Fire enemy number one of the woods

Fire, enemy number one of the woods

They arrive at this criterion considering the most repeated and most important negative impacts they have on forest, ecological, economic, social and cultural ecosystems.

Data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) shows that around 12 million hectares of forest are burned every year, causing direct damage to the production and quality of wood products.

Adding to the damage is the destruction of the landscape and severe economic and environmental impacts on society and nature.

It is estimated that the average annual cost of wildfires worldwide is more than $50 billion.

These events also pollute the atmosphere with six million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year, more than double the amount of fossil fuels emitted by the European Union in all of 2020, experts warn.

They also point out that so far this century only in the United States has this type of fire destroyed more than two million acres annually.

In this country, Canada, Russia, Spain, Australia, Mexico, Argentina, Portugal, Chile and Brazil, among many others including Cuba, accidents of this type occur every year, increasingly frequent phenomena amid the increasing global warming of the environment.

According to experts, these phenomena have appeared on Earth practically since the existence of vegetation, and in the most distant times they appeared naturally due to electrical discharges.

His control was also natural, either through the rain or through reaching barriers like rivers and cliffs.

Today’s statistics, however, point to human irresponsible actions or human negligence as the main cause.

or S