Reacción a "The global population exposed to fires has increased by 40% in twenty years"

The changes observed in recent decades, both in the spatial-temporal patterns of forest fires (with a heterogeneous global decrease in the annual area burned) and in various descriptors of their regimes (e.g., the increase in more intense fires), have received growing scientific attention. Added to this are demographic dynamics. At the beginning of this century, for the first time in history, the urban population surpassed the rural population, a milestone with profound implications for land use distribution. This process has simultaneously driven dynamics of abandonment and intensification that are reshaping the composition and structure of landscapes around the world, especially in the urban-forest interface, whose expansion is now unquestionable.

The article by Seydi et al. is a high-quality, impactful contribution precisely because it connects these elements: changes in fires and population, through the analysis of shared patterns and dynamics. It does so using robust data from a broad time series (albeit conditioned by the availability of satellite observations) and with a global perspective. Their results are compelling: since the beginning of the 21st century, the number of people directly exposed to forest fires, particularly those of greater intensity, has continued to grow. This spatial coincidence between fires and human settlements is evident on all continents, although with different magnitudes and explanatory factors. In some regions, population growth has been a determining factor, while in others, climatic factors have predominated.

Africa is once again emerging as a global hotspot; however, other densely populated regions (such as the Mediterranean basin and the west coast of North America) have also experienced some of the most damaging episodes in recent decades. These fires, in addition to their serious social, economic, and environmental consequences, have captured international media attention and continue to do so, as evidenced by the serious events recorded in August 2025 in northwestern Spain.

In the current context of global and climate change, having accurate and spatially explicit estimates of risks, such as increasing human exposure to extreme fires, is essential for advancing toward planning and management policies capable of effectively mitigating their impacts on society.