The Limits of Livability

This executive summary from the Global Climate and Health Alliance (GCHA) examines the health threats posed by smoke from forest fires and bushfires, which are increasingly driven or fueled by climate change. It details the acute health risks to vulnerable populations, provides case studies from Canada, Australia, and Brazil, and recommends urgent forest protection, health system adaptation, and global climate action to limit warming to 1.5°C.

• Forest fire smoke contains pollutants such as particulate matter, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and volatile organic compounds, which can affect large populations. In Australia, 80% of the population was impacted by smoke pollution during the 2019/2020 fires.
• Wildfire smoke causes short-term health issues including coughing, shortness of breath, and increased emergency hospital attendance, particularly for children. It is linked to ambulance callouts for cardiovascular, respiratory, and diabetic problems, as well as adverse pregnancy outcomes like low birth-weight.
• Case studies highlight severe regional impacts: in Canada's 2018 fire season, 1.3 million hectares burned and the Interior Health Authority spent $2.2 million US dollars to evacuate 880 patients and displace over 700 staff. In Australia's 2019/2020 fires, PM2.5 levels in Canberra reached 2,496 μg/m3 (ten times hazardous levels in capital cities), leading to a 73% increase in inhaler prescriptions for shortness of breath. In the Amazon basin, approximately 10 million of the 27 million residents live in areas of poor air quality, with forest burning linked to decreased lung function and increased hospital admissions.
• The GCHA recommends an immediate moratorium on man-made land clearing fires in the Amazon and other regions, the updating of fire evacuation plans, and the alignment of climate mitigation with the Paris Agreement target of limiting global warming to 1.5°C.

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} }