Summary of Article:
This article discusses the rising concern of scientists over the forest fires in India. In Uttarakhand state of northern India, the mountains behind Nainital lake have been raged by forest fires for several weeks now. "Nearly 20 people have been reportedly killed by the fires in Uttarakhand and Nepal." Using satellite pictures, scientists have measured that forest fires in Nepal emitted nearly 18 megatonnes of carbon in the past month, some of the highest numbers in the last 15 years. The air quality in Nepal has also remained hazardous for several days. A prolonged dry spell has persisted in the past few months, "leaving the forests 'tinder dry'" and encouraging forest fires. Scientists say that climate change, although is not the direct culprit of the forest fires, has "intensified the dryness in the region." Authorities are not yet making forest fires a priority issue, as the general belief is that forests are carbon sinks; forest fires however can become sources of carbon emissions. For this reason, there have also been deficiencies in fire services in these regions, and local people are calling for help.
Science in Article:
This article was interesting to me as it seemed to not only be discussing a link between climate change and forest fires, but also suggesting a rights issue at play in terms of local people not receiving adequate support from authorities. The news article focuses on the rising number of forest fires in Uttarakhand. According to the news article, scientists were able to measure the record numbers of forest fires in the past month using satellite imaging. One scientific article I found is titled, "Satellite Mapping of CO2 Emission from Forest Fires in Indonesia Using AIRS Measurements" by Rajab et al. Here, scientists generated a CO2 concentration map of the area of study in Indonesia by using "mole fraction of CO2 in free troposphere". Variations in CO2 emissions were indeed correlated with the timing of forest fires in Indonesia. Based on this study, we can say that the scientists in the news article were using methods that have been established as effective for determining CO2 emissions from forest fires.
Another scientific article I found is titled, "Short-run environmental effects of COVID-19: Evidence from forest fires" by Jayash Paudel, published in January 2021. This study initially seems to contradict the concerns of scientists in the news article. Paudel found that "COVID-19 resulted in a 4.54% decrease in the number of human-induced forest fires in Nepal," and the power of forest fires also decreased by 11.36%. At first, it seemed to suggest the opposite of scientist's concerns in the news article, saying that forest fires have actually reduced. However, this study focused primarily on human-induced forest fires (directly causing fire), rather than forest fires caused by long droughts in Nepal, as a result of climate change. The news article clarifies that the dry season and lack of moisture in the forests are fueling powerful forest fires that last a long time, while this study focuses on the decrease of forest fires in the short term because of COVID-19 lockdowns. Therefore, COVID and climate change seem to have independent effects on the forest fires, and while COVID may have reduced forest fires for a brief period, the news article discusses concerns about long-term influences of climate change on Nepal forest fires.
Finally, a third scientific article relevant to this news article is titled, "Policy Coherence and Interplay between Climate Change Adaptation Policies and the Forestry Sector in Nepal" by Ranabhat et al. This study analyzes the gaps in policy effectiveness with regard to climate change adaptation, particularly for local and less-developed communities. The study acknowledges that "least developed countries are likely to be hit the hardest by climate change", which is in conjunction with the local communities in Nepal that are struggling the most as a result of the forest fires. The study finds that there are significant gaps in policy implementation particularly within Forest Policy. The study concludes that "development of a supportive collaborative multi-stakeholder approach at different levels of governance" would be effective for better supporting the local communities in Nepal, which is consistent with suggestions proposed in the news article. Scientists in the news article believe that authorities must take the concerns and unique needs of local communities into consideration to better address the forest fires in India.
Assessment: Was Science Misused?
Assessment: Was Science Misused?
This news article discussed scientists' concerns about increasing numbers of forest fires in India and Nepal. According to the news article, forest fires may be rising as an indirect result of climate change, which is leading to long periods of drought that dry the trees and better fuel forest fires. While some scientific studies suggest that forest fires are actually decreasing for a brief period due to COVID-19 and subsequently less direct human interactions, long-term forest fire rates are still concerning, and climate change has persisted irrespective of COVID-19 lockdowns. Policies supporting local communities are inadequate, and authorities need to work collaboratively with local communities and acknowledge the severity of forest fires as natural disasters. These points made in the news article are backed up by scientific articles. Therefore, I believe that this news article did not misuse science, and it reflected the concerns of scientists about climate change accurately.
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