Recent Publications (IFFN No. 19 – September 1998)

 

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

(IFFN No. 19 – September 1998,p. 95-97)

Transboundary Pollution in South East Asia

A new publication entitled “Transboundary Pollution and the Sustainability of Tropical Forests: Towards Wise Forest Fire Management – The Proceedings of the AIFM International Conference” is now available from the Regional Center for Forest Management, Malaysia. The Regional Center was established in 1998 is the successor of the former ASEAN Institute of Forest Management (AIFM) located until 1997 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The international conference was organized by AIFM and co-sponsored by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the Malaysian Timber Council (MTC), the GTZ (Indonesian-German) Integrated Fire Management Project (IFFM), and the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Fire Ecology Research Group (Germany).

The book contains very informative and well-written technical papers which were presented at the AIFM Conference on Transboundary Pollution and its Impacts on the Sustainability of Tropical Forests (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 2-4 December 1996). The papers cover a wide range of subjects of interest to foresters, resource managers, forest fire managers, ecologists and specialists, administrators, environmentalists, researchers and other related professionals involved in various disciplines such as training institutions, research agencies, universities, and forest industries interested in the sustainable management of the forests and overcoming transboundary pollution. The book has 29 chapters covering air pollution and its transboundary effects on tropical forests, terrestrial pollution effects on tropical forests, forest fire and smoke management, and research and development in forest fire management.

Copies of the publication are available from the Regional Centre for Forest Management at the following prices: Softcover US$150.00 and Hardcover US$180.00 per copy. Prices do not include postage. For orders and further enquiries, please contact:

 

 

The Director
Regional Center for Forest Management
Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM)
52109 Kepong
Selangor
Malaysia

Fax: ++603-6377233
Tel: ++603-6377633
e-mail: roslan@frim.gov.my

 

Dendroecological Studies in Forest and Fire History

The book “Dendroecological Studies in Forest and Fire History” provides a compilation of research papers on the fire and forest history in Sweden authored by Mats Niklasson. In his research with focus on aspects of historical forest use in the Saami region with dendroecological methods, the ecological analysis of important variables of the fire regime on a landscape scale as well as at stand scale, and the quantification of the errors in determining the age of suppressed Norway spruce, the author gives valuable insight in the role of fire over the centuries in Swedish forests. He proves that the used methods of tree ring dating contributes essential data to forest and fire history and gives insight of natural as well as human impacts over the centuries on the Swedish forest resources.

 

G.Buchholz

Niklasson, M. 1998. Dendroecological Studies in Forest and Fire History. Doctoral thesis Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå. Acta Universitatis Agriculturae Sueciae, Silvestria 52 (ISBN 91-576-5336-4)

 

    Forest Fire and Environmental Management

    As already introduced in the last issue of the IFFN the Norwegian report “Forest Fire and Environmental Management” is now published and available.

    This multi-authored report, compiled and edited by Erik Bleken, Ivar and Iver Mysterud, covers extensively the history of forest fires in Norway. Norway with its oceanic climate and the enormous topographic variations is considered a country with relatively minor natural fire occurrence. Nevertheless the human impact caused over the centuries a dramatic shift in the fire frequencies. Because of this important role of human activities, the report focuses primarily on the historic use of fire in Norway considering a variety of geographic and ecological conditions.

    Extensive documentation about the geographic factors affecting fire occurrence of whole Scandinavia gives a detailed background knowledge about the forest fire situation in the region. The authors included additional information on modern forest fire management and its implications to the situation in Norway.

    The volume provides comprehensive source of information for scientists and resource managers interested in forest fire research in the Nordic countries and able to read Norwegian. An English summary is included in the volume.

