Peat fires as a global environmental problem

The spread of peat fires in many countries has recently caused great concern worldwide. The reason is that peat fires release significant amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which increases the greenhouse effect and negatively affects the climate. Smoke and ash released during peat burning have a harmful effect on human health and are especially dangerous for people with respiratory diseases. The increase in the number of peat fires is associated with climate change, which leads to drier conditions in forests, a decrease in the total amount of precipitation, as well as an increase in anthropogenic impact on nature. The actualization of the problem of peat fires, the growth of the dynamics of which can lead to a planetary environmental problem and its catastrophic consequences, has become an impetus for a systematic study of the situation with peat fires. The study is aimed at forming an interdisciplinary understanding of peatlands and peat fires in the modern world, clarifying their consequences and identifying possible environmental problems of the near future. Given the large-scale increase in peat fires in recent decades in many countries of the world, the authors set themselves the goal of systematizing knowledge about peat fires and their consequences in the context of a global environmental problem. The study is based on such methods as system analysis, statistical and historical methods, interdisciplinary approach, causal analysis, and others. The study provides a systematic description of many peatlands and clarifies the causes of peat fires in various regions of the world, including Ukraine. Directions of further research include the development of methods for remote detection of peat layers in the mode of weak smouldering, forecasting the dynamics of the occurrence and spread of peat fires taking into account the geological features of the territory. During the research, it is planned to develop a corresponding scientific and applied apparatus, as well as to use the capabilities of modern remote sensing technologies.