Fires were burning on Pacific Islands long before humans arrived

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2023-10-03 02:00

Pacific; International

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A new study challenges the 'unquestioned' view that human societies are solely responsible for environmental degradation, with deep soil samples showing that there were massive grassfires, and deforestation, before humans arrived on the island of Viti Levu in Fiji. The researchers say fires happened most often during droughts and El Niño climate events both before and after human arrival, however the amount and intensity of fires did increase after humans began transforming the land with slash-and-burn agriculture.