The rising threat of wildfire: an examination of global forest fire occurrence over the past two decades

Abstract

Forest fires are among the top three most destructive natural disasters affecting forests globally. Forest fires occur every year across many regions worldwide, with an increasing trend of longer durations and greater severity. This has led to exacerbated impacts from these events. Our study consolidates and analyzes primary forest fire data from diverse sources, including the World Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Global Forest Resources Assessment Report, the Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and other relevant agencies. It integrates scientific insights to assess recent trends and provides an extensive review of global forest fires from 2002 to 2022. Considering the evolving forest fire situation, we evaluate current prevention technologies and outline the future of forest fire monitoring technologies, specifically focusing on low-orbit satellite initiatives for fire observation, involving companies and their constellation development stages.