In Australia as well as the Mediterranean, there’s also a strong view that fires will increase, again because of warmer or drier conditions under climate change. The fires in Quebec and the fires in the western parts of Canada are totally consistent with climate change. Second, in boreal regions, fires can thaw permafrost, beginning a cascade of microbial processes that may also generate greenhouse gases. Then there’s the problem of climate change affecting the succession of vegetation in an ecosystem. The fires are a terrible calamity, an outcome of climate change that can’t easily be controlled.
