Fire ecology of the recent anthropocene

Abstract

Fire is a prominent disturbance factor in most vegetation zones across the world. In many ecosystems it is an essential and ecologically significant force -organising physical and biological attributes, shaping landscape patterns and diversity, and influencing energy flows and biogeochemical cycles, particularly the global carbon cycle. In some ecosystems, however, fire is an uncommon or even unnatural process that severely damages the vegetation and can lead to long-term degradation. Such ecosystems, particularly in the tropics, are becoming increasingly vulnerable to fire due to growing population, economic and land-use pressures. Moreover, the use of fire as a land-management tool is deeply embedded in the culture and traditions of many societies, particularly in the developing world. Given the rapidly changing social, economic and environmental conditions occurring in developing countries, marked changes in fire regimes can be expected, with uncertain local, regional, and global consequences. Even in regions where fire is natural (e.g. the boreal zone), more frequent severe fire weather conditions have created recurrent major fire problems in recent years. The incidence of extreme wildfire events is also increasing elsewhere the world, with adverse impacts on economies, livelihoods, and human health and safety that are comparable to those associated with other natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, droughts and volcanic eruptions. Despite the prominence of these events, current estimates of the extent and impact of vegetation fires globally are far from complete. Several hundred million hectares of forest and other vegetation types burn annually throughout the world, but most of these fires are not monitored or documented. Informed policy and decision-making clearly requires timely quantification of fire activity and its impacts nationally, regionally and globally. Such information is currently largely unavailable. The primary concerns of policy makers focus on questions about the regional and global impacts of excessive and uncontrolled burning, broad-scale trends over time, and the options for instituting protocols that will lead to greater control. Other key questions involve determining in what circumstances fires pose a sufficiently serious problem to require action; what factors govern the incidence and impacts of fires in such cases; and what might be the relative costs and benefits of different options for reducing adverse impacts? The elaborations in this paper reflect the rationale and the scope of work of the Working Group on Wildland Fire of the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) (Working Group on Wildland Fire 2002) with its associated international wildland fire research programmes of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) and other research consortia. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2006.