Heatwaves and wildfires are setting back air quality improvements, UN finds

A wildfire burning near the coast of Syracuse in Sicily, Italy, toward the end of last month. Photograph: Stéphane Mahé/Reuters View image in fullscreen A wildfire burning near the coast of Syracuse in Sicily, Italy, toward the end of last month. Photograph: Stéphane Mahé/Reuters Heatwaves and wildfires are setting back air quality improvements, UN finds WMO report details extreme weather events causing climatic feedback loop with serious health consequences Big increases in wildfires and heatwaves supercharged , UN experts have said. Regions that had recorded a fall in pollution emitted , according to a new report, while rising temperatures caused a surge in ground-level ozone. In turn, the pollution generated -linked events is itself contributing to climate breakdown, creating a feedback loop that risks dragging the world deeper into environmental catastrophe. “Air quality and climate cannot be treated as separate subjects; they are deeply intertwined and have to be treated together,” said Lorenzo Labrador, a scientific officer of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which issued the report. View image in fullscreen Thick haze from expanding wildfires engulfs Palembang in South Sumatra. Photograph: Mast Irham/EPAThe WMO publishes its air quality and climate bulletin annually, to coincide with the UN’s international day for clean air. Among its key findings was that extreme wildfires are increasing, leading to serious health consequences because of the toxicity of the smoke they are emitting. This trend, “driven by a feedback loop between climate change and fire-conducive weather conditions”, was leading to an “urgent and growing public health threat”. As well as carrying high concentrations of fine particulate matter, smoke from wildfires causes oxidative stress in people’s bodies. “Systematic reviews and experimental studies consistently link wildfire smoke exposure to increased asthma attacks, hospitalisations for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), spiked respiratory medication use, as well as impacts on mental health and birth outcomes,” the report said. According to one study cited, a tripling of wildfires since the 1990s had contributed to almost 100,000 deaths a year between 2010 and 2018. The report also raises the alarm about ground-level ozone pollution, which is exacerbated . “Ozone is a very powerful oxidant,” Labradorsaid. “So once it gets to the lung, it essentially oxidises lung tissue and causes inflammation and circulatory problems, and eventually heart problems.” In heavily polluted regions, roughly one in five deaths from COPD is now attributed to long-term exposure to ozone, the report said. View image in fullscreen The Ross fire in Palo Pinto, Texas is yet to be fully extinguished after it started late last month.