Vital Forest Graphics

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Trends in occurrence of wild fires

Number of recorded major fire disasters Data plotted by decade

2000

1950

EUROPE

1950

ASIA

2000

NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA

1950

2000

AFRICA 2

1950

OCEANIA

1. Major fire disasters where at least one of the following event took place: 10 or more people reported killed; 100 or more people reported affected; declaration of state of emergency; and/or call for international assistance. 2 The number of disasters reported is probably underestimated.

Source: MA 2005.

in the Amazon, researchers have begun to warn of a growing forest fire risk (Mountinho and Schwartzmann 2005). Forest fires also cause widespread damage and are responsible for large emissions of carbon into the atmos- phere. In some regions there is evi- dence of an ever increasing number of fires affecting larger areas and burning with greater severity. Climate change and the lack of sustainable land use policies are contributing factors in this increase. The El-Niño effect is also a factor, as it contributes to increases in the frequency of drought and lightning strikes. The majority of fires are caused by agricultural burning to convert forests to ranch or crop land, by careless burn-

ing of residues and waste, by burn- ing to improve hunting and by arson. In many regions, the spread of urban development is also associated with increased incidence of fires. As deforested areas expand, changes in the landscape and micro climate occur: the forest floor dries up which, in turn, makes it more vulnerable to fire. Ecosystems can change as a result of fires. Fires in the understorey of humid rainforests can cause tree mortality and canopyopenness.Frequentfiresand land over-use means forests are increasingly impoverished and, in some cases, such land becomes savannah (Mountinho and Schwartzmann 2005). In remote areas of Canada and Rus- sia lightning is a major cause of fires.

The remoteness of these areas often results in fires developing into serious conflagrations. Most countries have extensive fire regulations but there is often a lack of regulatory enforcement and in some countries policies and laws are contra- dictory. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) introduced a zero burning policy for the region in 1999 but this has been largely ineffec- tive: it has been found that the use of fire, mostly for agricultural purposes, is a far more important factor in main- taining rural livelihoods than previ- ously thought.