| Title: |
What do the australian black summer fires signify for the global fire crisis? |
| Authors: |
Nolan, RH; Bowman, DMJS; Clarke, H; Haynes, K; Ooi, MKJ; Price, OF; Williamson, GJ; Whittaker, J; Bedward, M; Boer, MM; Cavanagh, VI; Collins, L; Gibson, RK; Griebel, A; Jenkins, ME; Keith, DA; McIlwee, AP; Penman, TD; Samson, SA; Tozer, MG; Bradstock, RA |
| Source: |
urn:ISSN:2571-6255 ; Fire, 4, 4, 97 |
| Publisher Information: |
MDPI |
| Publication Year: |
2021 |
| Collection: |
UNSW Sydney (The University of New South Wales): UNSWorks |
| Subject Terms: |
4101 Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation; 4102 Ecological Applications; 30 Agricultural; Veterinary and Food Sciences; 4104 Environmental Management; 41 Environmental Sciences; 3007 Forestry Sciences; Climate Change; Climate-Related Exposures and Conditions; 13 Climate Action; 15 Life on Land; anzsrc-for: 4101 Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation; anzsrc-for: 4102 Ecological Applications; anzsrc-for: 30 Agricultural; anzsrc-for: 4104 Environmental Management; anzsrc-for: 41 Environmental Sciences; anzsrc-for: 3007 Forestry Sciences |
| Description: |
The 2019–20 Australian fire season was heralded as emblematic of the catastrophic harm wrought by climate change. Similarly extreme wildfire seasons have occurred across the globe in recent years. Here, we apply a pyrogeographic lens to the recent Australian fires to examine the range of causes, impacts and responses. We find that the extensive area burnt was due to extreme climatic circumstances. However, antecedent hazard reduction burns (prescribed burns with the aim of reducing fuel loads) were effective in reducing fire severity and house loss, but their effectiveness declined under extreme weather conditions. Impacts were disproportionately borne by socially disadvantaged regional communities. Urban populations were also impacted through prolonged smoke exposure. The fires produced large carbon emissions, burnt fire-sensitive ecosystems and exposed large areas to the risk of biodiversity decline by being too frequently burnt in the future. We argue that the rate of change in fire risk delivered by climate change is outstripping the capacity of our ecological and social systems to adapt. A multi-lateral approach is required to mitigate future fire risk, with an emphasis on reducing the vulnerability of people through a reinvigoration of community-level capacity for targeted actions to complement mainstream fire management capacity. |
| Document Type: |
article in journal/newspaper |
| File Description: |
application/pdf |
| Language: |
unknown |
| Relation: |
https://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/unsworks_78724; https://doi.org/10.3390/fire4040097 |
| DOI: |
10.3390/fire4040097 |
| Availability: |
https://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/unsworks_78724; https://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/bitstreams/5bdb9795-5fe5-4c48-b468-9cbe1f593b89/download; https://doi.org/10.3390/fire4040097 |
| Rights: |
open access ; https://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2 ; CC-BY-NC-ND ; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ ; free_to_read |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.81082BFD |
| Database: |
BASE |