The fires in Australia are posing an unprecedented ecological disaster. With 11 million hectares burned , an area larger than the nation of Guatemala, in these fires more than 2,200 houses caught fire and 29 people died. As if this weren’t enough, the cost to animals and plants, many of which are evolutionarily unique and endemic to the continent, is terrifying.
It is estimated that more than a billion animals have died, although the actual number could be much higher, since this estimate does not include bats, frogs or invertebrates.
The extreme intensity of the fires and the speed with which they have moved, driven by gusts of winds of up to 60 kilometers per hour, have also increased the death toll. Especially in the case of species closely linked to trees, such as koalas or marsupials, they have had little chance of escape. It is clear that this crisis will continue long after the fires are out. Will the animals have adequate habitat or food left to survive?
Considering that 2019 has been the hottest and driest year on record, it’s no wonder the annual wildfire season started earlier and the fires were more severe than usual.
What awaits us
The worst of the outlook unfolding right now in Australia is just a taste of the new normal. It is what awaits us in a future warmer than ever.
Climate change has the potential to reshape all life on the planet as we know it. All lines of scientific evidence that clearly show the relationship between man-made climate change and the intensification of extreme weather conditions should be rethought, not just in Australia, but across the globe.
Have we reached a tipping point? Some scientists argue that we have already started a domino effect that could lead to a cascade of abrupt changes that will continue to unfold for years and decades to come.
For the moment, today we remember the forest fires that marked a critical day throughout these first 20 years of the 21st century.
