Building a circular bioeconomy to address the growing risk of wildfires

SINCE the evening of Jan 7, ferocious wildfires have raged across the Los Angeles area. Well over 100,000 people have been subject to mandatory evacuation orders, while early estimates have put the likely insured losses at US$20 billion and the potential overall economic loss as high as US$57 billion. Quantifying the human suffering and emotional loss is impossible.

While the cause of the fires is yet to be established, it is likely that last year’s heavy rains from the El Nino weather system fuelled vegetation growth, which has since dried during a recent prolonged dry spell. Combined with strong winds, this has created the ideal conditions for wildfires to spread.

The broader science is clear – climate change and today’s methods of landscape management are accelerating the wildfire risk globally.