WildfiresExploring the unique relationship between fire and mankind
Fire has been an important part of the Earth System for over 350 million years, but humans are the only animals to have used and controlled fire. The complex interrelationships between fire and mankind transcend international borders and disciplinary boundaries. The specter of climate change highlights the need to improve our understanding of these relationships across space and time.
An example of man-controlled firee // Source: commons.wikimedia.org
Fire has been an important part of the Earth System for over 350 million years, but humans are the only animals to have used and controlled fire. The complex interrelationships between fire and mankind transcend international borders and disciplinary boundaries. The specter of climate change highlights the need to improve our understanding of these relationships across space and time.
The latest issue of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, organized and edited by Professors Andrew Scott and William Chaloner, Royal Holloway, University of London discusses the role of fire in landscapes and the tension this can create with human inhabitants.
U London reports that the issue includes papers co-authored by Royal Holloway experts, including:
Extinguishing wildfires may not always be the correct solution
Many landscapes need fire but population expansion into wildland areas creates a tension between different interest groups.
More than seventy researchers from across the globe show that a combination of factors, including the problem of invasive plants, landscape change, climate change, population growth, human health, economic, social and cultural attitudes that may be transnational make a re-evaluation of fire and mankind necessary.
There is an increasing realization that fire is a major Earth system process affecting not only the atmosphere, but also the biosphere in profound ways. Further, it has been recently established that increasing global temperatures will lead to increased fire risk and indeed recent studies suggest that the increase is greater during periods of rapid global change. Fire has not only an impact on the landscape and vegetation, but also on humans. This is a significant paradox. Fire is essential to the health of many plant communities and is used by mankind but is also hazardous to mankind, not only from the fire itself but also from smoke and from post-fire erosion and flooding.
