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New Report Urges Global Action to Address Role of Fire in ConservationNatural balance of fire is needed to protect people and landscapes around the world.Sevilla, Spain— May 16, 2007— Today the Global Fire Partnership (GFP) released a new report, Fire, Ecosystems and People: Threats and Strategies for Global Biodiversity Conservation, that presents the most comprehensive study to-date of the changing role of fire around the world. The findings, shared today at the fourth International Wildland Fire Conference, demonstrate that across most of the world people have altered the way fire is behaving, with often serious, even irreversible consequences. “The report demonstrates that fire is truly a global conservation issue. Too much, too little or the wrong kind of fire can be very destructive. If we want to protect people and stop the further degradation of our environment, we need to act now to restore the natural balance of fire in our landscapes” said Ayn Shlisky, director of The Nature Conservancy’s Global Fire Initiative. According to this new study, fire is a regular, natural occurrence in more than half of the world’s ecosystems, where it plays a vital role in maintaining unique landscapes and natural resources essential to communities. Excluding fire from these areas can be very damaging and risks causing more intense burns when ignitions occur. On the other hand, a large percentage of the earth’s ecosystems, including tropical rainforests, are not equipped to survive fires. Many such places are being devastated by human-caused fires and related impacts. Large scale fires in areas where habitats are not able to regenerate also release significant amounts of carbon into the atmosphere, contributing to climate change. It is estimated that forest fires in Indonesia alone emit 1,400 million tonnes of carbon a year. In over 60% of lands assessed across the globe, including southern Europe, the natural presence of fire has been significantly altered. Urban development, agriculture and fire exclusion are highlighted by the report as key drivers in disrupting natural fire cycles. Climate change is a growing threat, as longer, hotter summers are making many areas susceptible to more frequent and intense wildfires. There are many steps multi-lateral agencies, governments and local communities can take to improve the situation. “We urge governments to develop policies that address the role of fire as they implement new urban planning and land management practices” said John Waugh, Senior Multilateral Relations Officer for IUCN. The GFP recommends that countries adopt Integrated Fire Management, an approach aligned with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s recently released voluntary guidelines on fire management. By following a process which includes evaluating the social, economic and environmental impacts of fire, policy makers as well as local communities will be able to make better decisions on how best to manage fire to preserve their natural resources and protect people. The Global Fire Partnership consists of The Nature Conservancy, University of California, Berkeley’s Center for Fire Research and Outreach, IUCN and WWF. These groups have pledged to work together, and with partners, to address the causes and social and economic consequences of altered fire regimes around the world. The global fire assessment is an ongoing project. The Global Fire Partnership is presently working to improve the assessment methodology, which to-date has been driven by expert opinion, by adding analyses of environmental variables that drive fire ecology. |
