Global warming, which increases the frequency of wildfires, is responsible for the increasing number of deaths linked to the pollution caused by these fires, according to a study published today based on several models.

“The consequences of climate change (…) on fire-related mortality have been evident for 60 years and continue to increase,” summarize the authors of this study published in the scientific journal Nature Climate Change.

Climate change tends to increase the frequency of forest fires around the world, although this trend is not uniform everywhere.

Fires, in turn, increase particulate matter pollution that damages health and leads to many deaths. The study authors sought to determine the extent to which global warming might be linked to these deaths over a period from the 1960s to the present day.

To achieve this, they ran a series of computer simulations and compared the historical reality with a hypothetical situation where climate change would not exist.

They concluded that more than 10,000 deaths in the 2010s were linked to the effects of climate change on wildfires.

In the 1960s these deaths were less than a thousand.

However, these numbers are given with reservations, because the models used gave very different estimates.

According to some, more than a quarter of the deaths linked to fires in recent years can be attributed to climate change. In others, however, this percentage drops to 5%.

In any case, the models show an upward trend.

The authors noted that the influence of climate change on fire mortality is most evident in South America, southern Australia and Europe.

This trend is explained by the general decrease in humidity in these areas. In contrast, in other regions such as southern Asia, fire-related mortality has decreased due to increased humidity.