CSIRO scientist, Dr Pep Canadell and Mick Meyer, co-authored the research paper, Multi-decadal increase of forest burned area in Australia is linked to climate change.

Dr Canadell provided this response to Australian Rural & Regional News in response to ABC, CSIRO and climate science – what hope have we got? : Vic Jurskis.

Our study doesn’t discuss forest management. In our paper we show that the TREND in mean annual fire area is driven unequivocally by the TREND in mean annual FFDI (a weather index), ie by the changing climate.

Forest management is important locally but varies substantially regionally and between states.  We expect it contributes, along with other factors, to the unexplained variance (20-25%) in the relationship between FFDI and fire area that occurs nationally.

This story relates to the ongoing debate on ARR.News: Open for Debate – Bushfires, Logging, Burns & Forest Management