Peat fires as a global environmental problem
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32347/2411-4049.2026.2.7-17Keywords:
environment, peatland, burning, fire, ecosystemAbstract
The spread of peat fires in many countries has recently caused great concern worldwide. The reason is that peat fires release significant amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which increases the greenhouse effect and negatively affects the climate. Smoke and ash released during peat burning have a harmful effect on human health and are especially dangerous for people with respiratory diseases. The increase in the number of peat fires is associated with climate change, which leads to drier conditions in forests, a decrease in the total amount of precipitation, as well as an increase in anthropogenic impact on nature. The actualization of the problem of peat fires, the growth of the dynamics of which can lead to a planetary environmental problem and its catastrophic consequences, has become an impetus for a systematic study of the situation with peat fires. The study is aimed at forming an interdisciplinary understanding of peatlands and peat fires in the modern world, clarifying their consequences and identifying possible environmental problems of the near future. Given the large-scale increase in peat fires in recent decades in many countries of the world, the authors set themselves the goal of systematizing knowledge about peat fires and their consequences in the context of a global environmental problem. The study is based on such methods as system analysis, statistical and historical methods, interdisciplinary approach, causal analysis, and others. The study provides a systematic description of many peatlands and clarifies the causes of peat fires in various regions of the world, including Ukraine. Directions of further research include the development of methods for remote detection of peat layers in the mode of weak smouldering, forecasting the dynamics of the occurrence and spread of peat fires taking into account the geological features of the territory. During the research, it is planned to develop a corresponding scientific and applied apparatus, as well as to use the capabilities of modern remote sensing technologies.
References
Peatlands degrading in 177 countries, putting climate goals at risk. UNEP. (2024, November 21). Retrieved from https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/peatlands-degrading-177-countries-putting-climate-goals-risk
Charman, D. (2002). Peatlands and Environmental Change. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.
Parker, G. (2020, September 29). Assessing peat fires for health and safety. Retrieved from https://apfmag.com/assessing-peat-fires-for-health-and-safety
Hooijer, A. (2016). In the line of fire: the peatlands of Southeast Asia. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci, 371 (1696). Retrieved from https://royalsocietypublishing. org/rstb/article/371/1696/20150176/22893/In-the-line-of-fire-the-peatlands-of-Southeast https://doi.org/ 10.1098/rstb.2015.0176
Minasny, B., Adetsu, D.V., Vigah, D. et al. (2024). Mapping and monitoring peatland conditions from global to field scale. Biogeochemistry, 167, 383-425, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-023-01084-1
Lyalko, V.I., Dugin, S.S., Sybirtseva, O.M. et al. (2023). On the Possibility of Identifying Peatland Features Using Remote Sensing Data. Geological Journal, 4, 61-78. (in Ukrainian) https://doi.org/10.30836/igs.1025-6814.2023.4.288929. [Лялько, В.І., Дугін, С.С., Сибірцева, О.М., Дорофей, Є.М., Голубов, С.І., Орленко, Т.А. (2023). Про можливості визначення ознак торфовищ з використанням даних дистанційного зондування Землі. Геологічний журнал, 4, 61-78].
Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat (2022). Website of UNESCO. Retrieved from https://www.unesco.org/en/ biodiversity/wetlands
Global Peatlands Initiative (2025). Website of GPI. Retrieved from https://globalpeatlands.org.
EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030. (2020). Website of EC. Retrieved from https://environment.ec.europa.eu/strategy/biodiversity-strategy-2030
European Commission Green deal: pioneering proposals to restore Europe’s nature by 2050 and halve pesticide use by 2030. (2022). Website of EC. Retrieved from https://ec.europa.eu/commission/ presscorner/detail/en/ip_22_3746
Osadchyi, V., Oreshchenko, A. & Savenets, M. (2023). Suputnykovyi monitorynh pozhezh i zabrudnennia atmosfernoho povitria [Satellite monitoring of fires and atmospheric pollution]. Kyiv: SESU, NASU. (in Ukrainian) [Осадчий, В., Орещенко, А., Савенець, М. (2023). Супутниковий моніторинг пожеж і забруднення атмосферного повітря. Київ: ДСНС України, НАН України, УкрГМІ].
