access last week. ♪ you're watching al jazeera. the top stories -- raging wildfires are burning across large swaths of western europe, threatening homes and putting lives at risk. spain has seen some of the worst fires in the continent. more than 200 20 square kilometers of forest have been watched. temperatures are soaring across the continent, breaking records and prompting heat warnings. authorities in the u.k. say temperatures could top 40 degrees for the first time ever on tuesday. australia's national environment is in a state of decline

especially in the last five years, according to a new report prepared by independent experts. it has lost more mammal species than any other continent and has let the highest rates of species decline in the world. u.n. secretary general guterres says time is now to take action against the climate crisis. >> we left cop26 with 1.5 degrees on life support. greenhouse gas concentration, sealevel rise, and option heat have broken new records. humanity is in the danger zone from floods, droughts, extreme storms and wildfires. no nation is immune. yet we continue to feed our fossil fuel addiction. what troubles me most is that in facing this global crisis, we are failing to work

together. anchor: a deal between protesters and the government in panama has collapsed. the government had agreed to cut the price of fuel, but protesters are calling from on sessions. there is anger against high fuel prices and corruption. they are increasing pressure by blocking paths of the pan-american highway. at least six civilians have been killed by russian shelling in the eastern ukrainian town of --. the ukrainian state emergency service says it pulled five buddies from the rubble of a two-story building. three other people were found alive, but one leader died in the hospital. the city has been targeted as part of russia's offensive to take the entire donbass region. . people were believed to be sheltering in the building when it came under fire. those are the headlines. i will have another round up of world news here on al jazeera, right after "inside story." i will see you shortly. bye-bye. ♪

>> heat waves are sweeping across the northern hemisphere . with them come more severe and long-lasting wildfires. is this all down to climate change, and is it too late to do anything about it? this is "inside story." ♪ hello, welcome to the program. i'm bernard smith. europe, north america, china are baking in record-breaking heatwaves. in new delhi, it's already hit 49 degrees this year, 12 above the average. the heat has brough wildfires.

particularly to western europe, forcing thousands of people from their homes. in the u.k., people are bracing for temperatures to hit 40 degrees celsius for the first time. the nation's weather office issued its first ever red alert for extreme heat. the scorching weather is fueling more than 30 blazes in spain and portugal. thousands of people have been forced from their homes and are seeking refuge in makeshift shelters. drought conditions have made areas between the two countries susceptible to wildfires. france is on its highest state of alert for extreme temperatures. two large fires in the south are keeping emergency services busy. thousands have been evacuated , and kilometers of land lost to the flames. natasha butler reports from paris. reporter: rather unsurprisingly, not many people are braving the heat at the foot of the eiffel

tower. record-breaking temperatures expected in many parts of france, including in the brittany, an area that is known usually for its very cool climate. now the french government have put several regions on red alert. they have advised people to be extremely vigilant. they have rolled out their heatwave emergency plan advising people to stay at home, stay in the shade, and keep very hydrated. it is not that heat waves are uncommon in france, but usually they are several years apart. climate change experts say that because of the changing temperatures, what we are seeing is heat waves that are more intense and more frequent. this heatwave, in fact, is the second one in just a few weeks. the dry, hot weather has certainly exacerbated the situation for firefighters that have been battling blazes in the southwest of france. the girond region, thousands of people have been evacuated from campsites and homes in the area. it is part of france is very popular indeed with holiday makers, particularly, of course at this time of year in the

summer break. well, meteorologists say though , there is some respite on the horizon for firefighters and emergency services there with temperatures predicted to drop by at least 10 degrees celsius in the coming days. natasha butler for "inside story." bernard: and that heat wave punishing europe is coming from north africa. in morocco, firefighters have been sent to remote mountain forests in the north. fires there have forced more than 1000 people to be evacuated. almost hectares of forest have 5000 been burned. our correspondent has more from near the fires in morocco's larash province. reporter: this forest here is called nazarene, it is located in the province of flares in the north west of morocco it is part of a national forest that stretches from the atlantic ocean, which is five kilometers away to the west.

