Between September 2019 and March 2020, 46 million acres (19 million hectares) of forests in southeast Australia were burnt, according to the Center of Disaster Philanthropy(opens in new tab). Generally, the majority of wildfires are believed to have been ignited by lightning, according to the Parliament of Australia; however, according to research conducted by the University of Oxford(opens in new tab), the risk of intense fire weather during the bushfire season in southeastern Australia has increased by 30% since 1900 as a result of climate change.