In photos: Fires rage across the world as new report warns of escalating climate change
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A local resident gestures as he holds an empty water hose during an attempt to extinguish forest fires approaching the village of Pefki on Evia (Euboea) island, Greece's second largest island, on August 8, 2021. Photo: Angelos Tzortzinis/AFP via Getty Images
As a new report by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned Monday of the "unequivocal" connection between human-caused global warming and extreme weather and climate events, massive wildfires burned across the world.
Why it matters: There appears to be no end in sight. Wildfires are currently devastating large swaths of the U.S., Canada, Russia, and the Mediterranean, and the wildfire season is far from over.
The big picture: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report notes that the world is on track to pass a crucial temperature threshold a decade sooner than expected.
- The report warns of the potential for "compound events," in which various extremes, such as heatwaves and drought events, occur simultaneously.
State of play: Even with 107 large wildfires burning across the American West, the region will brace for a new heatwave this week.
- California's Dixie Fire is the second-biggest wildfire in the state's history and the largest blaze now burning in the U.S. It remains only 21% contained as of Monday morning, per Cal Fire.
- Dozens of wildfires broke out in Greece last week after the country suffered its worst heatwave in decades, prompting a U.S. senator to appeal to the federal government to send aid.
- Wildfires in Turkey forced thousands to evacuate and killed six at the start of the month.
- Intense wildfires burning across Siberia's Sakha Republic have been active for months and their smoke has even reached the North Pole.
In Photos
Editor's Note: This story has been updated.
