In Photos: Disastrous Wildfires Sweep Siberia
As massive wildfires continue to engulf swathes of Siberia, environmentalists warn that the blazes could become the worst in Russia's history and exacerbate global climate change.
According to the Russian Federal Agency of Forestry, the total area of forest fires in Russia covered an area of 1.62 million hectares as of Monday. Siberia's wildfires in 2020 so far have burned an area larger than the size of Greece, Greenpeace Russia said.
A Greenpeace photographer managed to capture photos of the natural disaster in the Krasnoyarsk region last week:
According to the Russian Federal Agency of Forestry, the total area of forest fires in Russia covered an area of 1.62 million hectares as of Monday. Siberia's wildfires in 2020 so far have burned an area larger than the size of Greece, Greenpeace Russia said.
A Greenpeace photographer managed to capture photos of the natural disaster in the Krasnoyarsk region last week:
Greenpeace says most of the wildfires in Siberia are started by humans, in "places where people live or conduct economic activities as well as near roads and on the banks of rivers."
Greenpeace Russia
Russia's Forestry Agency has decided to not extinguish 91% of the fires due to the fact that they are located in "control zones." Forests fall into control zones when the fires have no effect on local populations and when the cost of extinguishing them is greater than the residual damage the fires will cause.
Greenpeace Russia
Black smog from the fires covered the city of Yakutsk and 14 other villages in the republic of Sakha last week, as well as the cities of Ugorsk and Sovetsky.
Greenpeace Russia
Last year's wildfires in Siberia last year covered an area the size of Belgium and emitted the equivalent of Sweden’s total annual carbon dioxide emissions in one month alone.
Greenpeace Russia
"The vast Siberian region has literally become a hot spot: fires lead to significant greenhouse gas emissions that affect climate change around the world," Greenpeace Russia’s head of firefighting Grigory Kuksin said.
Greenpeace Russia
Experts warn that climate change is heating Russia at a rate more than twice the global average.
Greenpeace Russia
