'Integrated fire management is an environmental strategy,' says researcher.
We spoke with Professor Bráulio Dias from the Department of Ecology at the University of Brasília about important perspectives and concepts for understanding the dynamics of fire in nature. Clarifying the differences between controlled burns and wildfires, Dias helps to demystify the common notion that fire is only destruction and explains how this element can also signify life.
The professor demonstrates that investing in fire management policies is essential to protect the environment and prevent disasters like the one that occurred in the Pantanal. Without excluding traditional peoples and communities and family farmers, Bráulio reminds us that the ancestral practices of these groups contribute to building ways of making fire a great friend of nature.
ISPN: What is the difference between wildfires and controlled burns?
Hydraulic: A wildfire is an uncontrolled fire, of natural origin – lightning, or anthropogenic [human action], that destroys natural (forest and other forms of vegetation) or built heritage. A controlled burn is an intentional anthropogenic fire with the objective of reducing plant biomass: to prepare an area for agricultural cultivation or pasture renewal, to eliminate agricultural crop residues, or to control combustible biomass in natural vegetation to reduce the risks of a large-scale forest fire, or to restore the ecological dynamics of grassland or savanna ecosystems where fire is an ecological agent present in the history and evolution of these ecosystems.
ISPN: How can wildfires contribute to the conservation of the environment and traditional practices?
Bráulio: Wildfires can be beneficial or harmful to the environment depending on the conditions in which they occur. Brazil has a great diversity of ecosystems and native vegetation, but we can group them into two large groups in relation to fire: on the one hand, those ecosystems and vegetation that evolved with the presence of fire in climates with a pronounced dry season where fire can have a beneficial effect on the dynamics and renewal of vegetation, favoring, for example, flowering and seed dispersal and the supply of nutritious regrowth for the fauna, and whose flora and fauna have adaptations to resist and respond to fire, e.g., corky bark of trees, well-developed underground structures with tuberous roots, underground trunks, and buds protected from fire. On the other hand, there are ecosystems and vegetation that evolved in regions with a humid climate throughout the year where fire is a foreign element and whose flora and fauna do not have adaptations to resist and respond to fire – in these ecosystems, fire is always a factor of environmental destruction.
Furthermore, the impact of fire depends on the time of year, its frequency, extent, intensity and speed (residence time), and environmental conditions (temperature, wind speed, and plant and animal phenology).
Indigenous peoples, traditional communities, and traditional farmers and ranchers have developed adaptive strategies for the use of controlled fire that provide benefits to these communities without causing large wildfires – experiences that should be better documented and recovered – in Australia, for example, the government makes payments for environmental services to encourage Aboriginal populations to resume traditions of controlled burning in small areas throughout the year, thereby increasing the heterogeneity of landscapes and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by reducing large wildfires.
ISPN – What is integrated fire management? How can this approach help prevent wildfires?
Bráulio: Integrated fire management is an environmental management strategy, adapted to each local condition, that aims to reduce the conditions for the occurrence of large forest fires, restore the ecological role of fire in ecosystems and vegetation that have evolved with fire (accepting natural fires caused by lightning, within limits, and promoting controlled prescribed burns in ecosystems and vegetation adapted to fire to reduce the accumulation of dry plant biomass and to promote greater spatial heterogeneity of landscapes).
ISPN: How can integrated fire management work for different biomes?
HydraulicIntegrated fire management should act in wetland ecosystems to prevent forest fires by guiding and controlling the use of fire in agricultural practices and promoting the construction of firebreaks to prevent the spread of fire and to facilitate fire control where necessary. In fire-adapted ecosystems, it should promote the use of prescribed and controlled burns where ecological conditions allow and should promote the protection of ecosystems and habitats vulnerable to fire in grassland and savanna landscapes (such as wetlands, riparian forests, and rocky fields).
To note in your planner:
Webinar – National Policy on Integrated Fire Management
November 25th, Wednesday, at 10 AM (Brasilia time)
Live streaming via YouTube channel of the Parliamentary Environmentalist Front
Produced by: Institute for Society, Population and Nature (ISPN); Parliamentary Environmental Front and WWF Brazil
About Bráulio Dias:
Professor in the Department of Ecology at the University of Brasília. Works at the Science-Politics interface in the Environment with an emphasis on biodiversity and ecosystem services, pollination, pest control, fire ecology, savannas, environmental monitoring, and the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).