As Frozen Land Burns

From the Archives: World Press Photo contest 2022

Trees burn during a forest fire near Kürelyakh, Sakha, Siberia, Russia, on 5 July 2021.

Sakha, also known as Yakutia, which extends over more than three million square kilometers in the far northeast of the Russian Federation, experienced devastating wildfires, severe smoke pollution, and melting of its permafrost in 2021. By mid-August, more than 17.08 million hectares had been ravaged by fire, according to Greenpeace Russia - larger than the areas burned by fires in Greece, Turkey, Italy, the US, and Canada combined. The Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme reports that the Arctic is heating faster than the global average