    G.Buchholz

    Bleken, E., I.Mysterud, and I.Mysterud (eds.) 1997. Forest Fire and environmental management. Report. Directorate for Fire Explosion Prevention and Department of Biology, University of Oslo, 266 pp. (ISBN 82-7768-019-8) <in Norwegian>

    The publication (order number: 970 935 444) can be obtained from:

     

    Direktoratet for brann- og eksplosjonsvern (DBE)
    Nedre Langgate 20
    Postboks 355 Sentrum
    N – 3101 Tfnsberg

    Fax: ++47-33-310660
    Tel: ++47-33-398800
    e-mail: postmottak@dbe.dep.telemax.no

     

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    Ecology and Biogeography of Pinus

    For fire researchers the genus Pinus is one of the most interesting and challenging. The classical work “The Genus Pinus” by Nicholas T.Mirov, published in 1967, for long time was the only comprehensive sourcebook and meanwhile was outdated and hardly available any longer.

    David M.Richardson, a senior research officer of the Institute for Plant Conservation, Department of Botany, University of Cape Town at Rondebosch (South Africa) has taken the tremendous task to edit a new, updated monograph of the genus Pinus.

    Several authors deal with all aspects related to the “success-story” of pines on our globe. From the issues of evolution, phylogeny and systematics, to the biogeography and ecology as well as the topic pines and humans all aspects of this genus are addressed. Especially worth noting is the extensive references for each topic, a treasure box for everybody interested in this genus.

    The role of fire takes an important part in the book. With the examples of six species, the different survival strategies of pines under low severity, moderate severity and high severity fire regimes are demonstrated in the chapter Fire and Pine Ecosystems authored by James K.Agee. Knowing the fact that the genus Pinus possesses the evader strategy, the endurer strategy and the resister strategy as a response to the disturbance by fire, the important role of pine in a fire-prone environment becomes obvious.

    The book which comprises 22 chapters divided into six parts stands in the tradition of Nicholas Mirov’s classic volume The Genus Pinus published 1967. It gives the up-to-date knowledge of scientist all over the world compiled from David M. Richardson and serves as an excellent source of information.

    G.Buchholz

    Richardson, D.M. (ed.) 1998. Ecology and biogeography of Pinus. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom, 526 pp. (ISBN 0-521-55176-5)

     

    IFFN No. 19

     

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IFFN Recent Publications: Australian Rainforests – Islands of Green in a Land of Fire (IFFN No. 22 – April 2000)

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Australian Rainforests – Islands of Green in a Land of Fire

(IFFN No. 22 – April 2000, p. 109)

Why do Australian rainforests occur as islands within the vast tracts of Eucalyptus? Why is fire a critical ecological factor in every Australian landscape? What were the consequences of the ice-age colonists’ use of fire? In this original and challenging book, David Bowman critically examines all hypotheses that have been advanced to answer these questions. He demonstrates that fire is the most critical factor in controlling the distribution of rainforest throughout Australia. Furthermore, while Aboriginal people used fire to skilfully manage and preserve habitats he concludes that they did not significantly influence the evolution of Australia’s unique flora and fauna.

This book is the first comprehensive overview of the diverse literature that attempts to solve the puzzle of the archipelago of rainforest habitats in Australia. It is essential reading for all ecologists, foresters, conservation biologists, and others interested in the biogeography and ecology of Australian rainforests.

Bowman, D.M.J.S. 2000. Australian rainforests – Islands of green in a land of fire. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge, UK, 345 p. (ISBN 0 521 46568 0)

IFFN No. 22

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IFFN Recent Publications: Incendios Históricos. Una Aproximación Multi-Disciplinar <Historical Forest Fires – A Multidisciplinary Approach> (IFFN No. 22 – April 2000)

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Incendios Históricos. Una Aproximación Multi-Disciplinar
<Historical Forest Fires – A Multidisciplinary Approach>

(IFFN No. 22 – April 2000, p. 109-110)

The investigation of historical forests fire is still very little developed in Spain, doubtless by short of responsible datums and extensive statistic series that allow to analyze the phenomenom of forests fire with rigour. In spite of this, every time is higher the importance that it is recognized to the fire in the process of transformation of the rural landscape in Spain during the last centuries.

This book, consequence of a Seminar developed in the International University of Andalusia, mentioned in this Review (International Forest Fire News No. 18), pretends to contribute to the historical knowledge of the forest fire through a multidisciplinary and pluri-regional approach to this phenomenon. The contributions come from Geography, History and Forest Engineering. Respect to regional analysis, it is analyzed Galicia, Andalusia, Mediterranean Regions and Castilla from Spain and Italy as a whole.

The book is completed with another two works. In one of them, Ricardo Vélez studies the evolution of the Spanish policy of fight against the forest fire in the last two centuries, and in the other Stephen Pyne explains the “triangle of fire”.

For more information contact:

Vicente Gallego Simón
Universidad Internacional de Andalucía
Sede Antonio Machado
Plaza de Santa María s/n
23440 Baeza – Jaén
SPAIN

Eduardo Araque Jiménez
Universidad de Jaén
Area de Analisis Geográfico Regional
23071 Jaén

Araque Jiménez, E.(comp.) 1999. Incendios históricos. Una aproximación multi-disciplinar <Historical forest fires. A multidisciplinary approach>. International University of Baezas´ Publications, Baeza, Spain (ISNBN 84-922285-3-9).

IFFN No. 22

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Recent Publications (IFFN No. 20 – January 1999)

 

Recent Publications

(IFFN No. 20 – January 1999)

Fire Management and Landscape Ecology – Proceedings of the 1997 Banyuls Conference 

This conference proceedings is a collection of papers by noted European scientists on the topics of:

  • Fire effects on soil processes

  • Plant community responses and dynamics

  • Fire adaptive and survival traits of plants

  • Fire responses of animal communities

  • Burned areas and fire modelling

Fire Effects on Soil Processes: Chemical soil changes in shrubland after experimental fire (E.Marcos, E.de Luis, and R.Tarrega)

Fire effects during two years on soil nutrients in a Juniperus oxycedrus woodland (M.Iglesias, V.Cala, J.Gonzalez, I.Walter, and L.Trabaud)

Factrors affecting post-fire regeneration under large Pinus halepensis (H.Dinel, A.Saracino, and S.Dumontet)

Effects of fire intensity on the soil properties related to structure: organic matter, aggregate stability and water retention capacity (M.Molina and J.Llinares)

Postfire runoff and soil erosion in the sweet chestnut belt of southern Switzerland (P.Marxer, M.Conedera, and D.Schaub)

Effects of fire intensity on soil erodibility (G.Giacomo, L.Sergio, and C.Stefania)

Post-fire vegetation dynamics and its effect on soil erosion processes (G.Giacomo, L.Sergio, and C.Stefania)

Plant Community Responses and Dynamics After Fire: Ten years of observations after wildfire on permanent plots in central Mediterranean Portugal (M.Espirito Santo, and J.Capelo)

Factors affecting the establishment of woody species after fire in central Portugal (J.Silva, and F.Rego)

Preliminary post-fire secondary succession in shrubland dominated by Ulex galli planchon in inland Galicia, NW Spain (A.Iglesia, A.Cascudo, and E.Vizcaino)

Twelve years of vegetation changes after fire in an Erica australis community (L.Calvo, R.Tarrega, and E.de Luis)

Different fire regime effects on a Cytisus purgans community (E.Rigolot, M.Etienne, and B.Lambert)

A comparative study of recovery in two Cistus communities subjected to experimental burning in Leon province, Spain (R.Tarrega, E.Luis-Calabuig, and L.Valbuena)

Long-term plant regeneration after wildfires in Mediterranean ecosystems of NE Spain (A.Ferran, and V.Vallejo)

Vegetation responses to forest fires in the Swiss southern Alps (M.Wehrli, M.Conedera, C.Hofmann, and W.Tinner

Fire adaptive and survival traits of plants: Are the dominant species in N.W. Spain fire-prone? (O.Reyes, and M.Casal)

Importance of tree size in Pinus halepensis fire survival (L.Trabaud, and J.Valina)

Anatomic features of serotinous cones in Pinus halepensis Mill. (V.Leone, A.Logiurato, and A.Saracino)

Influence of Cistus monspeliensis on the early stages of development of Pinus halepensis seedlings after fire in Tus Valley, SE Spain (J.Martinez-Sanchez, P.Ferrandis, J.de las Heras, and J.Herranz

Factors affecting post-fire regeneration under large Pinus halepensis trees (A.Saracino, H.Dinel, F.Fidanza, G.Ruggiero, and S.Dumontet)

Effect of fire on the soil seed bank in a Mediterranean ecosystem in central Spain (P.Ferrandis, J.Martinez-Sanchez, J.Harranz, and J. de las Heras)

Fire responses of animal communities: The influence of single and repeated fires on invertebrates in chestnut forests in southern Switzerland: first results (M.Moretti, N.Patocchi, M.Conedera, P.Duelli, and P.Edwards)

Decomposition processes and soil mesofauna groups in post-fire successional Pinus halepensis forests of Greece (C.Radea, and M.Arianoutsou)

Effect of prescribed burning on ground-foraging ant community in a Mediterranean maquis (M.Abel, and P.Pons)

Bird site tenacity after prescribed burning in a Mediterranean shrubland (P.Pons)

Response of Pyrenean gray partridge to controlled winter burning (C.Novoa, and P.Landry)

The changes of a post-fire habitat as a response to mountain goat (Capra aegagrus) grazing on Mount Carmel, Israel (A.Haim, A.Golan, and I.Izhaki)

Burned areas and fire modelling: Risk factors in wildfires along the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula (J.Terradas, J.Pinol, and F.Lloret)

Monitoring of plant community regeneration after fire by remote sensing (R.Diaz-Delgado, R.Salvador, and X.Pons)

Modelling fire-prone vegetation dynamics (J.Pausas)

 

Trabaud, L. (ed.) 1998. Fire Management and Landscape Ecology – Proceedings of the 1997 Banyuls Conference. Int. Association of Wildland Fire.

The price of this extraordinary comprehensive volume published by the International Association of Wildland Fire (IAWF) is $US 50.00 plus shipping. Order by sending a check in US funds for $US 58.00, or a Master Card or Visa Card and expiration date can be faxed or e-mailed. Purchase Orders are accepted from institutions.

International Association of Wildland Fire
E. 8109 Bratt Road
USA – Fairfield, Washington 99012
Fax: ++1-509-523-5001
Tel: ++1-509-523-4003
e-mail: greenlee@cet.com

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IFFN No. 20

 

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Recent Publications: Indians, Fire, and the Land in the Pacific Northwest (IFFN No. 21 – September 1999)

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Indians, Fire, and the Land in the Pacific Northwest

(IFFN No. 21 – September 1999,p. 93-94)

Instead of discovering a land blanketed by dense forests, early explorers of the Pacific Northwest encountered a varied landscape of open woods, spacious meadows, and extensive prairies. Far from a pristine wilderness, much of the Northwest was actively managed and shaped by the hands of its Native American inhabitants. Their primary tool was fire.

“Indians, Fire, and the Land in the Pacific Northwest,” edited by Robert Boyd, offers an interdisciplinary approach to one of the most important issues concerning Native Americans and their relationship to the land. Hans Page from the Fire Ecolgy Research Group read the book:

Robert Boyd, the editor of “Indians, Fire and the Land in the Pacific Northwest”, is an anthropologist and ethnohistorian from Portland and author of a series publications about the aboriginal cultures in the USA. His new book volume contains a collection of 12 contributions withn additional introductory and final chapters written by the editor. The contributions are from different disciplines. They approach the role and importance of aboriginal fire and the resulting consequences for the landscape development in the Pacific Northwest of the USA from distinct perspectives and with different methodologies. The contributors range from ethnobotanists, anthropologists, archeologists, historians to botanists and foresters. The papers cover all parts of the native Northwest, and nine of them were previously published in different journals. In this book they are presented in chronological order from 1957 until 1999.

The main approach of this complete volume is that most parts of the Pacific Northwest were not wilderness untouched by humans when the first Euro-Americans arrived at the beginning of the 19th century. The collection of these articles refutes in an impressive way the old prejudice that the north American aboriginals were “children of the nature” who only took what nature gave them. It is shown that the hunter and gather communities who lived here for some thousands of years systematicly formed the ecosystems for their needs. Fire was one of the most important tools they had in their hands, and they knew how to use it in ways that not only met immediate demands but also modified their environment. Today it is known that the most lawns and prairies in the Pacific Northwest, which impressed the early trappers and explorers, had been actively manipulated and managed, if not created, by their native inhabitants. The main reasons for this type of fire management were to stimulate the productivity of different useable plants, for example different berry species or camas (Camassia quamash) and to create attractive habitats for game. With the replacement of aboriginal inhabitants by the white Euro-Americans, the treatment of the landscape changed fundamentally because the white settlers and the young, upcoming industrial society had totally different demands on the environment than the old gather and hunter societies. Therefore former prairie plant communities are mostly extinguished and with them many currently threatened species of the Northwest which inhabited such ecosystems.

This book is not only interesting for ethnologists or (landscape) historians. The compact arrangement of articles highlighting the native influence on the landscape history in the Northwest also provides an important background for the development of todays’s landscape conservation and management strategies for this part of the U.S.A., especially for maintenance of the remaining prairies and related ecosystems.

Although mostly nearly all the articles of this book concentrate on aboriginal gather and hunter societies of the Pacific Northwest the volume also provides interesting basic material for the understanding of landscape and environmental history in other parts of the world. H.T.Lewis and T.A.Ferguson (in this publication) highlight the cross-cultural and intergeographical parallels in the ways in which hunter-gatherers use habitat manipulation fires. For example it is probable that nomadic or half-nomadic societies in Europe during the middle and younger stone age, with a comparative cultural level as historical Indians of the Pacific Northwest, used fire for simular reasons and in a comparative way. This could explain how so many species, adjusted to open and more continental stands, spread and survived in the post-Ice Age Central Europe in which natural forests dominated.

Hans Page / GFMC

R.Boyd (ed.).1999. Indians, Fire and the Land in the Pacific Northwest. Oregon State University Press, Corvallis, Oregon, 320 p. (ISBN 0-87071-459-7). Paperback, $34.95.

IFFN No. 21

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Recent Publications: Remote Sensing of Large Wildfires in the European Mediterranean Basin (IFFN No. 21 – September 1999)

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Remote Sensing of Large Wildfires in the European Mediterranean Basin

(IFFN No. 21 – September 1999,p. 94)

Emilio Chuvieco, University of Alcala, Spain, has taken the initiative to edit an important new book volume. The book gives a systematic review of the different applications of remote sensing and geographical information system techniques in research and management of forest fires. The authors have been involved in this topic of research for several years, resulting in more than 100 papers in reviewedjournals and proceedings. The book also benefits from data generated within the Megafires project, founded under the DG-XII of the European Union. Most of the contributors to this book have been involved in the Megafires project, and therefore a clear integration of research and experience is provided. New data from fires affecting European countries between 1991 and 1997 are included as well as satellite images and auxiliary cartographic information.

The contents of the book contain the following topic areas:

  • The Role of Fire in European Mediterranean Ecosystems
  • Short-Term Fire Risk: Foliage Moisture Content Estimation from Satellite Data
  • Meteorological Fire Danger Indices and Remote Sensing
  • Integrated Fire Risk Mapping
  • Fire Detection and Fire Growth Monitoring Using Satellite Data
  • Spectral Characterisation and Discrimination of Burnt Areas
  • Regional Scale Burnt Area Mapping in Southern Europe Using NOAA-AVHRR 1 km data
  • Burnt Land Mapping at Local Scale

System requirements for the CD-ROM: PC or Macintosh, double speed CD-ROM drive or faster, 8 MB RAM, Internet browser. The CD-ROM can be navigated with any browser since it is written in plain html. The files are written in easily accessible ascii and binary formats.

 

Chuvieco, E. (ed.). 1999. Remote sensing of large wildfires in the European Mediterranean Basin. XII, 212 pp. 45 figs., 16 in color, 33 tabs., with CD-ROM. Springer-Verlag (ISBN 3-540-65767-3), DM 169.00.

