Resilience and fire management in the Anthropocene

Abstract

Fire management around the world is now undergoing extensive review, with a move toward fire management plans that maintain biodiversity and other ecosystems services, while at the same time mitigating the negative impacts to people and property. There is also increasing recognition of the historical and anthropogenic dimensions that underlie current fire regimes and the likelihood that projected future climate change will lead to more fires in most regions. Concurrently, resilience theory is playing an increasingly important role in understanding social-ecological systems, and new principles are emerging for building resilience in both human and natural components. Long-term fire data, provided by paleoecological and historical studies, provide a baseline of knowledge about the linkages between climate, vegetation, fire regimes, and humans across multiple temporal and spatial scales. This information reveals how processes interacting over multiple spatial and temporal scales shape the local fire conditions that influence human and ecological response. This multiscale perspective is an important addition to adaptive fire management strategies that seek to build resilience, incorporate stakeholder perspectives, and support polycentric decision making.

Integrating functional connectivity and fire management for better conservation outcomes

“…2017), yet species responses to spatial discontinuities in their habitat are rarely considered in fire management (Gillson et al. 2019).…”

What Are the Grand Challenges for Plant Conservation in the 21st Century?

“…The relief effort for fire control was understandably focused on human safety, with only few pre-emptive responses aimed at reducing loss of biodiversity, although one example was saving the critically endangered Wollemi pine (Wollemia nobilis) (Wintle et al, 2020). A more future-focused effort to fire management could focus on restoring heterogeneity and building resilience (Gillson et al, 2019).…”

Sustainable Fire Management

“…With the support provided by Australia's emissions trading scheme (2012) and in the frame of the Carbon Farming Initiative, the pioneer WALFA approach has been subsequently adopted by a number of projects in northern Australia (https://www.abcfoundation.org.au/carbon-farming/savanna-burning). Gillson et al (2019) have highlighted the shared governance of WALFA and how it both delivers local benefits and tackles the global issue of climate change.…”

“…Many ecosystems and their values have been shaped by human-and naturally caused fires, namely grasslands, tropical dry woodlands, Mediterranean woodlands, shrublands and forests, various types of temperate forests, both conifer and broadleaved, and boreal forests. An understanding of the cultural landscape and the extent of natural processes modification is relevant to improve fire management (Gillson et al 2019). Where urban-based societies and flammable vegetation interact, the main priority of fire management is to safeguard human life and assets, which requires a well-balanced mix of wildfire exclusion, fire use for hazard reduction, and community awareness and self-protection.…”