What does climate change have to do with bushfires?
Bin Jalaludin A B D and Geoffrey G. Morgan B CA School of Population Health, University of New South Wales, High Street, Kensington, NSW 2052, Australia.
B Centre for Air pollution, energy and health Research (CAR), 431 Glebe Point Road, Glebe, NSW 2037, Australia.
C Sydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW 2006, Australia. Email: geoffrey.morgan@sydney.edu.au
D Corresponding author. Email: b.jalaludin@unsw.edu.au
Australian Health Review 45(1) 4-6 https://doi.org/10.1071/AHv45n1_ED3
Published: 3 February 2021
Abstract
A warming climate is increasing the duration of fire seasons and the risk of more extensive and intense bushfires. The Black Summer bushfires that occurred in Australia from September 2019 to early February 2020 were unprecedented in their scale and intensity. The fires led to loss of lives and homes, and widespread destruction of flora, fauna and ecosystems. Dense smoke from these catastrophic fires blanketed major cities and towns for weeks. A Commonwealth Royal Commission and two state inquiries provided recommendations for reducing the risk of future bushfires and for better disaster management processes to support the preparedness, relief, response and recovery to such megafires. While strategies to reduce the risk of bushfires and the damage to our biota and ecosystems are necessary and important, there is also an urgent need for mitigation strategies to reduce or prevent emission of greenhouse gases. If we are to minimise the planetary effects of a warming climate, we need to limit global warming to well below 2°C compared to pre-industrial levels and to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050. This requires transformative thinking and action by our political leaders that builds on the Australian public and industry’s willingness to play their part.
References
[1] Bureau of Meteorology and Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation. State of the climate 2020. 2020. Available at: https://www.csiro.au/en/Showcase/state-of-the-climate [verified 12 January 2021].[2] Di Virgilio G, Evans JP, Blake SAP, Armstrong M, Dowdy AJ, Sharples J, McRae R. Climate change increases the potential for extreme wildfires. Geophys Res Lett 2019; 46 8517–26.
| Climate change increases the potential for extreme wildfires.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
[3] van Oldenborgh GJ, Krikken F, Lewis S, Leach NJ, Lehner F, Saunders KR, van Weele M, Haustein K, Li S, Wallom D, Sparrow S, Arrighi J, Singh RP, van Aalst MK, Philip SY, Vautard R, Otto FEL. Attribution of the Australian bushfire risk to anthropogenic climate change. Nat Hazards Earth Syst Sci 2020;
| Attribution of the Australian bushfire risk to anthropogenic climate change.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
[4] Page SE, Siegert F, Rieley JO, Boehm H-DV, Jaya A, Limin S. The amount of carbon released from peat and forest fires in Indonesia during 1997. Nature 2002; 420 61–5.
| The amount of carbon released from peat and forest fires in Indonesia during 1997.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
[5] Commonwealth of Australia. Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements report. 2020. Available at: https://naturaldisaster.royalcommission.gov.au/system/files/2020-11/Royal%20Commission%20into%20National%20Natural%20Disaster%20Arrangements%20-%20Report%20%20%5Baccessible%5D.pdf [verified 12 January 2021].
[6] Werner J, Lyons S. The size of Australia’s bushfire crisis captured in five big numbers. ABC News, 5 March 2020. Available at: https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2020-03-05/bushfire-crisis-five-big-numbers/12007716 [verified 12 January 2021].
[7] Australia Institute. Polling – Climate change concern. 2020. Available at: https://australiainstitute.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Polling-January-2020-Climate-change-concern-and-attitude-Web.pdf [verified 12 January 2021].
[8] Johnston FH, Borchers-Arriagada N, Morgan GG, Jalaludin B, Palmer AJ, Williamson GJ, Bowman DMJS. Unprecedented health costs of smoke-related PM2.5 from the 2019–20 Australian megafires. Nat Sustain 2021; 4 42–7.
[9] Read P, Denniss R. With costs approaching $100 billion, the fires are Australia’s costliest natural disaster. The Conversation, 17 January 2020. Available at: https://theconversation.com/with-costs-approaching-100-billion-the-fires-are-australias-costliest-natural-disaster-129433 [verified 12 January 2021].
[10] Bryant RA, Waters E, Gibbs L, Gallagher HC, Pattison P, Lusher D, MacDougall C, Harms L, Block K, Snowdon E, Sinnott V, Ireton G, Richardson J, Forbes D. Psychological outcomes following the Victorian Black Saturday bushfires. Aust N Z J Psychiatry 2014; 48 634–43.
| Psychological outcomes following the Victorian Black Saturday bushfires.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
[11] Cousins S. Bushfires expose weaknesses in Australia’s health system. Lancet 2020; 395 175–6.
| Bushfires expose weaknesses in Australia’s health system.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
[12] Jalaludin B, Johnston F, Vardoulakis S, Morgan G. Reflections on the catastrophic 2019–2020 Australian bushfires. Innov 2020; 1 100010
| Reflections on the catastrophic 2019–2020 Australian bushfires.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
[13] Victorian Government. Inquiry into the 2019–20 Victorian fire season, phase 1: community and sector preparedness for and response to the 2019–20 fire season. 2020. Available at: https://apo.org.au/sites/default/files/resource-files/2020-09/apo-nid308425.pdf [verified 12 January 2021].
[14] New South Wales Government. Final report of the NSW Bushfire Inquiry. 2020. Available at: https://www.dpc.nsw.gov.au/assets/dpc-nsw-gov-au/publications/NSW-Bushfire-Inquiry-1630/Final-Report-of-the-NSW-Bushfire-Inquiry.pdf [verified 12 January 2021].
[15] Zhang Y, Beggs PJ, McGushin A, Bambrick H, Trueck S, Hanigan IC, Morgan GG, Berry HL, Linnenluecke MK, Johnston FH, Capon AG, Watts N. The 2020 special report of the MJA–Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: lessons learnt from Australia’s ‘Black Summer’. Med J Aust 2020; 213 490–2.e10.
| The 2020 special report of the MJA–Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: lessons learnt from Australia’s ‘Black Summer’.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
[16] Yu P, Xu R, Abramson MJ, Li S, Guo Y. Bushfires in Australia: a serious health emergency under climate change. Lancet Planet Health 2020; 4 e7–8.
| Bushfires in Australia: a serious health emergency under climate change.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
[17] Rogelj J, Shindell D, Jiang K, Fifita S, Forster P, Ginzburg V, Handa C, Kheshgi H, Kobayashi S, Kriegler E, Mundaca L, Séférian R, Vilariño MV. Mitigation pathways compatible with 1.5°C in the context of sustainable development. In: Masson-Delmotte V, Zhai P, Pörtner HO, Roberts D, Skea J, Shukla PR, Pirani A, Moufouma-Okia W, Péan C, Pidcock R, Connors S, Matthews JBR, Chen Y, Zhou X, Gomis MI, Lonnoy E, Maycock T, Tignor M, Waterfield T, editors. Global warming of 1.5°C: an IPCC special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty. 2018. Available at: https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/sites/2/2019/05/SR15_Chapter2_High_Res.pdf [verified 12 January 2021].
