As a result of the conflict and fires, forests have been declining considerably in the past 40 years.

UNESCO: MEDIA SERVICES

But the American Forest Resource Council, a lobbying group that represents members of the timber industry, believes that forests should be managed to control fires and also to store carbon.

NPR: Stronger Wildfires Part of Emerging Global Pattern

Scientists are also concerned about fires in the "boreal forests" of Canada and Russia.

NPR: Stronger Wildfires Part of Emerging Global Pattern

Mosquitia is far away, but in the latest fires some 70% of the pine forests around Tegucigalpa have burned.

ECONOMIST: The burning of Central America

In the U.S., the prospect of more frequent fires has intensified debates over how to manage forests.

NPR: Stronger Wildfires Part of Emerging Global Pattern

In the 1990s, environmentalists and federal forest officials reported forests had become overgrown as a result of firefighters putting out too many natural fires too quickly.

FORBES: The Overwhelming Judgment of Science Rejects Obama's Global Warming Claims

These low-intensity fires did little damage to the big Ponderosa pine trees that dominated western forests.

ECONOMIST: Fire in the west: Another costly war that America can never win? | The