we need more research on the role of policy, practices and human behaviour because most of the global fire activity is directly attributable to people.
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Climatic changes are implicated in global fire variations.
“Climatic changes are implicated in global fire variations23 and are expected to increase fire season severity over the coming decades24.”
From Climate-induced variations in global wildfire danger from 1979 to 2013 (2015) · cites this paper as [23]
Human impacts, novel climates, and evolving vegetation can alter the type of fire that occurs in a location.
“It is also clear that HIs, novel climates, and evolving vegetation can alter the type of fire that occurs in a location (15, 17, 27, 46–48).”
From Defining pyromes and global syndromes of fire regimes (2013) · cites this paper as [46]
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- Authors
- Flannigan, M. D., Krawchuk, M. A., de Groot, W. J., Wotton, B. M., & Gowman, L. M.
- Affiliations
- Canadian Forest Service (CA)
- University of California, Berkeley (US)
- ANatural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service, Great Lakes Forestry Centre, 1219 Queen Street-East, Sault Ste. Marie, ON, P6A 2E5, Canada.
- Corresponding author
- Flannigan, Mike D.
- Venue
- International Journal of Wildland Fire
- Publisher
- CSIRO Publishing
- Published
- 2009-08-10
- Volume
- 18
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 483-507
- ISSN
- 1049-8001 (ISSN-L)
- 1448-5516
- OpenAlex
- W2168338454
- Cited by
- 1,460
- References
- 13
- Citations by year
- 2026: 83 · 2025: 91 · 2024: 107 · 2023: 95 · 2022: 135 · 2021: 103 · 2020: 106 · 2019: 97 · 2018: 97 · 2017: 90 · 2016: 96 · 2015: 63 · 2014: 72 · 2013: 76 · 2012: 58
- FWCI
- 42.12
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- International Journal of Wildland Fire (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Fire effects on ecosystems
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Forest Management and Policy
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Rangeland and Wildlife Management
- Keywords
- forest fires, climate change, burned area, fire severity, fire intensity, human-caused fires, fire management, fire policy, greenhouse gases, fire weather
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