TY - JOUR

T1 - Forgetting fire

T2 - Traditional fire knowledge in two chestnut forest ecosystems of the Iberian Peninsula and its implications for European fire management policy

AU - Seijo, Francisco

AU - Millington, J.D.A.

AU - Gray, Rob

AU - Sanz, Veronica

AU - Lozano Mendoza, Jorge

AU - García-Serrano, Federico

AU - Sangüesa-Barreda, Gabriel

AU - Julio Camarero, J.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2015 Elsevier Ltd.

PY - 2015/9/1

Y1 - 2015/9/1

N2 - Human beings have used fire as an ecosystem management tool for thousands of years. In the context of the scientific and policy debate surrounding potential climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies, the importance of the impact of relatively recent state fire-exclusion policies on fire regimes has been debated. To provide empirical evidence to this ongoing debate we examine the impacts of state fire-exclusion policies in the chestnut forest ecosystems of two geographically neighbouring municipalities in central Spain, Casillas and Rozas de Puerto Real. Extending the concept of 'Traditional Ecological Knowledge' to include the use of fire as a management tool as 'Traditional Fire Knowledge' (TFK), we take a mixed-methods and interdisciplinary approach to argue that currently observed differences between the municipalities are useful for considering the characteristics of "pre-industrial anthropogenic fire regimes" and their impact on chestnut forest ecosystems. We do this by examining how responses from interviews and questionnaire surveys of local inhabitants about TFK in the past and present correspond to the current biophysical landscape state and recent fire activity (based on data from dendrochronological analysis, aerial photography and official fire statistics). We then discuss the broader implications of TFK decline for future fire management policies across Europe particularly in light of the published results of the EU sponsored Fire Paradox research project. In locations where TFK-based "pre-industrial anthropogenic fire regimes" still exist, ecosystem management strategies for adaptation and mitigation to climate change could be conceivably implemented at a minimal economic and political cost to the state by local communities that have both the TFK and the adequate social, economic and cultural incentives to use it.

AB - Human beings have used fire as an ecosystem management tool for thousands of years. In the context of the scientific and policy debate surrounding potential climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies, the importance of the impact of relatively recent state fire-exclusion policies on fire regimes has been debated. To provide empirical evidence to this ongoing debate we examine the impacts of state fire-exclusion policies in the chestnut forest ecosystems of two geographically neighbouring municipalities in central Spain, Casillas and Rozas de Puerto Real. Extending the concept of 'Traditional Ecological Knowledge' to include the use of fire as a management tool as 'Traditional Fire Knowledge' (TFK), we take a mixed-methods and interdisciplinary approach to argue that currently observed differences between the municipalities are useful for considering the characteristics of "pre-industrial anthropogenic fire regimes" and their impact on chestnut forest ecosystems. We do this by examining how responses from interviews and questionnaire surveys of local inhabitants about TFK in the past and present correspond to the current biophysical landscape state and recent fire activity (based on data from dendrochronological analysis, aerial photography and official fire statistics). We then discuss the broader implications of TFK decline for future fire management policies across Europe particularly in light of the published results of the EU sponsored Fire Paradox research project. In locations where TFK-based "pre-industrial anthropogenic fire regimes" still exist, ecosystem management strategies for adaptation and mitigation to climate change could be conceivably implemented at a minimal economic and political cost to the state by local communities that have both the TFK and the adequate social, economic and cultural incentives to use it.

KW - Chestnut forest ecosystems

KW - Fire exclusion policies

KW - Fire paradox

KW - Traditional ecological knowledge

KW - Traditional fire knowledge

KW - adaptive management

KW - climate change

KW - ecosystem management

KW - fire management

KW - forest ecosystem

KW - forest fire

KW - forestry policy

KW - mitigation

KW - traditional knowledge

KW - Iberian Peninsula

KW - Spain

KW - Sustainability Science

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84928230664&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.landusepol.2015.03.006

DO - 10.1016/j.landusepol.2015.03.006

M3 - Journal articles

VL - 47

SP - 130

EP - 144

JO - Land Use Policy

JF - Land Use Policy

SN - 0264-8377

ER -