Lishchenko, L.P. & Pazynych, N.V. (2016). Monitorynh stanu torfovyshch dlia vyiavlennia pozhezhonebezpechnykh dilianok za dopomohoiu dystantsiinykh metodiv [Monitoring the condition of peatlands to identify fire-hazardous areas using remote methods]. Ukrainskyi zhurnal dystantsiinoho zonduvannia Zemli, 8, 29-39. (in Ukrainian) https://doi.org/10.36023/ujrs.2022.9.1.210. [Ліщенко, Л.П., Пазинич, Н.В. (2016). Моніторинг стану торфовищ для виявлення пожежонебезпечних ділянок за допомогою дистанційних методів. Український журнал дистанційного зондування Землі, 8, 29-39].
Rein, G. & Huang, X. (2021). Smouldering wildfires in peatlands, forests and the arctic: Challenges and perspectives. Current Opinion in Environmental Science & Health, 24. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468584421000684
Rein, G. (2014, June 16). The long slow burn of Smouldering peat mega-fires. Retrieved from https://www.iawfonline.org/article/the-long-slow-burn-of-smouldering-peat-mega-fires
McCarter, C.P., Clay, G.D., Wilkinson, S.L. et al. (2024). Peat fires and legacy toxic metal release: An integrative biogeochemical and ecohydrological conceptual framework. Earth-Science Reviews, 256. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2024.104867
Page, S.E. & Hooijer, A. (2017). In the line of fire: The peatlands of Southeast Asia. Philos. Trans. R. Soc., 317 (1696). https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2015.0176
Sam-Odusina, Т., Perkasa, P., Chalmers, C. et al. (2025). Detection and Geolocation of Peat Fires Using Thermal Infrared Cameras on Drones. Drones, 9(7), 459. https://doi.org/10.3390/drones9070459
Carmenta, R., Zabala, A. & Phelps, J. (2015). Indonesian Peatland Fires. Perceptions of Solutions. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.1.4296.5849
Lohberger, S., Stängel, M., Atwood, E.C. & Siegert, F. (2017). Spatial evaluation of Indonesia’s 2015 fire-affected area and estimated carbon emissions using Sentinel-1. Glob. Change Biol, 24, 644-654. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13841
Crippa, P., Castruccio, S., Archer-Nicholls, S. et al. Population exposure to hazardous air quality due to the 2015 fires in Equatorial Asia, Scientific Reports | 6:37074 |. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep37074
The burning issue of peat fires. (2025, April 02). Retrieved from https://geographical.co.uk/news/the-burning-issue-of-peat-fires
UK peatland fires are supercharging carbon emissions as climate change causes hotter, drier summers (2025, February 21). Retrieved from https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/ uk-peatland-fires-are-supercharging-carbon-emissions-as-climate-change-causes-hotter-drier-summers
Peatland fires and carbon emissions. (2025, March 05). Retrieved from https://natural-resources.canada.ca/forest-forestry/wildland-fires/peatland-fires-carbon-missions
Wildfires send Canada's carbon emissions soaring. (2025, July 20). Retrieved from https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/new-model-to-estimate-emissions-from-canada-peatlands-1.758880312
Peatlands Play a Vital Ecological and Economic Role in the U.S. (2025, May 30) Retrieved from https://www.pew.org/en/research-and-analysis/issue-briefs/2025/05/ peatlands-play-a-vital-ecological-and-economic-role-in-the-us
Koval, R. (2025). Doslidzhennia statystychnykh danykh shchodo pozhezh torfianykh zahorian, prychyn yikh vynyknennia na terytorii Ukrainy [Research on statistical data concerning peat fires and the causes of their occurrence in Ukraine]. Kyiv: ISRCP NUCPU. (in Ukrainian) [Коваль, Р. (2025). Дослідження статистичних даних щодо пожеж торф’яних загорянь, причин їх виникнення на території України. Київ: ІНДЦЗ НУЦЗУ].
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 М.О. Попов, Р.В. Пономаренко, С.П. Мосов
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
The journal «Environmental safety and natural resources» works under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
The licensing policy is compatible with the overwhelming majority of open access and archiving policies.
