Forest fires, important sources of black carbon emissions, devastated Arctic regions around the world in 2018, and are an increasing concern for circumpolar nations, says the chair of the Arctic Council expert group on black carbon and methane.

The fires raged this summer in circumpolar countries like Sweden, Finland, Russia and Norway, including in their respective Arctic regions.

"It's one of the reasons the Arctic Council has recognized (wildfires) more widely and it's a topic that will be dealt with more widely by the Arctic Council working group," said Mikael Hilden, chair of the expert group, in a phone interview with Eye on the Arctic from Helsinki.

"Our part in particular has been to look into the policy side of it and see, what kind of policies should one pursue? One cannot remove wildfires completely, but one can address them so they are less dangerous than they might otherwise be."

The Arctic Council is a forum made up of world’s eight circumpolar nations: Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Russia and the United States; and six Arctic Indigenous groups; the Aleut International Association, the Arctic Athabaskan Council, the Gwich'in Council International, the Inuit Circumpolar Council, the Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North and the Saami Council.

The forum was established in 1996 to work on sustainable development and environmental protection in the North.

Feature Interview

“One should do small scale actions and scale up, and this way of progressing is what we hope this work will advance,” says Mikael Hilden, the chair of the Arctic Council expert group on black carbon and methane. (Kristina Baer/Arctic Council Secretariat)

For more on climate change, Arctic collaboration and black carbon threat in the North, listen to Eye on the Arctic‘s conversation with Mikael Hilden, chair of the Arctic Council expert group on black carbon and methane:

https://www.rcinet.ca/eye-on-the-arctic/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2019/01/Hilden.mp3

The expert group  on black carbon was established by the forum in 2015 to help implement its goal of reducing black carbon and methane emissions. 

The Arctic Council Expert Group on Black Carbon and Methane met for a two-day meeting in Helsinki January 16 and 17 to discuss their progress summary and recommendations for reducing emissions, that will be submitted to the next Arctic Council ministerial meeting in May. 

Dangerous to health and environment

Black carbon and methane emissions are a serious concern for the world’s circumpolar countries because of this form of pollution’s role in warming the atmosphere. When black carbon is deposited on ice and snow, it absorbs heat, instead of reflecting heat from these surfaces, contributing to global warming.

After carbon dioxide, it's the second biggest contributor to warming.

Black carbon is made up of fine matter produced by incomplete combustion of carbon-based fuels. It can be emitted by everything from diesel engines to forest fires.

Because black carbon particles are so small, they can be inhaled and have also been linked to respiratory and circulatory problems in humans.

Most boreal wildfires occur between March and October and can be caused either naturally, by things like lightening, or by humans.

Members of the Arctic Council expert group on black carbon and methane in Helsinki in January 2018. (Kristina Baer/Arctic Council Secretariat)

The Arctic Council's Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme described wildfire's impact on the North in their 2015 assessment "Black carbon and ozone as Arctic climate forces."

"Not only are emissions from fires within the Arctic important,