Climate-driven increases in wildfires is threatening progress on air quality worldwide, the Guardian reports.
A new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warns that regions previously recording reductions in pollution from vehicles and industry are now facing worsening air quality from wildfire smoke and rising ground-level ozone during intense heatwaves.
The report describes increasing extreme wildfires, driven by a “feedback loop between climate change and fire-conducive weather conditions”, as an “urgent and growing public health threat”.
Wildfire smoke contains high concentrations of fine particulate matter, with exposure linked to respiratory and mental health impacts. One study cited by the report found that a tripling of wildfires since the 1990s contributed to almost 100,000 deaths a year between 2010 and 2018.
Lorenzo Labrador, Scientific Officer at the WMO, said: “Air quality and climate cannot be treated as separate subjects; they are deeply intertwined and have to be treated together.”
The report also highlights rising ozone pollution during prolonged heatwaves. In heavily polluted regions, around one in five COPD deaths are attributed to long-term ozone exposure.
Pollution from fossil fuel activity, farming, heating, transport, wildfires and dust storms can also influence climate by altering clouds and, through black carbon deposition on snow and ice, accelerating global heating.
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