France's unprecedented wildfires: Convergence of climate change and historical landscape engineering

Delano D'Souza is pleased to welcome Dr. Melissa Sterry, Scientist, Designer, Strategist and Founding Director of Panarchic Codex® : Design for Living with Wildfire. Dr. Sterry reframes wildfire as a systemic phenomenon: climate change intensifies heat and drought, nineteenth century land engineering has produced highly combustible plantation forests, and expanding human activity increases ignition opportunities. Once these factors align, fires can evolve into autonomous systems that generate their own weather and even create new ignition sources. While she praises France's emergency response, Dr. Sterry contends that prevention and firefighting alone cannot solve the problem. The real challenge lies in redesigning landscapes before fires gain momentum, shifting policy from reacting to disasters towards preventing them through long-term ecological resistance and resilience.