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Commonwealth
Forests | | |
 Fire
(unless otherwise stated, the main source for this section is FAO. 2007).
Forest fires have been, and still are, a major threat to forests throughout the world, and three
Commonwealth countries, Australia, Canada and India, are particularly affected. The world’s
attention was caught by the fires of 1997-98 in SE Asia and in 2002 and 2003 by severe fires
near Canberra and in British Columbia. It is reported that 3.7 M ha of forest are currently
affected annually by fire causing damage estimated at $107 M. Many African countries
sustain yearly fires in savanna woodland, and the impact of fires is severe on the livelihoods of
rural people in all developing countries, especially the poorest people, the disadvantaged,
minorities and women. The health of the people of some Asian countries has suffered in recent
years (including 2006) from the effects of smoke and haze from fires in their neighbours’
forests, while developed economies spend large sums every year on suppression and (to a
lesser extent) prevention. Yet despite the losses of human lives and property and damage to
the environment there is a shortage of information on the problem and – possibly in
consequence – a lack of public pressure or political will, once memory of the tragedy is fading,
to take long-term action.
But it must be appreciated that fire is necessary for the regeneration of some naturally fire-dependent
ecosystems, such as savanna woodlands or the boreal forest in Canada, and fire
may be used as a tool for land management in many ecosystems. The positive and negative
roles of fire must be understood by an increasingly urban population and the need for the broad
management of fires, rather than just fire suppression.
People are nearly always the main cause of fires, either through carelessness or deliberate
arson, but in Canada lightning is the cause of 35% of fires and 85% of the area burned,
because such fires occur in remote areas. It is not easy to prevent arson; in the 2002-03 fire
season Australia reported 10,000 cases of actual or potential arson, but there were only 43
convictions. And people contribute to the damage cause in other ways. Rural-urban migration
in developing countries means that fewer people available to put out fires, and the problem has
been made worse where HIV and AIDS has caused high mortality. Urban people have a poor
appreciation of the threat posed by fires and both Canada and Australia report the poor siting
of houses in high-risk locations in the wildland urban interface (WUI). Furthermore, urban
dwellers perceive all fires as harmful to the environment and public pressure in Australia has
led to fuel accumulation – with eventually more severe fires.
Simple means of fire control are common in many countries; for example Botswana, Namibia
and South Africa prepare every year an extensive network of fire breaks. Sophisticated means
of fire detection and suppression have been introduced in developed economies, but at a high
cost. Australia has reported that aerial support to fire suppression cost $80 M in 2002-03,
while Canada has drawn attention to recent changes in fire weather patterns leading to much
greater variability in hazard and thus in suppression costs; the annual mean cost has been
$382 but it may range up to double that figure. In fact, Canada warns that present fire
suppression practices may not be sustainable due to increasing costs, with possible effects
on wood supply and the competitiveness of the forest industry.
The main challenge facing Commonwealth countries in fire management is the
people – their understanding of the dangers
of fire and of the consequences of unintentional or intentional setting of fires,
their education in the need for early burning and even in the positive effects of fire. This has
been summarised by Handmer (2003) for Australia but his words are relevant elsewhere:
Those creating the risk [of fires] historically have no direct interaction with those dealing
with
the results. Worse perhaps is the absence of any useful engagement with those creating the
future risk [which] fire and emergency services will be dealing with in the future [factors
such
as climate change, urban expansion, changes in lifestyle etc]. Since many fires arise from
burning for clearing agricultural land other challenges are institutional, with the programmes of
Agricultural Departments, or concerned with policies which promote burning.
There are great opportunities for the exchange of information and experience in fire protection
and prevention, such as the development of simple early-warning systems, public education
and institution building. Africa has developed a network for the exchange of information,
AfriFireNet, established in 2002, while India hosted the Asia-Pacific workshop Scientific
Dimensions of Forest Fires in 2000. Many countries could learn techniques for community
participation in Community Based Fire Management (CBFiM) from Mozambique, Namibia and
South Africa, which have pioneered the concept, and India has given Joint Forest Management
Committees responsibilities to protect forests from fire, with significant reductions in forest
fires of up to 90% in some regions.
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