up to the mountains located to that direction, about 100 50 kilometers. as you can see, the firefighters are still working in this forest in order to avoid that the fire that destroyed it be reignited again, because of the windy weather. because of the hot weather. this part of morocco has registered some heatwave temperatures as high as 40 degrees in the last few days, which is not normal in this region, which has basically mediterranean weather, like in southern france or southern spain or in portugal. despite that, there is a heatwave that has destroyed up to now more than 6000 acres of forests in northwestern morocco.

♪ bernard: let's bring in our guests, all in the united kingdom today. from woking is stephen cornelius, deputy practice leader for climate change and energy at world wildlife fund international. in reading, is nigel arnell, climate scientist and professor in the department of meteorology at the university of reading. and in swansea, stefan duerr, professor of wildland fire science. a warm welcome to you all. stephen, these particular heat heat waves we're seeing now, are they the product of global warming or freak weather events. guest: thanks. these things happen naturally. but what is happening is that climate change is making them worse. you know, the science is clear from the ipcc over the last year

, they have been three reports that have come out which, and one of the new bits of science is attribution between the sort of human fingerprint and extreme weather events such as we're seeing. as the temperature rises, you are more likely to see heat waves, more likely to see other extreme weather events and associated such as wildfires. bernard: nigel, do you see that? that these are not freak weather events, they are made worse by climate change? guest: oh, they're definitely exaggerated by climate change and by human emissions of greenhouse gases. it's very clear that these emissions have increased temperatures. rising temperatures alone will mean we have an increased chance of heat waves. but as the earth warms up, then weather systems are disrupted and so on. so it changes the frequency of the sorts of extreme environmental conditions that we're seeing at the moment. so i think climate change is definitely behind the increased frequency of heat waves that we're seeing, particularly this year.

bernard: stefan, your specialization is wild fires. we're seeing them now in europe and in north africa particularly. how much worse are they getting? how much more severe are they than they might have once been? guest: they're clearly more severe under those very dry and warm conditions because if you have a prolonged period of dry weather like we've had combined with a lot of heat that will evaporate more water from the vegetation, and that makes it more flammable, the fire is there likely to be more extreme and much more difficult for the fire services to deal with. bernard: stephen, these bigger heat waves across western europe are they then more likely down to climate change than, say, more localized ones that you sometimes get over parts of the u.k. or parts of france? guest: i think a point is that it's not just in the north that this is happening. you've had, last year, huge heat waves in india and pakistan. earlier this year in argentina, and much of latin america.

so i think it's happening over the world. and so, as i said, as temperature rises, on average you are more likely to get more extreme weather events. and it may be, such as in canada last year where you had that huge heat wave over western canada. you know, you can have these localized or relatively localized effects. bernard: nigel, there is a cognition called extreme event attribution, for calculating for helping to understand these extreme weather incidents. can you help us understand what that is? guest: well, in a sense, this process called extreme event attribution, it looks at the chance of experiencing the sort of event we got now under current conditions, with the chance that of it happening under the conditions that would have pertained if we hadn't increased greenhouse gases. like running a counterfactual world. these sorts of studies have demonstrated that the heat waves that we've experienced recently

in many parts of the world are much more likely now than they would have been without the increasing concentration of greenhouse gases. some of them are 20 times more likely. some of them wouldn't have happened without the increasing concentrations we have seen. for example, the heat dome in western u.s. and canada last year, there's an argument that that sort of thing just wouldn't have happened without the general increase in temperatures that we've seen because of the increasing concentration of greenhouse gases. bernard: and the wildfires that they bring. stefan, what is the long-term damage that they're doing? guest: well, there is a range of things to consider. of course, the human impact directly or rather impact on humans -- direct death. but also, something that's often not considered is the smoke emissions. around 300,000 people around the world die prematurely just from wildfire smoke. so that's just the smoke generated by the fires

