A CRISIS RAGING OUT OF CONTROL? FIRES, FORESTS AND THE FUTURE

The report examines the global wildfire crisis, highlighting that humans are responsible for 75% of all wildfires and that climate change is increasing fire season length and severity. It details the devastating impacts on biodiversity, human health, and economies, while calling for urgent global action through improved climate ambition, a shift toward prevention-based budgeting, and the halting of deforestation.

• Human activity is a primary driver of wildfires, estimated to be responsible for 75% of all incidents in recent years. In the Northern Hemisphere, negligence is a dominant cause, accounting for 95% of fires in Europe and 84% in the US.
• Climate change is intensifying wildfire trends by increasing the length of fire seasons and the severity of burns. Between 1979 and 2013, the global fire season length increased by an average of 19%, with South American forests and savannahs seeing an increase of over one month.
• Wildfires create a positive feedback loop with climate change: higher temperatures and drier weather lead to more intense fires, which release massive amounts of carbon, further accelerating global heating. In 2019, extreme fires from the Arctic to the Amazon contributed approximately one fifth of global carbon emissions from fossil fuels.
• The ecological and biodiversity losses from wildfires are catastrophic. In Australia's 2019-2020 season, up to 3 billion animals were killed or displaced, and 26 native species were pushed closer to extinction because more than 30% of their habitat burned.
• Wildfires have severe human health and economic costs. Annually, an estimated 340,000 premature deaths are attributed to respiratory and cardiovascular issues from wildfire smoke, with 80% occurring in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. Economically, the 2018 wildfire season cost the US approximately $50 billion.
• There is a systemic failure in fire management due to an over-reliance on suppression over prevention. In the US, the fire management budget decreased from $6 billion to $4.75 billion over a decade, while the proportion of the budget spent on suppression rose from 11% to 55%.

APA

WWF International (2020). A CRISIS RAGING OUT OF CONTROL? FIRES, FORESTS AND THE FUTURE. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/903/28zpi2e4zt_wwf_fires_forests_and_the_future_report.pdf

Chicago

WWF International. A CRISIS RAGING OUT OF CONTROL? FIRES, FORESTS AND THE FUTURE. 2020. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/903/28zpi2e4zt_wwf_fires_forests_and_the_future_report.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=WWF International |title=A CRISIS RAGING OUT OF CONTROL? FIRES, FORESTS AND THE FUTURE |date=2020 |url=https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/903/28zpi2e4zt_wwf_fires_forests_and_the_future_report.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{wwfinternational2020crisis, author = {{WWF International}}, title = {{A CRISIS RAGING OUT OF CONTROL? FIRES, FORESTS AND THE FUTURE}}, institution = {WWF International}, year = {2020}, url = {https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/903/28zpi2e4zt_wwf_fires_forests_and_the_future_report.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }