Report on the Fire Situation in Fiji

(IFFN No. 26 – January 2002, p. 15-19)

Introduction

Fiji, one of the larger clusters of islands in the tropical southwest Pacific, includes several large, hilly, islands of volcanic origin. Some of these, especially the two largest, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, are divided climatically into dry leeward and wet windward regions. The context for this report is the leeward region, where wildfires are a common occurrence during the May-October dry season.
The leeward vegetation is various: from coastal mangroves, indigenous forest, exotic Pinus spp. (mainly P. caribaea) plantations, secondary swidden forest, sugar cane plantations, and large areas of grassland (with some ferns) made up of various species.

Fire environment

The main threat to indigenous forest is logging but fire damage occurs along the margins. Destructive wildfires are a seasonal problem for the activities of Fiji Pine Limited which manages the large plantations of Pinus species (Were 1997). Secondary forest is managed as part of an increasing population of swidden and permanent agriculturalists, whose increasingly frequent cultivation cycles have lead to an increase in uncontrolled burning and complaints of soil erosion and declining fertility (King 2000). Sugar cane plantations exist mainly on the fertile lowlands where intentional burning during the harvest period has constituted an increasing problem (Davies 1998). Finally, large areas of grassland are fired annually (Whitehead 1952).

There are no comprehensive records of wildfire events in Fiji apart from Fiji Pine Limited records with some contributions from the Fiji Sugar Corporation.

Perhaps because the centre of power lies in the wet windward region there is a lack of interest by the Fiji government. Other factors, including historical circumstances, are relevant. Prior to independence in 1970 the British colonial government enforced (sometimes in a draconian manner) a conservationist ethic regarding fire prevention. There were various laws enacted to sustain conservation, including the cutting of firebreaks for intentional fires. Fire wardens were employed and village headmen had the authority to punish offenders. Upon independence, however, there was a general relaxation of control. Fire wardens were no longer employed and the ability of village headmen to enforce the fire prevention laws was undermined. As a result, local villagers now report that uncontrolled fires are more prevalent than before 1970. The older people in the villages complain of the indiscriminate firing and harvesting of the younger generation who, among other things, sell wild yams for cash in the towns (often without replanting the reproductive head of the yam). This is despite a decree originating in 1969 which prohibits the burning of vegetation over a large part of the leeward region in the dry season of any year (unless authorised by a government officer) (Government of Fiji 1985a). This law, and other fire prevention laws (Government of Fiji 1985b), are ignored and not enforced.

Part of the problem is that these laws take little account of the practicalities of managing land in order to make a livelihood in the region. For example, the temperatures during the late fire season in the central hills are often extreme and the effort of making four metres wide firebreaks on steep hillsides in these circumstances is very strenuous, and simply not practicable, especially for large areas. In addition, the local enforcement agency (the police) often sympathize with these farmers or are simply unreachable in many of the remote locations where fires are prevalent. In effect, the laws are alien to the local situation in that they do not allow for compromise approaches to fire prevention where livelihood circumstances are difficult. Research has shown that local people have many specific reasons to start fires which are part of making a livelihood in the region (King 2000). These reasons should be acknowledged and ways of controlling fires that are practical should be developed in order to prevent their spread. In the Navosa region of the central highlands, 71% of burned land was the result of escaped land-use fires. The percentage of land burned annually is difficult to estimate but certain large areas of grassland are burned every year, and much of the non-forested interior leeward landscape is probably burned at least every few years. The local people are well aware of the need to prevent fires, and complain of the lowering of fertility on hillslopes, the drying of the land, and the poor growth in native trees. However, various social structural, leadership, knowledge and policing issues need to be addressed in order to make improvements in this area. For example, traditional chiefs or village headmen (often lacking the power to police) sometimes urge their fellow villagers to minimize firing, but will admit privately later that `the people don’t listen to us.’

The main reasons for fires are (a) clearing land for planting, (b) new grass for the animals (fodder in the season of scarcity), and (c) harvesting wild yams. Clearing land for planting in this dryland context is sometimes more appropriately termed ‘burn and slash’ rather than ‘slash-and-burn’ agriculture. Fires are often created to do the initial clearing in low-growth secondary forest, and then the remaining vegetation is cleared and small trees are trimmed to provide supports or shade for crop plants. The shift to cassava as the main subsistence crop in historical times may have contributed to a more careless use of fire because it tolerates poorer soils and growing conditions. In contrast, burning was less, and mulching used more, where yams (Dioscorea), dalo (Colocasia), plantain, dalo ni tana (Xanthosoma), bele (Hibiscus) and yaqona (kava) were grown because of their higher fertility requirements.
During the dry season there is little fodder for domestic animals so areas of mission grass (Pennisetum polystachyon) with unpalatable mature leaves are burned. Young shoots quickly arise from the stumps and are palatable to the animals for a few weeks.
Wild yams often grow among dense stands of a tall grass (or reeds, Miscanthus floridulus) whose thickets are difficult to penetrate and where the emerging shoots of yams are hidden from view. Fijians burn the thickets over large areas so that the emerging shoots can be easily seen and the tubers dug up free of the hindrance of dense vegetation.
Fire also helps to control wild pig activities (either by keeping them away from the village and gardens, or by making it easier to hunt them).
This was especially important in those villages on forest margins where the wild pigs can devastate the gardens. Gardens are sometimes relocated in deference to the threat of pig damage.
There are many other reasons for starting fires, many of which were only important in specific communities. The destruction of pests and disease is one that was mentioned by a Fijian agricultural official but not volunteered by local people (who may have subsumed it under clearing land for planting).
Rangeland wildfire has been a perennial part of leeward-climate Fijian life. Early European visitors of the 19th century inevitably made comment on the prevalence of human-caused wildfires. This was understandable given that such visitors came from relatively cold and wet climates where wildfires were absent. The indigenous Fijian view is that human-caused wildfires are an inevitable, but sometimes excessive, occurrence that is a normal part of the Fijian calendar. Many Fijians ‘like to burn’, however, as yet unpublished thesis research done by the author shows that despite this cultural more, detailed evidence of opinions within farming villages shows that excessive burning is done only by certain households (King 2001).

Forest wildfire data

The only continuous fire data comes from the reports of Fiji Pine Limited (FPL) (Tab. 1,2) and to a small extent the Fiji Sugar Corporation (FSC) (Tab.3). Outside of these sources no records of wildfire have been kept despite the annual firing of the hilly savanna-like rangelands. Estimates of firing can be ascertained fairly readily from aerial photographs held in the Fiji Lands Department, but to my knowledge no person has quantified this data for Fiji as a whole. According to the estimates of the author of this report and the data he collected in Navosa province, about 70 percent of the land has been fired at least every few years.
In many years a portion of the pine plantations are written off due to fire damage. For example, 8,566 ha were written off over the 10 year period between 1987-1997 (Were 1997) out of the total of 43,201 ha managed in 1997 (Fiji Pine Limited 1997). In addition, many areas are burned but not written off. For example, in 1992 no plantations were written off but fire crews fought 156 plantation fires which burned 2,905 ha, responded to 56 wildfires near pine plantation boundaries, and undertook 952 control burns over 1,642 ha (Fiji Pine Limited 1992). There has been a reduction in the number of fires that occur inside plantation boundaries in recent years (Were 1997). The occurrence of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) event and government elections are associated with the worst years which were 1987, 1988 and 1994 (Were 1997). Records for the 1998 El Niño episode were not available. The causes of fire in FPL plantations between 1995 and October 1997 were: (a) arson (51%), (b) escaped agricultural burnings from adjacent farms (39%), (c) grazing (7%), (d) negligence by FPL employees (2%), and (e) lightning (1%).
The cause of the high arson rate involved conflict with landowner communities. Issues included low returns, loss of alternative means of income, employment prospects for community members, drying-up of community water supplies and other resource degradation, social equity issues, and party politics. In order to lower the rate of loss, prescribed burning for fuel reduction is being experimented with, and attempts are being made to increase benefits to landowners.

Table 1. Plantation areas affected by wildfires and written off in Fiji Pine Limited (FPL) forests between 1987 and 30 June 1997. Source: Were (1997).