06 Mar An increase in wildfires predicted
Throughout 2023, climate change will result in more wildfires, according to data gathered over the previous five years. But trends suggest that the worst is yet to come.
Earth’s global average surface temperature has risen in the past twenty years at a worrying rate, all as a result of human activity.
In 2000: Earth’s average global surface temperature was 0.39c.
In 2005: That number was raised to 0.67c.
In 2010: That number again increased to 0.72c.
In 2015: 0.9 Celsius – by this time, things became obvious and the majority of people were clued in on the dangers of climate change, but still unaware of the response required.
Now, in 2023, the last reported average global surface temperature of the world was a worrying 0.89 Celsius, despite the majority of transportation being shut down due to the covid-19 pandemic.
Canada has recently reported that: “the world’s eight most extreme wildfire weather years have occurred in the last decade”.
In the META region, the effects of climate change cannot be ignored even by those who want to deny it; there is an increased regularity to wildfires. In 2021, eight farmhouses burnt down, 22 stores and packing rooms and 21 farm houses damaged, four fatalities were reported and several individuals were injured, this is of course, before further damages caused as a result of the wildfires’ impacts on the region’s economy.
The Working On Fire (WOF)’s contribution to combatting, on average, 2,500 wildland fires per annum speaks further to the number of wildfires taking place. The silver lining, is that there has been intensive development in the WOF Program, which has continued to grow at an incredible rate over the last 18 years. It now has the capability and size of workforce to battle wildfires as they take place.
The future of the WOF is subject to the availability of government funding, however, with the increase in global surface temperature, more wildfires are bound to spread across the META region, meaning the WOF will be needed more than ever.
Tackling wildfires doesn’t always have to mean expensive equipment, tools or technology. It seems that sheep could actually be a powerful weapon to manage wildfires – and it’s cost efficient and effective for fire fuel mitigation.