New perspectives in fire management in South American savannas: The importance of intercultural governance

Jayalaxshmi Mistry,Bibiana Bilbao,Ludivine Eloy,Isabel Belloni Schmidt

doi:10.1007/s13280-018-1054-7

Abstract

Wildfires continue to cause damage to property, livelihoods and environments around the world. Acknowledging that dealing with wildfires has to go beyond fire-fighting, governments in countries with fire-prone ecosystems have begun to recognize the multiple perspectives of landscape burning and the need to engage with local communities and their practices. In this perspective, we outline the experiences of Brazil and Venezuela, two countries where fire management has been highly contested, but where there have been recent advances in fire management approaches. Success of these new initiatives have been measured by the reduction in wildfire extent through prescribed burning, and the opening of a dialogue on fire management between government agencies and local communities. Yet, it is clear that further developments in community participation need to take place in order to avoid the appropriation of local knowledge systems by institutions, and to better reflect more equitable fire governance.

Highlights

Wildfires continue to cause damage to property, livelihoods and environments around the world
With the widespread recognition that eliminating landscape fires is ecologically, and socially and economically unviable in fire-prone ecosystems (Bilbao et al 2010; Durigan and Ratter 2016; Mistry et al 2016), countries in South America are moving towards the potential of an ‘intercultural fire governance’ (Rodrıguez et al 2013a, b); governance that acknowledges the multiple perspectives of landscape burning, reducing conflict amongst stakeholders, and supporting locally threatened biological and cultural diversity
In the past 2 years, the Brazilian and Venezuelan experiences have converged in several meetings and workshops, and we have organized and facilitated multi-stakeholder meetings on fire management in Parupa, Venezuela (2015)a and in Brasilia, Brazil (2017)b involving local indigenous and traditional community representatives, scientists, environmental managers and government officials

Summary

THE BURNING ISSUE

Wildfires wreak havoc on habitats and peoples around the world. The 2017 Chile wildfires, 2016 Fort McMurray fires in Canada, the regular catastrophic bushfires in Australia, Portugal and the USA, and the annual burning of vast tracts of forest and savanna ecosystems in the Amazon Basin and Indonesia are emblematic of this capacity for impact. Scientists have expanded our understanding of fire behaviour and ecology, the effects of burning on landscape dynamics, soils and biodiversity, and fire’s contribution to global warming (Scott et al 2014, 2016). Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) on fire management is still poorly described, rarely addressing the spatial and seasonal patterns of local burning practices within the landscape. With the widespread recognition that eliminating landscape fires is ecologically, and socially and economically unviable in fire-prone ecosystems (Bilbao et al 2010; Durigan and Ratter 2016; Mistry et al 2016), countries in South America are moving towards the potential of an ‘intercultural fire governance’ (Rodrıguez et al 2013a, b); governance that acknowledges the multiple perspectives of landscape burning, reducing conflict amongst stakeholders, and supporting locally threatened biological and cultural diversity

FROM ZERO FIRE TO PRESCRIBED BURNING

INITIAL LESSONS LEARNED

Findings

TOWARDS BETTER INTERCULTURAL GOVERNANCE