Climate change will feed wildfires: experts

Out-of-control wildfires like the ones that brought destruction to southern Europe, North America and parts of South Africa in recent weeks will likely become more frequent as global temperatures soar under climate change, experts say.
More than 10,000 people had to flee raging fires in southern France this week, and several villages were evacuated in Portugal just weeks after another blaze killed more than 60 people there.
In South Africa in June, nine people died and some 10,000 people were evacuated from their homes as fires raged through the drought-stricken Western Cape region, while this month some 40,000 people have had to flee wildfires in western Canada, where officials declared a state of emergency.

In California, some 8,000 people were evacuated last week ahead of fires that razed vast swathes of forest.
Long periods of heat cause vegetation to become dry and inflammable, easily set alight by lightning, spontaneous combustion, or fires lit by humans.
The more the mercury climbs, the higher the risk for more, and more intense, wildfires.

Scientists say the average global temperature has risen by one degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) since the Industrial Revolution, when mankind started emitting heat- trapping greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels into the atmosphere.
Most of the world's nations agreed in Paris in 2015 to limit overall warming to 2 C.

But experts say this will not be enough, and severe heatwaves and drought will grow worse regardless.
And it is not just heat to blame for fires.
A recent study showed that extreme thunderstorms formed due to higher temperatures, and were the main driver for massive fires in Alaska and Canada in recent years. More storms mean more lighting to ignite fires.
According to Thomas Curt, a researcher at France's Irstea climate and agriculture research institute, big fires of over 100 hectares, and "megafires" over 1,000 hectares, have been "a growing problem worldwide and notably in Mediterranean Europe".
And NASA research shows that fires have increased in Canada and the American west, as well as in regions of China, India, Brazil and southern Africa.

According to NASA, "a warming and drying climate," was to blame.
"Climate change has increased fire risk in many regions," according to the space agency.
The UN's World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said last month that parts of Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and the southwestern United States experienced extremely high May and June temperatures.