Skip to main content
The Morning Star Shop
Burning issues
A new study has found that forests destroyed by wildfires emit carbon long after the flames die, with implications for post-fire management, write NATASCHA KLJUN and JULIA KELLY
ONLY THE BEGINNING: Forest fire at Umatilla National Forest, Pacific Northwest Region in 2021 [Brendan O'Reilly/CC]

EVEN in Earth’s high northern-latitude forest, climate change is predicted to make wildfires more frequent and severe

Earth’s far north hosts the boreal forest, a vast green belt that stretches from North America to Siberia. The boreal forest is one of the world’s largest CO₂ sinks. Over the past few thousand years it has removed around one trillion tonnes of carbon from the air, storing it in the trees and soil. Because of the large amount of carbon stored in the boreal forest, fires here can release much more CO₂ into the air than forest fires elsewhere, amplifying climate change.

A large CO₂ store is in danger

What about elsewhere?

Post-fire management is critical

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
HABITAT SPECIFIC: A vicuna in the Chilean Altiplano
Features / 28 February 2025
28 February 2025
What has worked well – and what needs to change – for the convention that controls trade in endangered species? DAN CHALLENDER and MICHAEL ’T SAS-ROLFES explain
Los Angeles Fire Department's Dylan Casey and Mike Alvarez w
Features / 14 January 2025
14 January 2025
Addressing new climate challenges will require co-ordinated efforts by governments and local authorities for both drought and flood risks — and it’s people power that will be key to getting policy implemented, writes DOUG SPECHT
Features / 7 November 2024
7 November 2024
The biodiversity summit in Colombia showed national governments are struggling to address the complexity of challenges that need to be overcome if we’re to preserve the natural world, writes HARRIET BULKELEY
Shadow Energy Secretary Ed Miliband on board the jack-up bar
Features / 10 October 2024
10 October 2024
The government’s reliance on unproven and short-termist technology won’t deliver answers to today’s energy crisis, warns MARK MASLIN