2019-20 Australia Wildfires (HIC) Flashcards
How many hectares were burnt?
-Up to 19 million, with 12.6 million hectares primarily forest and woodland
What was the role of climate change?
-Climate change doesn’t cause bushfires, but it makes them worse and more frequent.
-Australia has been experiencing more intense heatwaves and prolonged dry periods, creating ideal conditions for bushfires to thrive in.
-In the lead up to the fires of 2019-20, record breaking temperatures were recorded across Australia.
-The average maximum reached 40.9 Celsius and then broken by a temperature 41.9 Celsius the following day.
The status of koalas
-In 2012, the koala species was listed as ‘vulnerable’ in Queensland, NSW and Australian Capital Territory
-Since then, deforestation and land clearing have increased and population declines have been made worse by the bushfires.
-Ecologists predict number of koalas has halved and should be uplisted from ‘vulnerable’ to ‘endanged’
-in some parts of Queensland, koalas are functionally extinct
WWF report on damage to biodiversity
-They predict that within the forests and woodlands burned, 3bn native vertebrates woud have been killed
-143 million mammas
-2.46 bn realities
-180 million birds
-51 million frogs
How many people killed?
28
How many homes lost?
2000
Rainfall
-2019 was Australias driest year on record, with rainfall being 40% lower than average recorded between 1990-2019
How much of australias land was burned
-17% australias total land
-143m acres of forest
What were the causes?
Each year there is a fire season during the Australian summer, with hot, dry weather making it easy for blazes to start and spread. 2019-20s more severe fires were exacerbated by record-breaking temperatures combined with severe drought and strong winds, which made the fires and smoke spread more rapidly.
Natural causes were to blame in most instances, including from lightning strikes in drought-affected forests. Dry lightning was responsible for starting a number of fires in Victoria’s East Gippsland region in late December, for example. Humans can also be to blame—with police reporting that people had been arrested and charged for deliberately starting bushfires
What was the government response?
he Australian Government has established the National Bushfire Recovery Agency which is coordinating a national response to rebuild communities and livelihoods.
The agency’s initial $2 billion recovery fund is ensuring the families, farmers and business owners hit by these unprecedented bushfires get the support they need as they recover.
The carbon cycle positive feedback loop and how much carbon did the fires emit?
2019–2020 bushfires have already emitted 400 megatonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, according to the Copernicus monitoring programme. This is as much as Australia’s average annual carbon dioxide emissions in just the past three months. These will increase Australia’s annual greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to global warming, and heighten the likelihood of recurring megafires that will release yet more emissions. This is a deeply concerning climate feedback loop.
