The Limits of Livability

The report examines how forest fires, driven by both climate change and deliberate land clearing, create poor air quality that severely impacts public health. It highlights specific crises in the Amazon, Australia, and Canada, noting increased hospital admissions and respiratory issues, and calls for a moratorium on land-clearing fires in the Amazon and alignment with the Paris Agreement's 1.5°C target.

• Forest fire smoke contains pollutants such as particulate matter, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and volatile organic compounds, which can affect large populations. In Australia's 2019/2020 fires, 80% of the population were affected by smoke pollution.
• Wildfire smoke causes short-term health issues including coughing, shortness of breath, and increased emergency hospital attendance, particularly for children and people with asthma, COPD, or cardiovascular disease. Exposure is linked to adverse pregnancy outcomes such as low birth-weight.
• In Canada's 2018 fire season, the worst on record, 1.3 million hectares burned, leading the Interior Health Authority to close 19 sites and evacuate 880 patients at a cost of $2.2 million US dollars.
• During the 2019/2020 Australian bushfires, air quality in state capital cities reached ten times hazardous levels. In Canberra, PM2.5 levels peaked at 2,496 μg/m3 between January 5-11, and prescriptions for shortness-of-breath inhalers rose by 73%.
• In the Amazon basin, approximately 10 million of the 27 million residents live in areas of poor air quality. The August 2019 fires led to increased respiratory problems in children, decreased lung function, and higher rates of hospital admissions.

APA

MacGuire, F., & Sergeeva, M. (2021). The Limits of Livability. Global Climate and Health Alliance. https://climateandhealthalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/16062021_GCHA_bushfire_report_limits_livability_health-copy_Executive-Summary.pdf

Chicago

MacGuire, Frances, and Milena Sergeeva. The Limits of Livability. Global Climate and Health Alliance, 2021. https://climateandhealthalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/16062021_GCHA_bushfire_report_limits_livability_health-copy_Executive-Summary.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=MacGuire |first1=Frances |last2=Sergeeva |first2=Milena |title=The Limits of Livability |publisher=Global Climate and Health Alliance |date=2021 |url=https://climateandhealthalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/16062021_GCHA_bushfire_report_limits_livability_health-copy_Executive-Summary.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{macguire2021limits, author = {MacGuire, Frances and Sergeeva, Milena}, title = {{The Limits of Livability}}, institution = {Global Climate and Health Alliance}, year = {2021}, url = {https://climateandhealthalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/16062021_GCHA_bushfire_report_limits_livability_health-copy_Executive-Summary.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }