US media: Unprecedented pollution, Canada's forest fire area has exceeded South Korea's land area
According to the latest data from the Canadian Forest Fire Service, as of July 27th local time, the cumulative area of forest fires in Canada has reached 122000 square kilometers, exceeding the territory of South Korea. According to expert estimates, Canada's carbon emissions from fires in 2023 are likely to far exceed the combined emissions of its oil and gas, transportation, and agriculture sectors.
On July 24th local time, a firefighting plane was extinguishing a fire in British Columbia, Canada.
Since the spring and summer of 2023, forest fires in Canada have been frequent, causing serious impacts on Canada and even North America. According to data from the Canadian Forest Fire Service, 4785 fires have been recorded since the beginning of 2023, with a cumulative area of over 122000 square kilometers. The Canadian Interdepartmental Forest Fire Prevention Center stated that 2023 is the most severe forest fire in the country's history.
Bloomberg stated that the pollution caused by these fires is "unprecedented". Under the influence of the fire, smoke covered major cities in North America, leading to airport closures, and smoke also crossed the Atlantic to reach Europe.
Among the far-reaching impacts caused by fires, there are also significant greenhouse gas emissions. Werner Kurtz, a senior research scientist at the Canadian Department of Natural Resources, stated that emissions in 2023 "exceeded the expected scale" compared to previous years. Kurtz's team helped the Canadian forestry department create a carbon budget model that is used by governments and scientists around the world.
According to reports, the complete data will not be released until 2025, but Kurtz stated that as of July 18th, preliminary estimates suggest that Canadian forest fires have released approximately 1.42 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gases. By contrast, the total emissions of all other economic sectors in the country in 2021 were approximately 670 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.
That is to say, the greenhouse gas emissions from forest fires in Canada in 2023 will be at least twice the total emissions of all other economic sectors in the country.
The vast forests in northern Canada have long been a carbon sink for absorbing carbon dioxide. But according to the current trend, the forests managed by the country will become the source of a large amount of carbon dioxide emissions, with the amount released exceeding the amount absorbed.
Kurtz's above estimate only includes direct greenhouse gas emissions from fires, and he also stated that in the coming years, the decomposition of charred tree residues will result in approximately the same amount of indirect emissions.