themselves. then we have huge biodiversity loss if the fires are especially large or especially severe, like we've seen in 2019-2020 in australia, where the fires in that year were over 10 times larger than what you would usually get. so fires are common in many places, also in the mediterranean, in australia, in canada, but it's the actual size of those events and it's those severity with which they burn that bring the extreme impact . >> you mentioned india. in delhi, they have had 25 days so far over 42 degrees this year and india now wants help from rich countries, funding to build early warning systems to prepare for extreme weather events. is that where we are at now, the mitigation stage rather than the prevention stage? guest: there is a couple of things -- clearly, climate change is happening at the around 1.1 degrees warming that we've had so far and more in some countries. so we will see more of these events. and we will see them probably worse because temperatures are

going to continue to rise, and the only way that we can stop them rising is by cutting greenhouse gas emissions, emissions from coal, oil, and gas. the second point is, how do we build resilience? how do we use the word mitigate? but how do we make the impact of these lesser? we do need to do both. and developed countries have promised through the paris agreement and the cop26 in glasgow, to mobilize $100 million a year. some of that will be for cutting emissions. some of that needs to be for adaptation and building resilience of countries. bernard: nigel, march was the hottest month in india since records began 122 years ago. is this a new normal not just in , india, but in the rest of the world? guest: unfortunately, it is.

we can expect temperatures to be continually going up until we reduce emissions and we might want to talk about that in a moment, but i think it is almost inevitable that we will see each year new records being broken across the globe. one of the unsettling aspects of it is, it is not just in one place, it is everywhere. records broken everywhere. it is really quite saddening about the state that we're in at the moment. bernard: and are you seeing stefan, in parts of the world , where you wouldn't ordinarily have had major wildfires, that things happening that wouldn't normally happen -- outside of western europe, i am thinking particularly? guest: absolutely. even within western europe. we are seeing increases in fires in some area. but just to give you some context in the range of in relation to climate change, the fire weather season, so basically the weather conditions under which relatively extreme fires can occur, which is linked to humidity, wind, lack of precipitation, as well as those high temperatures, that has basically increased by over 50%

on average across the globe. if you look at the north american conifer forests. we have a 50% increase in the area burned by wildfires. we are also seeing fires moving into areas where they normally wouldn't burn. for example northern peatlands , under permafrost. they're very rarely burned. greenland, for example, has seen wildfires, and this is undoubtedly going to increase in the future. there's no question about this. bernard: nigel, i wanted to talk to you also about the jet stream. because it is the way, the meander of the jet stream changing in in this warming year . is that having a particular effect on heating over where there's major industrialization , majorly industrialized countries? guest: that is one of the reasons were actually projecting the consequences of climate change can be really quite tricky. as a first approximation, as we increase our greenhouse gases,

temperatures rise. that is relatively straightforward so you'd expect on first principles that as temperature goes up, the chance of heat waves goes up. but because the weather systems such as the position of the jet stream are also changed, it makes it more challenging to work out what direction where they're going to see more or less storms, for example. but i think the sorts of conditions that generate heat waves, we would expect those to increase as well. the meteorological conditions will increase, as well as seeing the effect of the increased temperature. but when we're looking at storms and floods and so on, it gets more complicated because the position of the jet stream, then at least in the northern hemisphere, becomes much more significant. bernard: ok. stephen, is it getting harder to persuade people to put climate change at the top of the agenda? i say this because now people are tired of the pandemic, people are worried about the economy. is climate change still a priority? are you finding the people saying, well, it's happening.

