India, March 31 -- In 2023, nearly 12 million hectares, almost as big as Nicaragua, burned to ash, emitting a copious amount of carbon dioxide. We are also losing forest cover, which is making the planet hotter. Why are wildfires becoming frequent and more lethal?

What is happening is a global recalibration of forest and grassland regimes in a painful, uneven, patchwork fashion. The new fire regime can't be stopped by us, which is a frightening prospect. In the northern hemisphere, we are seeing powerful fires that burn the roots and destabilize the soil, leading to landslides, which means no trees can grow there.

This change is palpable in fire-dependent ecosystems like the Boreal in the Northern Hemisphere, which goes all the way thro...