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Over recent decades, the Arctic has begun facing a range of climate-related challenges, from rising temperatures to melting ice caps and permafrost thaw, with significant implications for ecosystems and human well-being. Addressing the health impacts of these issues requires a comprehensive approach, integrating scientific research, community engagement, and policy interventions. This study conducts a literature review to assess the effects of climate change on human health in northern latitudes and to compile adaptation strategies from the Arctic countries. A literature search was performed between January and April 2024 for papers published after 2000, using the electronic databases Web of Science, Pubmed, Science Direct, Scopus, Google Scholar, and eLibrary.RU, with specific questions formulated to direct the search: (i) What are the climate changes? (ii) How does climate change affect human health? (iii) What adaptation measures and policies are required? The key phrases "climate change", "human health", "adaptation practices", and "Arctic" were employed for searching. Ultimately, 56 relevant studies were identified, reviewing health risks such as infectious diseases, mental health issues, and diseases connected with extreme weather events; wildfires and their associated pollution; permafrost degradation; pure water; and food quality. The paper also examines mitigation and adaptation strategies at all levels of governance, emphasizing the need for international cooperation and policy action to combat negative health outcomes, investments in healthcare infrastructure, emergency preparedness, and public health education. Incorporating diverse perspectives, including Indigenous knowledge, Community-Based Adaptation, EcoHealth and One Health approaches, is crucial for effectively addressing the health risks associated with climate change. In conclusion, the paper proposes adaptation strategies to mitigate the health impacts of climate change in the Arctic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wildfires have short- and long-term impacts on the geoenvironment, including the changes to biogeochemical and mechanical properties of soils, landfill stability, surface- and groundwater, air pollution, and vegetation. Climate change has increased the extent and severity of wildfires across the world. Simultaneously, anthropogenic activities—through the expansion of urban areas into wildlands, abandonment of rural practices, and accidental or intentional fire-inception activities—are also responsible for a majority of fires. This paper provides an overall review and critical appraisal of existing knowledge about processes induced by wildfires and their impact on the geoenvironment. Burning of vegetation leads to loss of root reinforcement and changes in soil hydromechanical properties. Also, depending on the fire temperature, soil can be rendered hydrophobic or hydrophilic and compromise soil nutrition levels, hinder revegetation, and, in turn, increase post-fire erosion and the debris flow susceptibility of hillslopes. In addition to direct hazards, wildfires pollute air and soil with smoke and fire suppression agents releasing toxic, persistent, and relatively mobile contaminants into the geoenvironment. Nevertheless, the mitigation of wildfires' geoenvironmental impacts does not fit within the scope of this paper. In the end, and in no exhaustive way, some of the areas requiring future research are highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forests provide a wide range of ecosystem services which are important for achieving sustainable development. Anthropogenic climate change has led to the increased frequency and severity of forest fires, which imply losses of valuable ecosystem services. This paper provides a methodological framework based on Multiple Criteria Decision Aid methods for determining relative regional vulnerabilities associated with forest fires. Different notions of ex-post vulnerability are defined based on the forest area burned and the frequency of forest fires, and their relation to the regions' area and certain socioeconomic characteristics. The climatic drivers of forest fire occurrence are explored by linking forest fires with summer and spring temperatures and precipitation, using econometric count data analysis. The methodology is applied to Greece and its administrative regions for the period 2000–2022. Ex-post vulnerability of regions to forest fires based on physical and socioeconomic characteristics is calculated, and expected changes in the frequency of fires of specific size classes conditional on the evolution of mean seasonal regional temperature and precipitation according to IPCC scenarios are predicted. Relative vulnerability estimates and the impact of specific climatic drivers on forest fires will be useful in designing policies for preserving forests as natural capital and promoting sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The call for papers for this Special Issue Iidentifies contemporary humanity as experiencing a global "biogeochemical ... political, economic, technological, ethical, and therefore, biocultural" crisis and asks scholars to consider how "religion may function as an adaptive or maladaptive presence" in response. Unasked is the adaptive capacity of scholarship as a crisis response. When buildings fall in earthquakes, or cities burn in wildfires, or second stories flood, few people just keep on doing what they were doing, "with a change of focus". This is "studying Rome while it burns". It's time to put out the fire if we can and survive it if we cannot. We scholar/teachers can't go on doing the same things and expecting different results. Unprecedented circumstances call for unprecedented actions in response. What would actual crisis responses on our part look like? What steps do we need to take as human beings in response to this crisis? How will that affect us as professionals? Seeking an ecology, rather than unanimity, of action and thought, and guided by Brian Walker's resilience theory and a number of