Climate change has been downplayed by Australia's conservative government, which has played a role in the fires.
Australian government scientists believe that climate change is driving the country's ever-more intense fires.
Climate change was the main factor behind megafires like those that ravaged Australia in the year 2020, according to a study by scientists at the state agency.
The experts looked at a number of fire risk factors, including the amount of dead vegetation on the ground, the weather and the amount of fuel in the air.
Climate was the overwhelming factor driving fire activity, according to the chief climate research scientist of the CSIRO.
The findings were published in the journal Nature Communications.
Australia's conservative government has consistently played down the role of climate change in the fires that burned across the southeast coast and shrouded major cities in acrid smoke.
The removal of debris was one of the issues that the Prime Minister insisted was normal in Australia.
Researchers found that there were no significant relationships with burned area.
Nine out of the 11 years when more than 500,000 square kilometers have burned have taken place since 2000 because of global warming.
They linked those events to fire weather, like fire-generated thunderstorms and dry lightning, all associated to varying degrees with climate change.
The study found that the burn area has increased by 800 percent in the last 20 years.
Australia has experienced a number of climate-related disasters in recent years.
The country's government has not set a short term emissions reduction target and has vowed to remain one of the world's largest coal and gas exporters.
The increase of forest burned area in Australia is linked to climate change. There is a DOI of 10.1038/s41467-021-27225-4.
Nature Communications is a journal.
2021.
The study was retrieved from thephys.org on November 29, 2021.
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