There is “no doubt” that climate change is increasing the risk of wild fires around the world, researchers said on Tuesday, as Australia’s government faces criticism for denying devastating bush fires are definitively linked to global warming.

The government insists there is no direct link between climate change and the fires that have killed at least 28 people, destroyed 2,000 homes and razed 11.2 million hectares (27.7 million acres).

However, a review of 57 scientific studies by a team of British academics concluded that global warming is leading to an increase in hot, dry weather around the world that creates the conditions for wildfires to take hold.

There is “no doubt whatsoever” of the link between climate and fire risk, said Iain Colin Prentice, one of the review authors and the director of the Leverhulme Centre for Wildfires, Environment and Society at Imperial College London.

“Australia has measurably warmed by more than a degree … The occurrence of fire is very, very sensitive to temperature,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Australia contributes just 1.3 per cent of the world’s carbon emissions, though it is the second-largest emitter per capita after the United States.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his emissions reduction minister Angus Taylor say Australia does not need to cut carbon emissions more aggressively to limit global warming, pointing out it has beat its emissions reduction targets for 2020.

Source: Read Full Article