By Olivia Le Poidevin

GENEVA (Reuters) -Wildfires likely to have been made more frequent by climate change made significant contributions to air pollution last year, according to a report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) on Friday.

The World Health Organization says ambient air pollution causes 4.5 million premature deaths a year, and the WMO report for 2024 pointed to pollution hotspots in places that experienced intense fires such as the Amazon basin, Canada, Siberia and central Africa.

As global warming driven mostly by fossil fuel emissions alters weather patterns, wildfires have become more frequent and extensive around the globe, adding to the airborne particles also produced by the burning of coal, oil, gas and wood as well as transport and farming.

“Wildfires are

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