ABSTRACT
Estimates of emissions from wildfires are problematic owing to variations in the type or the chemical composition of combusted material, structure, condition, and meteorological conditions during a wildfire. Carbon dioxide is generated in large amounts from the manufacture of cement, but this represents only 1% of the man-made total. Most of the remaining production is from global biomass, the major contribution is forest fires. Production of carbon dioxide from fires is nearly balanced by uptake over subsequent years of regrowth. Runaway plant growth during the Carboniferous Period 300 Mya voraciously consumed carbon dioxide, generating oxygen via photosynthesis. Major sites are in China, India, and Australia but coal is found everywhere and so coal fires are global. The map of the world shown divides the global landmasses into several geographical regions. In Borneo, the peat bogs were uncharacteristically dry because of climate fluctuations and also because of government wetland drainage activities in the region.
