How Climate Change Caused Mega Bushfire in Australia

There are great lessons picked from Australia’s wildfire, as research linked its cause to climate change. According to IUCN report, lightning struck some parts of New South Wales Australia on September 2019, igniting bushfire that burned close to 18 million hectares, displaced an estimated 140 million of wild animals and displaced close to 3500 households.

The inferno was fuelled by record high temperatures and months of critical drought.  CNN report indicated that the bushfire that occurred in New South Wales lasted for 240 days before it was fully extinguished.

The damage was devastating and in record history it was the largest wildfire in Australia. Blankets of smoke characterized Australia’s vast forest for months and spread from the northern part of the country to the Southern part.

Research indicates that climate change is one of the biggest threats to biodiversity.  Australian Government probe concluded that the terrific bushfire was a direct result of climate change. Apart from the Australian bushfire, the mega-fires that overwhelmed the Western part of US and parts of the Siberian forest were as a result of climate change.

Despite the gigantic loss attributed to bushfire, research indicates that most of the Australian eucalyptus tree relies on fire for regeneration to happen and for their seed pods to explode.

The Australian wildfire, colloquially referred as Black Summer had adverse effects on the environment. According to NASA analysis on January 2020, the Australian bushfire had emitted 306 million tonnes of Carbon dioxide.

Research conducted by the University of Sydney recorded that approximately 1 billion wildlife perished in the Australian bushfire, while 800,000 wild animals perished in New South Wales.