Another year - and another two research articles published in Science by MCS Profs. Crystal Kolden, John Abatzoglou and coauthors - on the paradoxical and alarming escalation in human vulnerability to wildland fires amid climate change. Read the abstacts below and follow the links to read the articles!
1) Cunningham, C. X., et al. (2025). Climate-linked escalation of societally disastrous wildfires. Science 390, 53-58. DOI:10.1126/science.adr5127
Abstract: Climate change and land mismanagement are creating increasingly fire-prone built and natural environments. However, despite worsening fire seasons, evidence is lacking globally for trends in socially and economically disastrous wildfires, partly due to sparse systematic records. Using a 44-year dataset (1980 to 2023) we analyze the distribution, trends, and climatic conditions connected with the most lethal and costly wildfires. Disastrous wildfires occurred globally over this period but were concentrated in the Mediterranean and temperate conifer biomes. Disaster risk was highest where highly energetic daily fire events intersected affluent, populated areas. Economic disasters increased sharply from 2015 onward, with 43% of the 200 most damaging events occurring in the last decade. Disasters coincided with increasingly extreme climatic conditions, highlighting the urgent need to adapt to a more fire-prone world.
2) Teymoor Seydi, S., et al. (2025). Increasing global human exposure to wildland fires despite declining burned area. Science 389, 826-829. DOI:10.1126/science.adu6408
Abstract: Although half of Earth’s population resides in the wildland-urban interface, human exposure to wildland fires remains unquantified. We show that the population directly exposed to wildland fires increased 40% globally from 2002 to 2021 despite a 26% decline in burned area. Increased exposure was mainly driven by enhanced colocation of wildland fires and human settlements, doubling the exposure per unit burned area. We show that population dynamics accounted for 25% of the 440 million human exposures to wildland fires. Although wildfire disasters in North America, Europe, and Oceania have garnered the most attention, 85% of global exposures occurred in Africa. The top 0.01% of fires by intensity accounted for 0.6 and 5% of global exposures and burned area, respectively, warranting enhanced efforts to increase fire resilience in disaster-prone regions.
