Arctic in Flames

May 12, 2025

Circumpolar efforts addressing an Arctic on fire

Article by:
Kristina Bär, Arctic Council Secretariat

The world is woefully unprepared for the challenges Arctic wildland fires pose, believes Edward Alexander, Gwich’in Council International Co-Chair, Co-lead of the Wildland Fires Initiative (WFI), and former firefighter. Throughout the Norwegian Chairship of the Arctic Council he has repeated his wake-up call on countless stages and panels: wildland fires in the Arctic are profoundly different from fires in other parts of the world, and they have the potential to fundamentally change the Earth’s climate. Here’s why and how the WFI has contributed to amplifying these concerns.

Fire is at the center of many Arctic communities. During cold and dark winters, it gathers people, offers warmth, cooks food and provides a direction for those who return home. Fire is a natural part of many ecosystems and a source of renewal. Indigenous Peoples have harnessed fire for millennia to manage landscapes that sustain healthy communities, plants and animals.

“When I was a little boy, elders would burn the meadows to get rid of all the dead grass. It would make it easy to move through the landscape, keep harmful bugs down, and bring biodiversity. When we burn these areas, they don't just come back as grassland, they come back as fireweed, roses, yarrow and other plants that are beneficial for people, animals and all kinds of pollinating insects,”, said Edward Alexander.

Across the Arctic, Indigenous Peoples have understood the threats and benefits of fire and developed practices based on their knowledge of the landscape, its climate, ignition sources and fire behaviors. As David Natcher, Professor at the University of Saskatchewan, and colleagues stated in a publication on Indigenous cultural burning practices: “what may appear to have been the carelessness and negligence on the part of the Gwich’in was in reality an indication of a highly sophisticated understanding of fire when used strategically on the land."

Changing Policies, Changing Fire Regimes

Sadly, colonial ambitions had little respect for these millennia-old practices and severely limited Indigenous cultural burning. Suppressing forest fires became the norm for much of the 20th Century with many detrimental impacts, ranging from the build up of highly flammable biomass to the loss of cultural practices that have shaped traditions, languages and identities.

In the 1970s and 80s, policies shifted from suppressing fires to another extreme: the let-burn policy. Suddenly, naturally-caused fires were allowed to burn uncontrolled in designated wilderness areas – such as Alexander’s homelands. Add to this, the warming of the Arctic, the changing weather and increase of lightning strikes, and one receives the recipe for unparalleled wildfires that spread across the North.

“There’re 480 gigatons of greenhouse gases stored inside a special kind of permafrost called yedoma...It’s enough to change the way of life of everyone reading this, everyone that you've ever met, and everyone that will ever be on this planet." - Edward Alexander, Gwich'in Council International

Understanding the Scale of Arctic Fires

Over the past 20 years, 174 million hectares have burned across the circumpolar North (see map). Many of these fires, some up to a million acres, have gone unresponded to because the areas were considered sparsely inhabited. Yet, not only do communities live on these lands, but their soils also store large amounts of carbon.

“There’re 480 gigatons of greenhouse gases stored inside a special kind of permafrost called yedoma, which contains a significant amount of organic material and is underlying much of our Gwich’in homelands and the homelands of many Arctic Indigenous Peoples,” Alexander explained. These 480 gigatons are around half of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere today. It’s enough, Alexander emphasizes, to upset the applecart on this planet. “It’s enough to change the way of life of everyone reading this, everyone that you've ever met, and everyone that will ever be on this planet.”

Much of the combustion in the Arctic, up to 80-90 percent, is happening below the ground because of these large carbon stores. Once fires have removed trees, shrubs and organic soil, the permafrost lies bare. “It’s essentially like opening the top of a cooler,” explained Sue Natali, Ecologist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center. “As fires are removing that protective layer, you will often have a much deeper thaw of the permafrost for years to decades to come.”

Fires paired with warm summers can have profound compounding impacts on permafrost soils. So much so, that the Arctic tundra has now shifted from storing carbon in the soil to becoming a carbon dioxide source.2 On average, circumpolar wildland fires have emitted 207 million tons of carbon annually since 20033 - equivalent to the annual emissions from over 45 million passenger cars. And, if this trend continues, fire-sourced carbon emissions in high latitude regions could increase two to three times by 2100.

Zooming in on the 2023 record-breaking fire season in Canada, its permafrost region alone emitted 381 million tonnes of carbon and across the whole country up to 640 million metric tons of carbon were released5. According to NASA scientists, this is comparable in magnitude to the annual fossil fuel emissions of a large, industrialized nation.

A Burning Issue for Circumpolar Cooperation

With the Arctic facing ferocious wildfires and the looming threat of more extreme weather, increased lightning activity and drier vegetation7, what role can international forums like the Arctic Council play in addressing this burning issue? Several years ago, this is the question Gwich’in chiefs asked Edward Alexander and so, Gwich’in Council International (GCI) together with other Permanent Participants became a driving force for the Arctic Council’s work on wildland fires.

