Drought and extreme heat have created risky conditions for wildfires worldwide in recent months - with tragic consequences for people and nature, from Europe to the United States and Asia.

New data published last week by the University of Maryland and monitoring service Global Forest Watch shows forest fires are getting worse – with the 2021 fire season the planet's second-worst on record.

The fires are becoming more widespread and burning about twice as much tree cover now than they did 20 years ago, with the destroyed trees releasing planet-warming carbon dioxide (CO2), further fuelling climate change and extreme weather.

About 70% of fire-related tree loss in the past two decades occurred in boreal forests found in far northern regions - which are among the largest carbon sinks on Earth.

As more people wake up to the need to protect these vital assets, support is growing to save India's ancient Hasdeo Arand forest from new coal mines - and a campaign started by local tribes has sparked the imagination of urbanites and creatives, including artists and YouTube influencers.

Bhanumati Kalluri of the Dhaatri Resource Centre, a group that works with women in mining areas, says communities impacted by various types of mining are galvanising widespread public support.

"These haven't become anti-fossil fuel movements yet, but urban Indians battling air pollution and water scarcity are worried about the indirect impacts of mining on their lives," she told our correspondent Anuradha Nagaraj.

Efforts to restore damaged forests and increase tree cover aren't always a straightforward enterprise, however.

In India's Himalayan Ladakh region, villagers have been planting tens of thousands of trees in the cold desert to combat air pollution, boost biodiversity and provide a new income source for locals who traditionally rely on livestock.

But experts warn consideration must be paid to how such projects impact on scarce water supplies and wildlife not used to forest ecosystems. There is also a risk the trees may not survive in hostile environments, and end up releasing CO2 back into the air.

And as wilder weather fuels alarm about climate change, even scientists have strayed from their usual conservative use of language, with some starting to add exclamation marks to the titles of studies, such as "SOS! Summer of smoke" and "Too hot to help!".

"We are ramping up the rhetoric a bit because the situation is increasingly dramatic. Exclamation marks are increasingly appropriate," says John Hay of UN Climate Change, which in July included a yellow warning sign emoji ⚠️, containing an exclamation mark, in a tweet on heat stress.

One way of dealing with the worsening situation is clearly to help each other out more - and share what we know about heading off the threats.

From California to New York, parts of the United States that are seeing an influx of migrants from countries on the climate change frontline have started turning to the newly displaced for lessons on how to be more resilient to more frequent disasters driven by rising temperatures.

Read David Sherfinski's piece on how community-based efforts are keeping people safe and building "unlikely" bonds in the process!

See you next week,

Megan

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Flash mobs and YouTubers boost India anti-coal mining protest
Push to protect indigenous people in Hasdeo Arand forest gets boost with social media campaign and support on Twitter and YouTube

Cholera tragedy in Indian village sheds light on power debts
Village councils fail to pay bills as new water connections increase energy usage, but cash-strapped power companies need the revenue to ensure a steady electricity supply

SOS! Scientists sound climate alarm with exclamation mark
Global warming is having a new side-effect: forcing scientific publications to bend their punctuation rules

As Europe's forests burn, why are wildfires getting worse?
Accelerating climate change and extreme weather events such as drought and heatwaves are fuelling forest fires around the world

Greening the Himalayas: Is there a 'wrong' place to plant trees?
Villagers are creating forests in the cold desert to help curb climate change, but experts say it hurts delicate ecosystems

Can Indonesia's Muslim leaders boost public climate change action?
Imams in the Southeast Asian nation have been urged to raise awareness about nature and conservation efforts and persuade sceptics

Migrants share lessons with U.S. to improve climate resilience
People from nations vulnerable to climate change - like the Marshall Islands and Honduras - are helping the United States to better prepare for its impacts