CANBERRA, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- Longer bushfire seasons caused by climate change will cost Australia billions of dollars annually over the next 30 years, experts have warned.
Emergency Leaders for Climate Action (ELCA), a subsidiary of the NGO the Climate Council consisting of former fire and emergency service leaders, said in a report published on Thursday that fire seasons have grown 21 percent longer since 1979, shrinking the window for hazard reduction efforts.
It projected that more frequent major bushfires driven by climate change will cost the nation an average of 6 billion Australian dollars (4.2 billion U.S. dollars) annually over the next 30 years.
Of the projected annual cost, it said 32 percent would come from harm to health and wellbeing, 25 percent from lost trade, 20 percent from damaged businesses and public buildings, 17 percent from lost homes and 6 percent from lost work.
The report said that southeast Australia now experiences 14 more days of extreme fire weather per year than in 1998 and that the number of extreme fire-generated storms recorded from 2004 to 2024 was six-fold higher than the preceding 20 years.
It said that Australia had 10.336 fewer volunteer firefighters as of 2023-24 than four years earlier, while the number of paid positions grew by 433 in the same period.
The ELCA warned that the next two summers would pose a particularly significant risk to communities, with the impacts of climate change exacerbated by the ongoing El Nino event.
"This dangerous double act is setting the scene for record heat, flash drought, and the possibility of worsening bushfires over the coming summers," the report said.
Australia's Bureau of Meteorology said in its latest update earlier in October that El Nino was at near-record levels, with further intensification forecast. ■
