Challenges of wildland fire management in Botswana: Towards a community inclusive fire management approach

Abstract

To counteract the growing risk of wildland fire outbreaks countries around the world continue to invest on fire suppression. But there are no clear trends in the reduction of fire catastrophes. Fire activity will intensify with increasing climate variability and extreme events that are projected under climate change. This makes it pertinent to review current fire management strategies and explore more sustainable approaches to fire risk. Botswana experiences frequent unplanned fires that are driven by a combination of climatic factors, policy, land use and social behavior. The country relies on a fire management system that is skewed towards fire suppression and centralized around Government although faced with vast fire prone areas and lacking in resources, coordination and management capacity. This approach has de-coupled fire management from land use and livelihoods that ironically rely on fire and account for most fire outbreaks, putting the country at high risk of fire disasters. This paper explored mechanisms for establishing a sustainable fire management approach in Botswana that is centered on land use fire needs. A fire management strategy that is based on the use of fire for land use management will be community inclusive. Where an appropriate institutional framework is provided, this approach will facilitate effective use of resources, integration of indigenous and modern knowledge systems and help re-focus fire management away from suppression. A community inclusive fire management approach has a greater potential to be of benefit to both land use and ecological requirements of fire and contribute towards adaptation to climate change.