Ecosystem services and forest fires in India — Context and policy implications from a case study in Andhra Pradesh

Schmerbeck, Joachim; Kohli, Alice; Seeland, Klaus

doi:10.1016/j.forpol.2014.09.012

Cited by 25 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Forest fires, in fact, alter water quality and carbon cycling, and can lead to changes in vegetation types and structures, at least temporarily and particularly in non-fire prone ecosystems which are more susceptible to impacts (Vaz et al, 2017;Harper et al, 2018). On the other hand, ecosystem services are provided by localized or intentionally set fires, and can include increased agricultural land, hunting opportunities, fodder and pasture, pest management, charcoal, cultural services, and nutrient recycling (Schmerbeck et al, 2015). Forest fires also regulate the density and composition of young trees, create and shape terrestrial and aquatic wildlife habitats, co-determine the spatial pattern of landscapes, and influence water and sediment delivery across watersheds (Noss et al, 2006).…”

Section: Fire Regulation In the Ecosystem Services Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Fire-Regulating Services and Disservices With an Application to the Haifa-Carmel Region in Israel

Depietri

Orenstein

2019

Front. Environ. Sci.

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In the Mediterranean region, and in other fire-prone areas of the globe, the risk of human and economic losses due to forest fires has increased in the past decades, particularly at the urban-wildland interface. To counter this trend, economic and human resources are generally invested to combat and suppress wildfires, with much less invested to adapt through ecosystem-based management. Ecosystem services for fire regulation are rarely accounted for in the literature and are generally excluded from ecosystem service classifications. This gap causes fire-regulating services to be overlooked in socio-ecological assessments and in economic valuations, potentially further hampering the design and implementation of ecosystem-based approaches. We review the literature on fire risk reduction related to ecosystem management to define and characterize fire-regulating services and disservices. We then suggest indicators for the assessment of these services and disservices, and we propose a conceptual framework linking fire risk, ecosystem services, and ecosystem management practices. In the second part of the paper, we apply these concepts to the historical development of the social-ecological system of the Haifa-Mount Carmel region in Israel, including pre-and post-fire forest management practices. To inform the case study we investigate reports, relevant scientific articles, and policy documents, all corroborated with information from expert lectures on the topic. We conclude by suggesting that human capital should become an integral part of the description and definition of fire-regulating services and disservices, especially for highly modified urban and peri-urban environments.

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Section: Fire Regulation In the Ecosystem Services Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Fire-Regulating Services and Disservices With an Application to the Haifa-Carmel Region in Israel

Depietri

Orenstein

2019

Front. Environ. Sci.

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“…Globally, large numbers of people use fire as a tool to sustain livelihoods in ways that have been handed down across many generations [27]. Examples of livelihood fire-use range from indigenous Australians [4,28,29] and North Americans [30][31][32][33][34], South Asian forest dwellers [35], European farmers [36], to hunters, farmers and herders in tropical savannas [5,[37][38][39][40][41]. People set fires for numerous reasons that often relate to the reduction of socio-economic risks and improvement of wellbeing.…”

Section: Lessons From Fire-adaptive Communities In Varied Cultural Sementioning

confidence: 99%

Living on a flammable planet: interdisciplinary, cross-scalar and varied cultural lessons, prospects and challenges

Roos

Scott

Belcher

et al. 2016

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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Living with fire is a challenge for human communities because they are influenced by socio-economic, political, ecological and climatic processes at various spatial and temporal scales. Over the course of 2 days, the authors discussed how communities could live with fire challenges at local, national and transnational scales. Exploiting our diverse, international and interdisciplinary expertise, we outline generalizable properties of fire-adaptive communities in varied settings where cultural knowledge of fire is rich and diverse. At the national scale, we discussed policy and management challenges for countries that have diminishing fire knowledge, but for whom global climate change will bring new fire problems. Finally, we assessed major fire challenges that transcend national political boundaries, including the health burden of smoke plumes and the climate consequences of wildfires. It is clear that to best address the broad range of fire problems, a holistic wildfire scholarship must develop common agreement in working terms and build across disciplines. We must also communicate our understanding of fire and its importance to the media, politicians and the general public.This article is part of the themed issue 'The interaction of fire and mankind'.

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“…These efforts suggest that fire-use is a significant part of coevolutionary processes between humans and landscapes. An integral component of this effort will involve the empirical investigation of social and economic systems, current and past, that depend upon traditional fireuse (Sullivan III and Forste 2014;Schmerbeck et al 2015). Theory will also need to be informed by studies of traditional ecological knowledge and practice (Huffman 2013).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Traditional fire-use, landscape transition, and the legacies of social theory past

Coughlan

2015

Ambio

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Fire-use and the scale and character of its effects on landscapes remain hotly debated in the paleoand historical-fire literature. Since the second half of the nineteenth century, anthropology and geography have played important roles in providing theoretical propositions and testable hypotheses for advancing understandings of the ecological role of human-fire-use in landscape histories. This article reviews some of the most salient and persistent theoretical propositions and hypotheses concerning the role of humans in historical fire ecology. The review discusses this history in light of current research agendas, such as those offered by pyrogeography. The review suggests that a more theoretically cognizant historical fire ecology should strive to operationalize transdisciplinary theory capable of addressing the role of human variability in the evolutionary history of landscapes. To facilitate this process, researchers should focus attention on integrating more current human ecology theory into transdisciplinary research agendas.

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Ecosystem services and forest fires in India — Context and policy implications from a case study in Andhra Pradesh

Cited by 25 publications

References 34 publications

Fire-Regulating Services and Disservices With an Application to the Haifa-Carmel Region in Israel

Fire-Regulating Services and Disservices With an Application to the Haifa-Carmel Region in Israel

Living on a flammable planet: interdisciplinary, cross-scalar and varied cultural lessons, prospects and challenges

Traditional fire-use, landscape transition, and the legacies of social theory past

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