Building Fire Management Capacityfor Conservation Action in the
Caribbean
Ronald MyersCaras del FuegoTallahassee, FL USA
Prescribed fire training, Pinar del Río, Cuba
Primary barriers to effective fire management in the Caribbean:
1. Lack of understanding of the ecological role of fire in ecosystems.
2. Failure to integrate the underlying causes of fire problems with appropriate solutions.
3. Counter-productive public policies and legislation.
4. Lack of capacity (training, experience, planning, resources) to implement effective fire management.
a. Failure to understand & distinguish fire-dependent vsfire-sensitive ecosystems & their relationships.
b. Failure to understand fire regimes and what is ecologically appropriate for a given ecosystem.
c. Failure to distinguish between detrimental & beneficial fires.
d. Failure to recognize the role of human burning in maintaining desired ecosystem states and conservation values.
e. Fire ecology principles not taught at universities and technical schools.
f. Failure to understand the relationship of fire to other ecological problems, i.e. invasive species, climate change, forest plagues.
1. Lack of understanding of the ecological role of fire in ecosystems:
The Role of Fire in Caribbean Ecosystems
• Fire-dependent = require fire
• Fire-sensitive = fire detrimental, but biodiversity may depend of fire disturbances
• Fire-independent = fuels not available to burn and/or limited ignitions
Fire-Dependent Ecosystems
• Ecosystems where fire is essential. If fire is removed, or if the fire regime is altered beyond its normal range of variability, the ecosystem changes to something else; habitats and species are lost.
•Plants and animals have adaptations that allow them to survive fire, and reproduction and growth may be stimulated by fire.
• Fire-prone, highly flammable.
• Ecosystem structure & plant architecture facilitate fire’s spread.
Fire-sensitive Ecosystems• Ecosystem structure & composition tend to inhibit
ignition & fire’s spread.• Species lack adaptations to respond to fire.• Fire can influence ecosystem structure, relative
abundance of species, and/or limit ecosystem extent.• Fire may create habitats by initiating or affecting
succession, i.e. fire does plays an ecological role as an disturbance event.
• If fires are too frequent or too large, they can be damaging and cause ecosystem shifts to more fire-prone vegetation.
Fire-independent Ecosystems
• Ecosystems where fire plays little or no role.
• Too cold, too dry, or too wet to burn.
Examplesin the Caribbean
Quemado conalta frecencia
No ha quemadopor varios años
Parque Nacional Sierra de Bahoruco, República Dominicana
Pinus occidentalis
Ecosistemas dependientes al fuego:
Moran, Cuba
Isla de Andros, Bahamas
Humedales /Wetlands
Nariva Swamp, Trinidad
Fire-dependent ecosystems in the Caribbean:
Cuban Pinelands
Pinus tropicalis on the Isle of Youth
Cuban Sandhill Crane
Fire-maintained ecosystems in the Caribbean:
Palm Forests & Savannas: Palma barrigona(Colpothrinax wrightii), Isle of Youth, Cuba Cuban Parrot
Amazona leucocephalapalmarum
Pinus maestrensis in the Sierra Maestra, Cuba
Not fire-dependent
Relationship between fire-dependent pineyards (pine on limestone) & fire-sensitive coppice (subtropical moist forest), Andros National Park, the Bahamas.
1st Burn
Fire-sensitive ecosystems—tropical/subtropical dry to wet forests
Second burn
Invasive species/flammability feedback
What is a Fire Regime?• A set of recurring conditions of fire
that characterize a given ecosystem.
Rio Bravo, Belize
Components of a Fire Regime
• Fire type: ground, surface, crowning• Frequency = how often on average fire
returns to a given location• Fire Behavior = intensity and rate of spread• Burn Severity = impact of heat on the biota
and soils• Timing = season or in relation to meteorological
events• Size and Pattern = how fire burns across the
landscape
What controls fire regimes?• Fuels• Vegetation• Climate (wet/dry cycles)• Ignition sources• Ignition frequency• Landscape context = juxtaposition of
vegetation/fuel types/barriers
What is an altered fire regime?
• A fire regime that has been altered by human activities through fire suppression and prevention, or excessive burning/inappropriate burning, or habitat fragmentation, that stress the ecological integrity of ecosystems and conservation or resource targets or objectives.
What is a prescribed fire regime?
A repeated pattern of controlledburning designed to produce a desired or predicted outcome.
• Tool• Mimic natural process
2. Failure to integrate the underlying causes of fire problems with appropriate solutions:
a. Many fires are ignited by people for the purpose of maintaining their livelihoods.
b. Failure to understand and address the socio-economic context in which many fires occur.
c. Focus on emergency response rather than underlying causes.
d. Fire prevention programs that label all fires as bad.e. Lack of integrated approaches to the problem.
3. Counter-productive public policies & legislation:
a. Focus on fire suppression & prevention of all fires even in fire-dependent ecosystems rather than how appropriate burning can be done in those ecosystems.
b. Criminalize fire use in all cases.c. Prohibit fire use & prescribed burning in protected natural
areas.d. Misconceptions about, or narrow perceptions of, Fire
Management (Manejo del Fuego).e. Lack of integration & coordination of programs and
agencies.f. Lack of resources, knowledge, and capacity to promote
safe & effective controlled burns where permitted.
Strategies to develop appropriatefire policies & strategies:
Conceptual framework:
- Integrated Fire Management
- Community-based Fire Management
IntegratedFire
Management
Fire Sciences:Ecology, Fuels/Fire Behavior
The Integrated Fire Management Triangle
Integrated Fire
Management
Supporting Policies
The Social Component
IntegratedFire
Management
Community-based Fire Management
Integral is the involvement of local communities in decisions and actions regarding the management and use of fire for ecologically sustainable products and services.
Agriculture fires in the Peten, Guatemala.Tropical Moist Forest: Colonization by people lacking a tradition of fire use.
Two Faces of Fire message in communities that need to use fire and/or live in ecosystems that need to burn.
Fuego Bueno
Fuego Malo http://es.wiserearth.org/group/carasdelfuego
Materials promoting the safe use offire in protected area buffer zones.
4. Lack of technical capacity &training in fire behavior, fire use, planning &integration.
The Fire Management Component
IntegratedFire
Management
Key Strategy: Change perceptions by focusing on people
Identify, train, and empower key individuals at multiple levels who will promote and disseminate new concepts & approaches to Fire Management & Invasive Species.
Strategies: International information exchanges and technology transfers
Belize
Dominican Republic
Costa Rica
Belize
Changing perceptions & actions via:
• Presentations of concepts & issues to high-leveldecision-makers (i.e. the ministerial level) & academics.
• Documentation of issues via publications & websites.
• Workshops & conferences.
• Technical training courses.
• One-on-one mentoring of key individuals.
• Regional and local working groups.
• On-the-ground demonstration projects.
• Research projects.
Scientists
Laws, Rules, Funding, Incentives, Governmental Actions
Policy
A Network connects people & places with policy and on-the-ground practices
Experts Network of ProjectsAccelerated learning & practice
ProjectCommunity/stakeholder involvement, tangible results,
demonstration areas
¡Muchas Gracias!
Fire Management Code = Voluntary international guidelines for managing vegetation fires. Coordinated by FAO. Finalized in 2007.
Accord for the International Cooperation on Fire Management = Concept to implement the Fire Management Code. Proposed by the Global Fire Monitoring Center & FAO. Finalized in 2007.
Networks & Multi-lateral efforts:
Regional Wildland Fire Networks (4): North America (Mexico), Central America, South America, & the Caribbean. Coordinated by FAO.