Indigenous scholars, I suggest a process of reintegration, analogous to regenerative agriculture, which is at once both socio-cultural and ecological. This process, necessarily rooted in place, progressively situates us experientially in a dynamic, creative, and relational world characterized by connection, collaboration, and relation. As scholars, we will find forms of discovery, discussion, and dissemination that share these qualities. As teachers, we will model this world to our students and embody it in our classrooms and curricula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extreme forest fires have historically been a significant concern in Canada, the Russian Federation, the USA, and now pose an increasing threat in boreal Europe. This paper deals with application of the wildFire cLimate impacts and Adaptation Model (FLAM) in boreal forests. FLAM operates on a daily time step and utilizes mechanistic algorithms to quantify the impact of climate, human activities, and fuel availability on wildfire probabilities, frequencies, and burned areas. In our paper, we calibrate the model using historical remote sensing data and explore future projections of burned areas under different climate change scenarios. The study consists of the following steps: (i) analysis of the historical burned areas over 2001–2020; (ii) analysis of temperature and precipitation changes in the future projections as compared to the historical period; (iii) analysis of the future burned areas projected by FLAM and driven by climate change scenarios until the year 2100; (iv) simulation of adaptation options under the worst-case scenario. The modeling results show an increase in burned areas under all Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) scenarios. Maintaining current temperatures (RCP 2.6) will still result in an increase in burned area (total and forest), but in the worst-case scenario (RCP 8.5), projected burned forest area will more than triple by 2100. Based on FLAM calibration, we identify hotspots for wildland fires in the boreal forest and suggest adaptation options such as increasing suppression efficiency at the hotspots. We model two scenarios of improved reaction times—stopping a fire within 4 days and within 24 h—which could reduce average burned forest areas by 48.6% and 79.2%, respectively, compared to projected burned areas without adaptation from 2021–2099. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Future climate change is expected to increase the risk and severity of wildland fires in tropical regions. Synoptic-scale fire weather conditions in Mexico were carefully analyzed using 20 years of satellite hotspot and rainfall data, hourly weather data, and various climate data. Fire analysis results showed that eighty-four percent of all fires in Mexico occurred south of 22° N. Southwest Mexico (SWM, N < 22°, 94–106° W) and Southeast Mexico (SEM, N < 22°, 86–94° W), account for 50% and 34% of all fires in Mexico. Synoptic-scale analysis results using hourly data showed that westerly wind sea breezes from the Pacific Ocean blow toward the coastal land areas of the SWM while easterly wind sea breezes from the Caribbean blow into the SEM. The most sensitive weather parameters were "relative humidity" for the SWM and "temperature" for the SEM. The fire-related indices selected were "precipitable water vapor anomaly" for the SWM and "temperature anomaly" for the SEM. The SWM fire index suggests that future fires will depend on dryness, while the SEM fire index suggests that future fires will depend on temperature trends. I do hope that this paper will improve local fire forecasts and help analyze future fire trends under global warming in Mexico. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wildfires are becoming more frequent due to the global climate change. Large amounts of greenhouse gases emitted by wildfires can lead to increases in extreme climate events. Accurately estimating the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from wildfires is important for mitigation of climate change. In this paper, we develop a novel method to estimate wildfire CO2 emissions from the relationship between local CO2 emissions and XCO2 anomalies. Our method uses the WRF-Chem assimilation system from OCO-2 XCO2 retrievals which coupled with Data Assimilation Research Testbed (DART). To validate our results, we conducted three experiments evaluating the wildfire CO2 emissions over the conterminous United States. The four-month average wildfire emissions from July to October in 2015∼2018 were estimated at 4.408 Tg C, 1.784 Tg C, 1.514 Tg C and 2.873 Tg C, respectively. Compared to the average of established inventories CT2019B, FINNv1.5 and GFASv1.2 fire emissions, our estimates fall within one standard deviation, except for 2017 due to lacking of OCO-2 XCO2 retrievals. These results suggest that the regional carbon assimilation system, such as WRF-Chem/DART, using OCO-2 XCO2 retrievals has a great potential for accurately tracking regional wildfire emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We conducted a multi-scaled Ecoregional Conservation Assessment for the Southern Rockies (~14.5 M ha) and its trailing edge, the Santa Fe Subregion (~2.2 M ha), from Wyoming to New Mexico, USA. We included a representation analysis of Existing Vegetation Types (EVTs), mature and old-growth forests (MOG), and four focal species—Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis), North American wolverine (Gulo gulo luscus), Mexican spotted owl (Strix occidentalis lucida), and northern goshawk (Accipiter gentilis)—in relation to 30 × 30 and 50 × 50 conservation targets. To integrate conservation targets with wildfire risk reduction to the built environment and climate change planning, we overlaid the location of wildfires and forest treatments in relation to the Wildland–Urban Interface (WUI) and included downscaled climate projections for a lower (RCP4.5) and higher (RCP8.5) emission scenario. Protected areas were highly skewed toward upper-elevation EVTs (most were >50% protected), underrepresented forest types (<30% protected), especially MOG (<22% protected) and riparian areas (~14% protected), and poorly represented habitats (<30%) for at least three of the focal species, especially in the subregion where nearly all the targets underperformed compared to the ecoregion. Most (>73%) forest-thinning treatments over the past decade were >1 km from delineated WUI areas, well beyond the distance at which vegetation management can effectively reduce structure ignition risk (<50 m from structures). Extreme heat, drought, snowpack reductions, altered timing of peak stream flows, increasing wildfires, and potential shifts in the climate, favoring woodlands over conifer forests, may impact forest-dependent species, while declining snowpack may impact wolverines that den at upper elevations. Strategically targeting the built environment for fuel treatments would improve wildfire risk reduction and may allow for expansion of protected areas held up in controversy. Stepped-up protection for roadless areas, adoption of wilderness proposals, and greater protection for MOG and riparian forests are critical for meeting representation targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wildfires burn annually over 400,000 ha in Mediterranean countries. By the end of the 21st century, wildfire Burnt Area (BA) and associated Green House Gas (GHG) emissions may double to triple due to climate change. Regional projections of future BA are urgently required to update wildfire policies. We present a robust methodology for estimating regional wildfire BA and GHG emissions under future climate change scenarios in the Mediterranean. The Fire Weather Index, selected drought indices, and meteorological variables were correlated against BA/GHG emissions data to create area-specific statistical projection models. State-of-the-art regional climate models (horizontal resolution: 12 km), developed within the EURO-CORDEX initiative, simulated data under three climate change scenarios (RCP2.6, RCP4.5, and RCP8.5) up to 2070. These data drove the statistical models to estimate future wildfire BA and GHG emissions in three pilot areas in Greece, Montenegro, and France. Wildfire BA is projected to increase by 20% to 130% up to 2070, depending on the study area and climate scenario. The future expansion of fire-prone areas into the north Mediterranean and mountain environments is particularly alarming, given the large biomass present here. Fire-smart landscape management may, however, greatly reduce the projected future wildfire BA and GHG increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change and wildfire effects have continued to receive great attention in recent times due to the impact they render on the environment and most especially to the field of agriculture. The purpose of this study was to assess the synergistic impacts of climate change and wildfires on agricultural sustainability. This study adopted a cross-sectional survey design based on the quantitative research approach. Data were collected from 340 environmental experts using an online questionnaire. The results showed that extreme weather events such as heavy rains or extreme droughts negatively influence agricultural sustainability in Europe. The results showed that disruptions in ecosystems caused by climate change have a significant positive impact on agricultural sustainability in Europe. Furthermore, forest regeneration after wildfires showed statistically significant positive influence on agricultural sustainability in Europe. The economic impact of fire on crops, cattle, and farms can be estimated. This information can be used to develop and plan agricultural regions near fire-prone areas; choose the best, most cost-effective, and longest-lasting cultivar; and limit fire risk. It is also clear that increased wildfire smoke negatively affects agricultural sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change intensifies the frequency and severity of extreme weather events, profoundly altering demographic landscapes globally and within the United States. This study investigates their impact on migration patterns, using propensity score matching and LASSO techniques within a larger regression modeling framework. Here, we analyze historical population trends in relation to climate risk and exposure metrics for various hazards. Our findings reveal nuanced patterns of climate-induced population change, including "risky growth" areas where economic opportunities mitigate climate risks, sustaining growth in the face of observed exposure; "tipping point" areas where the amenities are slowly giving way to the disamenity of escalating hazards; and "Climate abandonment" areas experiencing exacerbated out-migration from climate risks, compounded by other out-migration market factors. Even within a single county, these patterns vary significantly, underscoring the importance of localized analyses. Projecting population impacts due to climate risk to 2055, flood risks are projected to impact the largest percentage of areas (82.6%), followed by heatwaves (47.4%), drought (46.6%), wildfires (32.7%), wildfire smoke (21.7%), and tropical cyclone winds (11.1%). The results underscore the importance of understanding hyperlocal patterns of risk and change in order to better forecast future patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flood variability associated with urbanization, ecological change, and climatic change is of increasing economic and social concern in and around Flagstaff, Arizona, where flood hydrology is influenced by a biannual precipitation regime and the relatively unique geologic setting at the edge of the San Francisco Volcanic Field on the southern edge of the Colorado Plateau. There has been limited long-term gauging of the ephemeral channels draining the developed lands and dry coniferous forests of the region, resulting in a spaciotemporal gap in observation-based assessments of large-scale flooding patterns. We present new data from over 10 years of flood monitoring using a crest stage gauge network, combined with other channel monitoring records from multiple agency sources, to assess