Catastrophic Bushfires, Indigenous Fire Knowledge and Reframing Science in Southeast Australia

Michael-Shawn Fletcher,Michela Mariani,Simon Connor,Anthony Romano,Shira Yoshi Maezumi

doi:10.3390/fire4030061

Abstract

The catastrophic 2019/2020 Black Summer bushfires were the worst fire season in the recorded history of Southeast Australia. These bushfires were one of several recent global conflagrations across landscapes that are homelands of Indigenous peoples, homelands that were invaded and colonised by European nations over recent centuries. The subsequent suppression and cessation of Indigenous landscape management has had profound social and environmental impacts. The Black Summer bushfires have brought Indigenous cultural burning practices to the forefront as a potential management tool for mitigating climate-driven catastrophic bushfires in Australia. Here, we highlight new research that clearly demonstrates that Indigenous fire management in Southeast Australia produced radically different landscapes and fire regimes than what is presently considered “natural”. We highlight some barriers to the return of Indigenous fire management to Southeast Australian landscapes. We argue that to adequately address the potential for Indigenous fire management to inform policy and practice in managing Southeast Australian forest landscapes, scientific approaches must be decolonized and shift from post-hoc engagement with Indigenous people and perspectives to one of collaboration between Indigenous communities and scientists.

Highlights

IntroductionIn the austral summer of 2019/2020, the southeast of Australia was subject to the worst fire season in the recorded history (dubbed the Black Summer bushfires), with unprecedented areas of forest burnt (ca. 18 million hectares; Figure 1a), significant immediate and ongoing financial costs and a yet untold environmental impact that included the death of an estimated 1 billion mammals [1,2]
In the austral summer of 2019/2020, the southeast of Australia was subject to the worst fire season in the recorded history, with unprecedented areas of forest burnt, significant immediate and ongoing financial costs and a yet untold environmental impact that included the death of an estimated 1 billion mammals [1,2]
Indigenous cultural burning practices to landscapes have been raised as a potential management tool for mitigating against climate-driven catastrophic bushfires in Australia [21]

Summary

Introduction

In the austral summer of 2019/2020, the southeast of Australia was subject to the worst fire season in the recorded history (dubbed the Black Summer bushfires), with unprecedented areas of forest burnt (ca. 18 million hectares; Figure 1a), significant immediate and ongoing financial costs and a yet untold environmental impact that included the death of an estimated 1 billion mammals [1,2]. These fires resulted in more than 600 deaths and the destruction of more than 50,000 buildings and had a total economic cost of more than US$1 trillion [7,8,9] These events are continuing today, with the current (2021) North American wildfires (>0.4 million hectares) and another emerging wildfire crisis in the Amazon. Between[20]; 1870 [18]; massacres (grey) and a cumulative plot of recorded catastrophic bushfires in Southeast Australia (red). Indigenous cultural burning practices to landscapes have been raised as a potential management tool for mitigating against climate-driven catastrophic bushfires in Australia [21].

Southeast Australian Forests and Fire