January 14, 2020

wildfires and climate change – a new rapid response literature review

Do we know how much climate change affects the likelihood or frequency of wildfires like those currently happening in Australia?

UEA and the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research run an online platform call ScienceBrief, where scientists gather publications on various topics and summarise the overall evidence.

Scientists have conducted a rapid response literature review of all peer-reviewed studies looking at climate change and wildfire risk.

Journalists came to the SMC to hear the authors of the review and additional panellists discuss what the evidence suggests.  They were also happy to answer wider questions about climate change and wildfires.

Speakers included:

Prof Corinne Le Quere, Royal Society Research Professor of Climate Change Science, University of East Anglia

Dr Matthew Jones, Senior Research Associate, Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, University of East Anglia

Prof Richard Betts, Head of Climate Impacts Research at the Met Office Hadley Centre, and Chair in Climate Impacts at the University of Exeter

Prof Colin Prentice, Chair of Biosphere and Climate Impacts and Director, Leverhulme Centre for Wildfires, Environment and Society, Imperial College London

This Briefing was accompanied by an SMC roundup of comments.