From Wildfire Risk to Resilience The Investment Case for Action 2026

1Introduction to wildfire resilience As extreme wildfires intensify worldwide, the cost of inaction has never been greater. 1.1 Current state of the world: signs of urgency Annual area burned by wildfires, 20251FIGURE 1 0–1,000 ha 1,000–10,000 ha 10,000–1 million ha No data 10 million–100 million ha 1 millon–10 million haArea burned by wildfires2 in hectares (ha) Note: 1. Data was last accessed/updated on 1 January 2026; 2. A wildfire, characterized by its uncontrolled and rapid spread, can occur in various types of vegetation and wildlands, including forests, savannahs, grasslands and various other vegetation types. These incidents are identified using satellite imagery, which detects thermal anomalies as indicators of active burning areas. Source: Global Wildfire Information Systems. (2025). Annual area burnt by wildfires. https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/annual-area-burnt-by-wildfires?tab=map&country=USA~CAN~RUS~BRA~OWID_WRL~COD. From Wildfire Risk to Resilience: The Investment Case for Action 5