The pyrohealth transition: how combustion emissions have shaped health through human history

468

269

Wildfire has been an important process affecting the Earth's surface and atmosphere for over 350 million years and human societies have coexisted with fire since their emergence. Yet many consider wildfire as an accelerating problem, with widely held perceptions both in the media and scientific papers of increasing fire occurrence, severity and resulting losses. However, important exceptions aside, the quantitative evidence available does not support these perceived overall trends. Instead, global area burned appears to have overall declined over past decades, and there is increasing evidence that there is less fire in the global landscape today than centuries ago. Regarding fire severity, limited data are available. For the western USA, they indicate little change overall, and also that area burned at high severity has overall declined compared to pre-European settlement. Direct fatalities from fire and economic losses also show no clear trends over the past three decades. Trends in indirect impacts, such as health problems from smoke or disruption to social functioning, remain insufficiently quantified to be examined. Global predictions for increased fire under a warming climate highlight the already urgent need for a more sustainable coexistence with fire. The data evaluation presented here aims to contribute to this by reducing misconceptions and facilitating a more informed understanding of the realities of global fire. This article is part of themed issue ‘The interaction of fire and mankind’.

Section: (D) Impacts On Society: Indirect Impactsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global trends in wildfire and its impacts: perceptions versus realities in a changing world

Doerr¹,

Santín²

2016

468

269

“…It is not our aim here to provide an exhaustive review of the effects of fire on peatland environments or other ecosystems. Instead, we suggest readers refer to holistic reviews of the effect of fire on the environment [ 29 ] and specific reviews of the effects of fire on soils [ 30 ], peatland ecosystems [ 31 , 32 ], C and climate [ 33 ], human health [ 34 ], and UK moorlands [ 35 ]. It is, however, informative to draw attention to a number of recent, relevant studies that highlight the range of potential outcomes from burning.…”

Section: Complexities In Understanding the Role Of Fire In Peatland Ementioning

confidence: 99%

The role of fire in UK peatland and moorland management: the need for informed, unbiased debate

Davies

Kettridge

Stoof

et al. 2016

158

Fire has been used for centuries to generate and manage some of the UK's cultural landscapes. Despite its complex role in the ecology of UK peatlands and moorlands, there has been a trend of simplifying the narrative around burning to present it as an only ecologically damaging practice. That fire modifies peatland characteristics at a range of scales is clearly understood. Whether these changes are perceived as positive or negative depends upon how trade-offs are made between ecosystem services and the spatial and temporal scales of concern. Here we explore the complex interactions and trade-offs in peatland fire management, evaluating the benefits and costs of managed fire as they are currently understood. We highlight the need for (i) distinguishing between the impacts of fires occurring with differing severity and frequency, and (ii) improved characterization of ecosystem health that incorporates the response and recovery of peatlands to fire. We also explore how recent research has been contextualized within both scientific publications and the wider media and how this can influence non-specialist perceptions. We emphasize the need for an informed, unbiased debate on fire as an ecological management tool that is separated from other aspects of moorland management and from political and economic opinions.This article is part of the themed issue ‘The interaction of fire and mankind’.

“…Local, place-based management is arguably the most cost-effective and economical solution to sustain beneficial fire regimes. Ideally, fire management responds to local socio-economic needs and broader-scale market demands, and successfully navigates air-shed health and safety concerns [43]. Furthermore, local management provides legitimacy to programmes that might originate at higher levels of governance hierarchies, thereby creating pathways for sustainable management [54].…”

Section: (B) Landscape Relationshipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Roos

Scott

Belcher

et al. 2016

Self Cite

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'.