THE world is burning. Wildfires raging in California in the past week have scorched forests, burned homes and led to the deaths of at least 14 people. But they are a flicker compared with the conflagrations that have already swept the Earth in 2003, which is shaping up to be one of the worst years for fires in recent history.
In Russia, 23.7 million hectares have burnt, 12 million hectares more than last year. And before the Californian fires, the US had lost around 2.8 million hectares to fire this year, compared with 1.7 million hectares in 2002. Europe is…
