Global Wildfire is a research programme on how wildfire smoke and the expanding wildland–urban interface shape human exposure to fire-related risk. As fires grow larger and people live closer to flammable landscapes, the programme asks: how much are we exposed, who bears the burden, and can clean indoor air offer a practical shield?
Themes
Expanding fire risk. The global wildland–urban interface — where houses meet wildfire-prone vegetation — is growing, drawing more people into the path of fire in the 21st century.
Indoor exposure. Because people spend most of their time indoors, wildfire smoke reaches us largely through our homes. We quantify how indoor wildfire-PM2.5 exposure is distributed unevenly across the world — and what it would cost to clean the air.
Mitigation and health. Indoor air purification emerges as a cost-effective way to reduce the health toll of smoke, with benefits far exceeding the costs in many regions.
Three of the programme's papers are listed below.
Collaboration
Developed with colleagues in indoor-air-quality and public-health research, including Professor Bin Zhao's team at Tsinghua University and researchers at the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research (IGSNRR), Chinese Academy of Sciences.
