The experiments, conducted by researchers at the University of California Riverside, in the United States, show that although increases in carbon dioxide (CO2) lead to an increase in temperatures, there is actually a raise in fire activity with aerosol mitigation.

“Under full aerosol mitigation, plants dry out more and while fewer of those cooling particles exist, conditions will be warmer; that is, water will evaporate from the pores of the plants and they will lose liquid having to draw it out of the soil and making it drier,” explained the scientists.

Regarding that result, Robert Allen, senior author of the research, said that when the soil dries out, the plants also dry out, which makes them more combustible.

Given this situation, a faster way to offset the warming induced by aerosol mitigation would be to make significant reductions in methane emissions from agriculture, fossil fuels and landfill waste, e added.

More than 150 countries have already signed a commitment to reduce methane emissions by at least 30 percent from 2020 levels to 2030.

Scientific data indicate that methane warms the planet 86 times more than CO2, but has a shorter half-life.

“Cleaning up the air, which is something we all want to do, will accelerate global warming and also affect wildfires unless we also reduce emissions of greenhouse gases such as methane and carbon dioxide,” Allen concluded.

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