Canada’s Forests Will Burn and Burn
Canada's boreal forests are experiencing increasingly frequent and intense wildfires due to climate change and environmental stressors. Experts note that the scale of these forests makes traditional fire suppression efforts largely ineffective.
Why it matters
The increasing frequency of these fires poses a significant threat to global air quality and highlights the limitations of current climate adaptation strategies.
Once a wildfire starts, it can spread to an area too massive to control.
Carlos Osorio / Reuters July 16, 2026, 5:55 PM ET Share Save When the boreal forests of Canada catch on fire, no one can do anything about it in many cases. The forests are part of Earth’s largest land biome, a greenbelt of wilderness that encircles the globe, and they’ve been suffering from the planet’s thermostat being jacked up. Wood-boring pests that flourish in milder climates have swept north and east, through tens of millions of acres. Droughts and dwindling snowpack have stressed the trees. They are ready to burn.
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