inter-decadal patterns of flood change in the area, with a specific emphasis on examining how various controls and disturbances have altered the character and seasonality of peak annual flows. Methods of analysis included the following: using Fisher's Exact Test to compare the seasonality of flooding between historic data spanning the 1970s and contemporary data obtained since 2010; summarizing GIS-based spatial data and meteorological timeseries to characterize study catchment conditions and changes between flood study periods; and relating spatiotemporal patterns of flood seasonality and occurrences of notably large floods with catchment characteristics and environmental changes. Our results show systematic patterns and changes in Flagstaff-area flood regimes that relate to geologic and topographic controls of the varied catchment systems, and in response to records of climate variations and local catchment disturbances, including urbanization and, especially, high-severity wildfire. For most catchments there has been a shift from predominantly late winter to spring snowmelt floods, or mixed seasonal flood regimes, towards monsoon-dominated flooding, patterns which may relate to observed local warming and precipitation changes. Post-wildfire flooding has produced extreme flood discharges which have likely exceeded historical estimates of flood magnitude over decade-long monitoring periods by one to two orders of magnitude. We advocate for continued monitoring and the expansion of local stream gauge networks to enable seasonal, magnitude-frequency trend analyses, improved climate and environmental change attribution, and to better inform the many planned and ongoing flood mitigation projects being undertaken in the increasingly developed Flagstaff region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we describe multiannual variations of the atmospheric aerosol optical depth values in the widely understood area of the Baltic Sea. We present the trends in the changes and depict unusual aerosol situations. As a result of analyses, we focus on 2019, since unusually high values of aerosol optical depth were recorded in several stations around the Baltic. We match the high aerosol levels with an unusually high number of wildfires across Europe in spring and summer, which emitted large quantities of aerosols into the atmosphere that were distributed over vast European areas in part by the wind. We then connect this case with the climate change consequences. Since aerosols influence the radiative budget of the planet by directly affecting the atmospheric radiation budget, it is obvious that human well-being is in danger due to wildfires, as well as from the atmospheric perspective. Climate change will lead to more frequent fires; thus, humans need to develop solutions to decrease the risk of fire outbreaks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human-induced climate change has profound effects on extreme events, particularly those linked to global warming, such as heatwaves, droughts, and wildfires. These events disrupt ecosystems, emphasizing the imperative to understand the interactions among them to gauge the risks faced by vulnerable communities. Vulnerability levels vary primarily based on a community's resources. Rural areas, especially in the Mediterranean region of Europe, are experiencing acute depopulation, creating a complex situation affecting various aspects of society, from economic declines to cultural heritage loss. Population decline in rural regions weakens resources, leading to the abandonment of built environments, fostering desertification, and elevating the risk of wildfires. Communities undergoing this deterioration process become exceptionally vulnerable, especially when dealing with and recovering from extreme natural phenomena. This review offers insights into the dynamics of these hazards and the predominant challenges in rural areas. By focusing on a topic that has received limited attention, the aim is to inform future research initiatives, ultimately improving risk assessment and mitigation strategies for these vulnerable communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, as global climate change and local disturbances such as wildfires continue, long- and short-term changes in the high-latitude vegetation systems have been observed in various studies. Although remote sensing technology using optical satellites has been widely used in understanding vegetation dynamics in high-latitude areas, there has been limited understanding of various landscape changes at different spatiotemporal scales, their mutual relationships, and overall long-term landscape changes. The objective of this study is to devise a change monitoring strategy that can effectively observe landscape changes at different spatiotemporal scales in the boreal ecosystems from temporally sparse time series remote sensing data. We presented a new post-classification-based change analysis scheme and applied it to time series Landsat data for the central Yakutian study area. Spectral variability between time series data has been a major problem in the analysis of changes that make it difficult to distinguish long- and short-term land cover changes from seasonal growth activities. To address this issue effectively, two ideas in the time series classification, such as the stepwise classification and the lateral stacking strategies were implemented in the classification process. The proposed classification results showed consistently higher overall accuracies of more than 90% obtained in all classes throughout the study period. The temporal classification results revealed the distinct spatial and temporal patterns of the land cover changes in central Yakutia. The spatiotemporal distribution of the short-term class illustrated that the ecosystem disturbance caused by fire could be affected by local thermal and hydrological conditions of the active layer as well as climatic conditions. On the other hand, the long-term class changes revealed land cover trajectories that could not be explained by monotonic increase or decrease. To characterize the