Forest wildfires rampaging across Russia are being significantly under-reported by authorities, according to analysis of satellite data.
Climate change is making wildfires much more likely in Russia, but regional officials have been reluctant to report the true extent of the problem, and campaigners are warning that the harm to forests, property and human lives could rise.
The head of the federal forestry agency told state news agency RIA Novosti last week that only 669,000 hectares have been burned by forest fires in Russia this year, more than last year. That same day, the head of the emergencies ministry told president Vladimir Putin that the burned area was smaller this year.
The forestry agency bulletin for 10 June reported a mere 6,306 hectares of current fires across the entire country.
Alexander Krylov, an expert in the remote sensing of forest fires at the University of Maryland in the US, said 3.5m hectares this year was likely to be accurate. Even the federal forestry agency’s online monitoring system reveals fires across far more territory than reported in its statistics, including large fires in the Kamchatka, Buryatia and Irkutsk regions.
Understating the extent of wildfires delays assistance from other regions and can ... lead to human casualties. In April 2015, fires in Zabaikal destroyed villages just outside the regional capital of Chita, as captured in a viral video of cars escaping between erupting columns of flame. ...
The increase in fires also creates more smoke, which can blow into major cities like it did in 2010, causing respiratory illnesses and deaths.
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