The problems and negative impacts associated with large-scale uncontrolled forest fires have increased worldwide over the past two decades. Globally an estimated 300-400 million hectares of forests and woodlands burn annually, emitting an estimated 9.2 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases; however, fire is a vital and natural part of some forest ecosystems, and a multitude of plants and tree species have become fire-dependent. In the early 1990s global changes had reached proportions that led to the global meeting in Rio de Janeiro (Earth Summit, 1992). Changes in the global fire dynamic and an increase in weather disturbances like El Nino have now created a growing awareness that fires are a major threat to many forests and their biodiversity therein, directly contributing to the climate change process. In particular, tropical rainforests which were thought to be resistant to fires are now experiencing large-scale fires because of unsuitable silvicultural management practices. Globally 95% of all fires originate from various human activities; therefore these activities can be predicted and to some degree prevented well in advance. The difficulty lies in predicting and minimizing the impacts of the remaining 5% of all fires which are mostly caused by lightning.
[...] SUMMARY The problems and negative impacts associated with large-scale uncontrolled forest fires have increased worldwide over the past two decades. Globally an estimated 300–400 million hectares of forests and woodlands burn annually, emitting an estimated 9.2 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases; however, fire is a vital and natural part of some forest ecosystems, and a multitude of plants and tree species have become fire-dependent. In particular, tropical rainforests which were thought to be resistant to fires are now experiencing large-scale fires because of unsuitable silvicultural management practices. [...]
[...] Initial Steps in Fire Prevention The work on forest fire prevention starts by finding out why wildfires burn; when the reasons are ascertained and then strategies for fire prevention can be prepared. Without knowing the reasons for burning, no effective awareness program can be developed, and it is impossible to direct the awareness program to the right target population (such as children, women, men, farmers, hunters, beekeepers, tourists, campers). There are a variety of reasons why wildfires appear; more often than not, it is a question of ownership or proprietorship of the resource base-land or crop tenure rights can differ between formal laws and customary (traditional) laws. [...]
[...] Globally an estimated 300–400 million hectares of forests and woodlands burn annually, emitting an estimated 9.2 billion tons of greenhouse gases; however, fire is a vital and natural part of some forest ecosystems, and a multitude of plants and tree species have become fire-dependent over the last years, due to human- induced fires. Historical Use of Fire Fire has been a part of the natural landscape for millions of years, forming these landscapes long before human beings arrived. The use of fire by hominids is thought to be 1.5 million years old. [...]
[...] Fire and Food Security In the savanna ecosystem, where 50% of all global fires occur, the importance of managing fires primarily centers on food security for local people rather than on the traditional concern to protect forest resources in the form of timber and wood products. The hundreds of millions of people living in this environment are traditionally called farmers, and yet they are using hundreds of different non-wood forest products (NWFP) for their daily survival, particularly in the poorest households. [...]
[...] Contributing factors include: * forest operations often prepare for a ready access into the forest in the form of immigration * lack of management and protection of the forest after harvesting operations * accumulation of forest debris after logging. Temperate forests in the USA and eucalyptus forests in Australia, where controlled fires were deliberately suppressed for management and political reasons, are now experiencing devastating wildfires due to an unnatural accumulation of fuel exacerbated by extreme weather conditions. Large-scale fuel reduction programs are now underway in many regions to reduce the potential risk and severity of fires, especially in urban interface areas. [...]
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