As a result, the Council’s Working Groups have put substantial effort into understanding and addressing wildland fires from multiple angles, including monitoring, developing prevention and response strategies, fostering cross-border cooperation, examining climate and health impacts, and integrating Indigenous Knowledge and Local Knowledge for effective fire management.

Yet, as the 2023 fires were raging in Canada and the Council’s work was picking up pace after a pause in all official meetings, Morten Høglund, Chair of the Senior Arctic Officials, decided that wildland fires needed to be elevated on the Council’s agenda – with immediate effect. Together with his team, he started to prepare the Norwegian Chairship’s Wildland Fires Initiative (WFI). With fires being a common concern for all Arctic States, requiring cross-border cooperation, knowledge sharing and partnerships, the WFI quickly emerged as a prime example for the need of circumpolar collaboration.

© Kristina Bär / Arctic Council Secretariat

A Knowledge Hub on Search for Solutions

One of the initiative’s main objectives was to foster dialogue, cooperation and a better understanding of how joint efforts can address fires and safeguard communities. This included a public discussion series featuring a diverse group of experts, including Indigenous Knowledge holders, scientists, firefighters and policymakers from across the Arctic and the Council’s Observer states.

“Everyone was bringing their own expertise, and all these different puzzle pieces coming together gave us a much clearer picture. Each time, we achieved a better resolution, and sometimes new insights emerged,” said Alexander upon reflecting on the WFI’s accomplishments together with Høglund, who says, “for me it revealed the complexity of the different aspects related to fire. There are so many facets, and we've demonstrated that the Arctic Council is dedicated to the issue and capable of bringing together various knowledge holders, creating a hub for knowledge sharing on fires within the Arctic. I see many possibilities moving forward, using this network to be relevant for the communities and people affected.”

Going forward, what can this network achieve and how will it continue past the Norwegian Chairship’s Wildland Fires Initiative? How can the Council contribute to better preparing the world for the challenges circumpolar fires pose to the global community? “It’s a big challenge, and there are no easy answers—it requires multiple solutions,” Alexander said. “For example, we have been reinvigorating our cultural burning practices and discussing how to promote mild fire instead of wildfire in our homeland.”

As the parameters of wildland fire have changed in the Arctic, how these fires are addressed needs to be adjusted. What may work in more southern latitudes may not work in the Arctic, thus fire management will have to adapt to unique ecosystems, climatic conditions, community needs and economic development8. Alexander and Høglund agree that this will require more science and knowledge co-creation, investments and cooperation on the political level. To play a role in tackling these future needs, the Arctic Council is currently exploring the possibilities of setting up a dedicated Expert Group on wildland fires, building on the legacy of the WFI and the input from ongoing projects.

Fire Stories

While Arctic fires often make headlines and their consequences without doubt are newsworthy, the Wildland Fires Initiative also provided a space for personal stories, shared experiences and the many social and economic impacts fires have on affected communities. Here are some of the lived experiences from across the Arctic.

Chief Bill Erasmus, Chair Arctic Athabaskan Council - Yellowknife, NWT

In 2023, 70 percent of the population in our territory had to evacuate. We never thought that Yellowknife would be evacuated and so it was very unsettling. There was a press conference late in the evening on a Wednesday, they said the fire was getting closer and that we had to evacuate. Everyone had to be out by Friday noon. There was mass confusion. You either drive or fly out. Those flying didn't know who they were flying with or when. So, families were separated. Others drove out and as they started driving, there were fires on both sides of the highway. It was very scary; it was a traumatic and impactful experience.

Karin Nutti Pilflykt, Advisor at the Saami Council – Norrbotten, Northern Sweden / Sápmi

Due to the rising temperatures, it's getting drier and much easier for wildfires to spread also in Sápmi. When big areas are burning, it can directly impact the grazing grounds of reindeer, but also other species that reindeer forage on, for example, mushrooms or shrubs. We had a huge wildfire in 2006, which burned more than 1900 hectares. Two years later, my uncle together with scientists worked to restore and artificially spread lichen on the fire site9. I was back to the site two years ago, and while it was still black in many places, I could also see that the lichen is growing back well.

Vladimir Klimov, Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North – Siberia, Russia

I was born in a small village, where we burnt the old dry grass on the meadows in spring to give way to the new grass, to provide for our horses and also to fertilize the soil. From all my childhood memories, I can't remember a single case where our controlled burning would have turned into wildfire. But now that many of us live in the city, the majority of these meadows are abandoned and privately owned. It’s forbidden to burn, so there’s a lot of dry grass. That's why any match or cigarette stub just thrown out of a passing car can start a fire.

Lena Popova, PhD student at the University of Fribourg – Sakha Republic, Russia

In 2020 and 2021, the number of wildfires in the Arctic increased, and the most intense ones occurred in Siberia. It was terrible. The smoke from these fires reached the North Pole and eventually spread across large parts of the Arctic. Can you imagine what the air was like during the fires in Siberia, the smoke from which reached Alaska and Canada? It was very difficult to breathe, you could feel bitterness in your lungs.

Learn more about the Norwegian Chairship’s Wildland Fires Initiative and watch the recordings of the discussion series.