Gigantic fires have ravaged millions of hectares of forest in Siberia for several weeks, in a near-total indifference. The fumes from these fires stretch for thousands of kilometers, to the point of poisoning the air of hundreds of Russian cities, including the densely populated Novosibirsk and Ekaterinburg.
Faced with the urgency of the situation and the growing criticism of Moscow's inertia in the face of the voracious flames, President Vladimir Putin ordered the army on Wednesday (July 31st) to intervene and take part fighting the flames.
Driven by natural factors such as dry thunderstorms and an "abnormal" heat of 30 ° C in one of the coldest areas of the world, fires are fed by strong winds, according to the Federal Forestry Agency. If, every year, forest fires devastate large isolated stretches of Siberia, their magnitude this year reaches an exceptional level, with more than 300 reported fires, pushing some Russian media to evoke "the Apocalypse".
Operations too expensive according to local governors
In total, according to the Russian authorities and environmental protection NGOs, more than 3.2 million hectares, slightly less than the size of the territory of Belgium, were on fire on Wednesday, mainly in vast regions of Yakutia, Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk.
The decision to send the army to the field is "rather late," says Grigori Kouksin, a leader of the NGO Greenpeace Russia, and should not change "fundamentally" the situation. "It would have been better to extinguish these fires at earlier stages, when it was still possible to do so," he lamented on Moscow Echo's independent radio station.
The majority of these devastating forest fires ignite "control zones", an official term for remote, uninhabited or inaccessible areas, where the decision to extinguish fires is made only if the economic cost of the estimated damage exceeds that operations.
In the Russian system, however, the decision to launch operations against large-scale fires rests with the regional authorities. For example, Alexander Uss, governor of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, said on Monday, July 29, that the current fires are the result of a common natural phenomenon, and attempting to extinguish them made no sense and would be dangerous for rescuers. .
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, after a government meeting, called on the governors of the regions concerned, who called on them for more resources, to take their responsibilities and "do not point fingers" at Moscow. .
Anger of Siberians, distress of climatologists
A way to deflect the cold anger that has railed against the lack of reaction of the Russian authorities to these fires. Especially on the Internet, where Siberians have launched a campaign via social networks (Instagram, Twitter and VKontakte) to draw their attention to the situation, as well as that of the international community with hashtags like # LaSibériebrûle or # save lesforetssibériennes. Netizens photographed themselves in thick smoke or signs calling on the authorities to react, others have published drawings with messages begging to protect the Siberian forest.
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Several Russian celebrities, artists, athletes, and media personalities have supported the revolt of Internet users. "The ecosystem of the Siberian forests is one of the most precious riches not only of Russia, but of the whole of humanity, for which we can not be so irresponsible," wrote singer Monetochka on her Instagram account.
These fires and their aftermath have also alerted climatologists and environmental advocates who have denounced the authorities' inaction on what they see as an "ecological disaster" threatening to precipitate the melting of the Arctic. And therefore accelerate global warming.
"The situation with forest fires in the eastern part of Russia has long since ceased to be a local problem (...) and has turned into a nationwide ecological disaster" warned the Russian branch of the NGO Greenpeace.
Ecological disaster in Russia: about 4 million km2 of smoke over northern Central Asia. Important cities in Siberia are affected by a toxic haze that has already affected the Urals. https://t.co/abJeJIqHS1
Greenpeace France (@greenpeacefr) July 30, 2019The organization, which relayed satellite images of NASA showing huge clouds of smoke from Siberian fires and reaching the Arctic, has even launched an online petition, signed so far by more than 314,000 people.
Calling on Vladimir Putin and the Russian federal authorities, the text calls for an immediate reaction. "The country is suffering huge losses, the forest is burning, animals and birds are dying, fumes are poisoning inhabitants in the cities," he wrote, "We demand additional forces to fight forest fires in the surrounding areas. regions on fire, and extinguish all new fires, including in control areas ".
According to Greenpeace, soot and ash accelerate the melting of Arctic ice and permafrost, the layer of "eternal snow" that tends to shrink this year, releasing greenhouse gases and substances (carbon dioxide). carbon, mercury, bacteria) which, themselves, accelerate global warming.
In early June, the Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service (CAMS), which provides atmospheric composition and emissions data, monitored more than 100 forest fires in the Arctic Circle, which experienced its June the hottest since the start of temperature records.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the UN's meteorological and climatological monitoring service, has described these fires in the Arctic as "unprecedented".
With AFP