<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Ahead of </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/australia" rel="" target="" title="Australia's"><span>Australia's</span></a><span> bushfire season, a landmark report has found bad wildfires are becoming more likely, more severe and burning far more land than they otherwise would have due to </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/climate-crisis" rel="" target="" title="climate change"><span>climate change</span></a><span>.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The second annual State of Wildfires report, released this morning, has painted a bleak picture of the extreme natural disasters at home and abroad.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Researchers from more than 20 countries examined the causes and impacts of </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/bushfires" rel="" target="" title="bushfires"><span>bushfires</span></a><span> across the planet between March 2024 and February 2025.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/missing-boy-gus-lamont-update-search-efforts-cut-short-due-to-heat/927c1e04-8566-456f-8f4a-a2b469687974"><strong><span>Third day of renewed search for missing boy finds no new evidence</span></strong></a><strong><span></span></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Our study revealed that an area totalling 3.7 million square kilometres – which is a land area larger than India – was burnt by wildfires globally," Australian co-lead author Dr Hamish Clarke, from the University of Melbourne, said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"We are witnessing the effects of climate change play out across our world on an extreme scale. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Not only is a warming planet creating more dangerous fire-prone weather conditions, but it is also influencing how vegetation grows, dries out and provides fuel for the fires to spread."</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/national/bushfires-getting-worse-climate-change-state-of-wildfires-report/29571be8-bf7d-4d57-ac46-40529cdeb3fc" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The report found 100 million people were affected by fires over the research period, including 200 who were killed by the blazes, and that $US215 billion ($330 billion) worth of homes and infrastructure were put at risk.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/sydney-weather-hottest-october-on-record-could-happen/54f06329-d148-4eae-99a5-a5c30a1b1d1d"><strong><span>One capital on track to shatter heat record, temperatures soar in another</span></strong></a><strong><span></span></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Researchers also concluded that human-caused climate change had made the massive Los Angeles fires 25 times larger than they would have otherwise been, and ravaging blazes in South America's Pantanal-Chiquitano region 35 times bigger.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The impacts also extended to Australia.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"This included over 1000 large fires that burnt around 470,000 hectares in Western Australia, over 5 million hectares burnt in central Australia and major fires around Mount Isa with substantial smoke impacts," Australian co-lead author Dr Sarah Harris, from Victoria's Country Fire Authority, said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Here in Victoria, the Grampians National Park saw two-thirds of its park area burned, and the Little Desert fire burned 90,000 hectares in under eight hours."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>While the report warned that future bushfires are likely to get even worse due to the warming planet, the authors also said it was possible to take action to avoid the worst outcomes.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/finance/unemployment-rate-australia-september-4-5-per-cent/6ec2b0e9-04f5-4cf5-b7cd-b31fa6db583c"><strong><span>Surprise job losses push unemployment rate to near-four-year high</span></strong></a><strong><span></span></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"While the future looks challenging, the report emphasises that it's not too late to act," Clarke said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Firstly, we need to take much stronger and faster climate action, including cutting fossil fuel emissions and reducing deforestation and land clearing. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Beyond that, there are many things we can do to prepare for and respond to fire risk, from vegetation management to householder preparation and supporting short and long-term disaster recovery.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"As Australia approaches yet another fire season, this global perspective serves as a stark reminder of the interconnected nature of our climate crisis and the urgent need for coordinated global action, bold commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions rapidly this decade."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/how-to-follow-9news-digital/29855bb1-ad3d-4c38-bc25-3cb52af1216f" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP</span></em></strong></a><strong><em><span>:</span></em></strong><span> </span><em><strong><span>Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. 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