long-term land cover change patterns, we applied a piecewise linear model with two line segments to areal class changes. During the former half of the study period, which corresponds to the 2000s, the areal expansion of lakes on the eastern Lena River terrace was the dominant feature of the land cover change. On the other hand, the land cover changes in the latter half of the study period, which corresponds to the 2010s, exhibited that lake area decreased, particularly in the thermokarst lowlands close to the Lena and Aldan rivers. In this area, significant forest decline can also be identified during the 2010s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change has resulted in a worldwide increase in intensity and frequency of extreme weather events including bushfires. Previous research has shown that communities often do not engage in disaster preparedness, even when sufficient education and resources are provided. With the projected increase in natural disasters, preparedness is paramount, and more research is needed to gain an understanding into what impacts community preparedness in the face of climate change. This study investigated one rural Australian community's preparedness for the 2019–2020 bushfires. Thirteen Australian adults who resided within a small rural community in New South Wales during the 2019–2020 bushfires participated in semi-structured interviews. Data were analysed using inductive thematic analysis. Participants reported being unprepared for the 2019–2020 bushfires and that the community has started to prepare for future bushfires. However, they also described a belief in 'climate cycles' rather than climate change, limiting engagement in preparedness for future hazards. Participants also reported that they did not talk about the 2019–2020 bushfires, although described experiencing residual anxiety. Recommendations included support needed for rural communities to help with future preparedness efforts and mental health symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change and human interventions can boost wildfires. Although naturally happening, massive events are becoming more frequent and severe. In Portugal's mainland, many rural settlements are populated mainly by older people, and uninhabited houses are frequently poorly conserved. This combination leaves the Wildland–Urban Interface (WUI) dangerously exposed to the fires. Pursuing the understanding of WUI areas, this study applies the Wildland–Urban Interface Index (WUIX) assessment methodology to an area severely affected by the massive 2017 wildfire of Pedrógão Grande, Leiria, Portugal. The primary objective of this study was to compare the results from WUIX with the areas burned during the fire event. As a result, maps of WUI effect were generated, visually pointing to villages with higher severity compared to the others. A statistical analysis was performed in three villages from the region to validate the results by comparing the accuracy of the results obtained to the actual damages. The results point out a high correlation between the WUIX and the real scenario despite the apparent challenges in determining the variations in different types of fire effect. Finally, the WUIX results align with the data from the Pedrógão Grande wildfire, showing that some are promising in conjunction with other wildfire indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wildfires are a global natural phenomenon. In North America, wildfires have not only become more frequent, but also more severe and longer in duration, a trend ascribed to climate change combined with large fuel stores left from modern fire suppression. The intensification of wildfire activity has significant implications for planetary health and public health, as exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in wildfire smoke is linked to adverse health effects. This review focuses on respiratory morbidity from wildfire smoke exposure. Inhalation of wildfire PM2.5 causes lung injury via oxidative stress, local and systemic inflammation, airway epithelium compromise, and increased vulnerability to infection. Wildfire PM2.5 exposure results in exacerbations of pre-existing asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, with an escalation in healthcare utilization, including emergency department visits and hospitalizations. Wildfire smoke exposure may be associated with asthma onset, long-term impairment of lung function, and increased all-cause mortality. Children, older adults, occupationally-exposed groups, and possibly women are the most at risk from wildfire smoke. Future research is needed to clarify best practices for risk mitigation and wildfire management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Firefighters are severely impacted by climate events, yet they are an underexamined population with regard to climate change research. This systematic review aims to synthesize the existing literature on the psychological effects of wildfire events on firefighters and to discuss some of the major gaps in disaster research relating to first responders and their mental health. A thorough search of the existing literature through June 2023 on the topic of wildfires and first responder psychological health was conducted through the databases PubMed, PsychINFO, and Embase. This search yielded 13 final studies which met the exclusion and inclusion criteria for this review. The final studies consisted of populations that responded to wildfire events from four different countries (two from Israel, one from Canada, two from Greece, and eight from Australia). The data gathered by this review suggest that firefighters may experience many environmental and occupational exposures during wildfire suppression, which are linked to an increased risk of PTSD and other psychological symptoms even months after the event. This review brings to light the need for further research of the compounded effect of the environmental and psychological exposures of first responders and the potential psychological effects of those exposures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]