we have got to put up with it, we have other things to worry about. is it a challenge to still keep climate change as a major issue? >> i think we need to push to keep it at the top of the agenda, and it has been in a lot of countries as well. the environmental concerns have been high, if you look at surveys. but as you say, there are other things on people's minds. i think it is about demonstrating how action on climate change is an investment , rather than a cost. showing that we need to do this. it has benefits. events like we are seeing now in europe and other places around the world are a wake-up for politicians and leaders that the time to act is now. bernard: you say they are a wake-up call, but in the u.s., joe manchin, the u.s. democratic senator has effectively rejected a compromise climate bill. and one recent poll in the u.s. said 1% of voters cited climate change as the most important

issue. and for the under 30's it was just 3%, whereas two years ago, people were taken to the streets. why has there been that change? guest: i think there are a number of things that have come up in the last couple of years, covid being one, putin's invasion of ukraine being another, and so there are issues that people are concerned about. i think this is a long-term issue that needs immediate action. it is up to the leaders of countries, treasuries, ministries of economy and finance to recognize that this is a problem that they need to invest in and invest in solutions four. bernard: nigel, if all the promises made at cop26 were kept, would that keep us below a global 2% temperature-wise now? is it too late? >> depends on how you interpret the promises.

at the moment the pledges that , are on the table from cop would take us to a temperature increase of about 2.5 degrees to three degrees, depending on how they're implemented. an optimistic interpretation gives us a chance of getting below two degrees. but a pessimistic interpretation will take us up to three or so. at the moment, i think it's definitely not the case that the commitments that countries have made are sufficient to keep us with an increase in temperature below two degrees. and whether even those commitments are followed through, with changing economic circumstances and so on, it remains to be seen. but to be honest, even with an increase in temperature of just under two degrees, we would still continue to get the sorts of extreme events that we have now. so, keeping the rise in temperature to two degrees is by no means safe. we're already committed to really substantial increases in risk from fires, from heat waves, from storms and so on. so we really need to reduce emissions so that we don't end up with catastrophic increases in heat waves, fires, and so on. we really need to adapt and invest in resilience in order to cope with the inevitable changes in extremes that we're going to see.

bernard: stefan, i see you nodding away there. what was your view on the commitment to keep us below a 2% rise in global temperatures? guest: absolutely essential. if we end up at 3%, we basically have a severely increased or unrecognizable really fire weather pretty much everywhere in the world. so we really must not arrive as this. but we have already seen this very dramatic increase in many areas of the world. one thing that is worth adding is that other than reducing greenhouse gas emissions, we also have the ability to manage our vegetation better. because, if you look at the mediterranean area, for example, we now have many more areas forested that were traditionally much more open. these are much more flammable . we are also seeing wildfires in argentina, in chile, in portugal that are fanned or fueled rather by eucalypt species that are alien species that are used for pulp production. great for income, but very, very

flammable. so in combination, there is quite a lot we can do and must do to reduce the risk. bernard: from the world wildlife funds point of view, in terms of the climate risk from global warming keeping that temperature to below keeping the rise to below two degrees, how significant do you think it is that we try to keep that promise? guest: i think the premises even stronger than that, we went to see that, at 1.5 degrees rather than two degrees. the reason they have chosen that is partly because of science and partly because of politics. we know from the ipcc that there are huge differences in in risk between 1.5 and 2 degrees. whether this be on people , whether this be on nature. we need to, from a risk management and investment point of view, if nothing else, limit

it as much as possible, and we are saying that is 1.5 degrees, which governments signed up to in the paris agreement. in art: nigel, do scientists even agree on what a heat wave is? i mean 40 degrees in the u.k. is extreme. but here in doha, unfortunately, it's a normal day. what is a heat wave? guest: well, one of the things that we agree on is that heatwave is based on context. so you cannot have a consistent global definition of a heatwave because we are used in different parts of the world to different types of extremes. and my students that i have here in one of my masters courses, a lot of them from the global south spent the first term complaining how cold it was in reading. now these same students are wondering where we are coming about the cold. there is no definition of heatwave. it depends on where you are. now there are some physiological limits, and 40 to 42 is probably getting towards some of those

where it's just physically impossible to do work. but other than the big physiological limits, how a heat wave is interpreted depends very much on local circumstances. how you're acclimatized, and how your infrastructure and how your buildings work, which is based on what you've expected weather to be in the past. bernard: stefan, i wanted to also ask you the question i posed before about trying to keep climate change on the agenda, keep it on the list. do you find the ppr dealing with, your students, understand that climate change is one of the most important issues facing the planet at the moment? guest: certainly, the students we have here in swansea, i would say that they are extremely aware of this. partly of course the courses we give and the choice they make to come to study at swansea university. but generally speaking, if you talk to anybody about wildfires they very often now talk about climate change. and of course, wildfires have always been normal in many parts of the world, but they're changing very rapidly. and people are becoming more and more aware of this even in in the cities where people are not

exposed to them perhaps, by smoke, but not necessarily to the fires themselves. thanks to you, the media they are acutely aware of that problem. bernard: stephen, weren't soaring fuel prices supposed to spark a rush towards alternative fuels? instead we have joe biden only the other day coming to the middle east, trying to get them to pump more oil. isn't that frustrating? haven't they picked anything up from what you've been saying? guest: yeah, clearly the idea that -- so i am in the u.k., and we still have a high fossil fuel energy mix. had we invested more in renewables, had we invested more in energy efficiency, so, insulating buildings and like we wouldn't be so attuned to shifting prices of oil and gas and locked into that. so it is about the right infrastructure, and moving away from fossil infrastructure. guest: nigel, global warming, as

we have mentioned before, is making extreme heat more common all over the road. but these specific events, i know we touched on them before, but these specific weather events more likely are more intense because of the human-induced warming? guest: absolutely. that's unequivocal that they're , if not generated directly by human activity, then they are made much more likely or more intense for more frequent due to human activity. i think that the scientific community is pretty clear on that and the report from the ipcc produced last year, the summary based on the work of hundreds of scientists reviewing very high credibility evidence, has concluded that human activity is creating increased conditions for these sorts of extreme events. i think there is very little scientific doubt about what's going on. bernard: and stefan, you would concur with that? what was your view on that?

guest: 100%. there is no question about this. and we have clear evidence. nearly everywhere in the world, we are seeing an extreme increase in fire weather. that doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to burn more because you need an ignition, and you need the fuel. but if you bring this together, if you combine this extreme weather with an ignition, there could be lightning, arson, an accident, there could be a barbecue that is left behind, and then with defebo, the dry vegetation, you have a fire vent, and they are becoming more difficult to tackle. so it's not just that we seeing more area burn. because in some areas of the world we see less fire because there's nothing left to burn. we have more agricultural land. we're also very good at putting out fires early on, but once those fires grow to a certain size, they're then extremely difficult or nearly impossible to put out. this is essentially then due to the associated weather conditions. bernard: ok. and stephen, once these heat waves have blown away, once it gets slightly back to normal across northern europe and north america, will we forget about this, or will we move on to worrying about more day-to-day things?

guest: i think it is important to keep talking about these issues. these things keep coming up, and we keep hearing that they are linked to climate change and we need to do more. it is about implementations. we know what we need to do. and it's about putting -- increasing our amount of renewals, it's about increasing our resilience by investing in -- it might be planting trees, that might be roads that are suitable for heating. it might be insulating buildings. things like that we need to do more. bernard: gentlemen, ok, thank you very much. we are unfortunately out of time, but thanks to our guests stephen cornelius, to nigel arnell, and to stephan doerr. and thank you, too, for watching. you can see the program again anytime by visiting our website aljazeera.com. and for more debate go to our , facebook page, that's facebook.com/ajinsidestory. you can also join the

conversation on twitter, we are @ajinsidestory. for me, bernard smith and the whole team here in doha, bye for now. ♪

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