IFFN No. 21

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IFFN Recent Publications: Rainforest Ecosystems of East Kalimantan (IFFN No. 22 – April 2000)

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Rainforest Ecosystems of East Kalimantan

(IFFN No. 22 – April 2000, p. 106)

Since the late 1960s the Indonesian state of East Kalimantan has witnessed a marked increase in the impact of human activities – chiefly commercial logging and agricultural exploitation. Located on the island of Borneo, East Kalimantan also was subjected to prolonged droughts and extensive wildfires in 1982-83 and 1997-98 that were linked to the EI Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon. The changes in the rainforest ecosystem in East Kalimantan during this 15-year cycle of severe ENSO events are the subject of this book. With an eye toward development of rehabilitation techniques for sustainable forest management, the authors examine possible interactive effects of drought, fire, and human impacts on the flora and fauna of the area. The chapters covering fire occurrence and effects are:

  • T.Mori: Effects of droughts and forest fires on Dipterocarp forests in East Kalimantan
  • P.Matius et al.: Droughts and fire impacts on forest ecosystems
  • T.Toma et al.: Dynamics of burned lowland Dipterocarp forest stands in Bukit Soeharto, East Kalimantan
  • Y.Kiyono and Hastaniah: Flowering and fruiting phenologies of Dipterocarps in a rainforest in Bukit Soeharto, East Kalimantan
  • H.Makihara et al.: The effect of drought and fires on Coleopteran insects in lowland Dipterocarp forests in Bukit Soeharto, East Kalimantan

Additional chapters deal with the impact of traditional slash-and-burn agriculture systems. This book, together with the proceedings of the 3rd International Symposium on Asian Tropical Forest Management (see below) provide the latest state-of-the-art knowledge on fire in tropical lowland rainforest ecosystems of the region.

Guhardja, E., M.Fatawi, M.Sutisna, T.Mori, and S.Ohta (eds.) 2000. Rainforest ecosystems of East Kalimantan. Ecological Studies 140, Springer Verlag, Tokyo, Berlin, Heidelberg, 330 p. (ISBN 4-431-70272-5)

IFFN No. 22

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IFFN Recent Publications: Fire, Climate Change, and Carbon Cycling in the Boreal Forest (IFFN No. 22 – April 2000)

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Fire, Climate Change, and Carbon Cycling in the Boreal Forest

(IFFN No. 22 – April 2000, p. 107)

In boreal forests, which contain large amounts of the world’s terrestrial organic carbon, fire is a natural and fundamental disturbance regime essential in controlling many ecosystem processes. As a result of predicted climate change in the future, the fire regime and, consequently, the forest cover and carbon storage of boreal regions will undergo dramatic alterations. This volume discusses the direct and indirect mechanisms by which fire and climate interact to influence carbon cycling in North American boreal forests. The first section summarizes the information needed to understand and to manage fire’s effects on the ecology of boreal forests and its influence on global climate-change issues. Following chapters discuss in detail the role of fire in the ecology of boreal forests. Subsequent sections present data sets on fire and the distribution of carbon, discuss the use of satellite imagery in monitoring these regions, and discuss approaches to modeling the relevant processes. The book offers the following new results:

  • improved estimates of carbon released during fires at a variety of scales, from individual sites to the entire North American boreal forest region

  • direct evidence of enhanced soil respiration after fire in Alaskan boreal forests

  • studies of the influence of fire on long-term forest-succession patterns

  • modeling results of the effects of climate warming on the fire regime

  • examples of the use of satellite imagery to monitor surface characteristics important in carbon cycling

  • modeling results of how climate change will interact with the fire regime to influence carbon storage

Perspectives on Eurasian and Russian boreal forest fire management policies and research are also included.

Kasischke, E.S., and B.J.Stocks (eds.) 2000. Fire, Climate Change, and Carbon Cycling in the Boreal Forest. Ecological Studies 138, Springer Verlag, New York, Berlin, Heidelberg, 461 p. (ISBN 0-387-98890-4)

IFFN No. 22

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IFFN Recent Publications: Flames in the Rain Forest – Origins, Impacts and Alternatives to Amazonian Fires (IFFN No. 22 – April 2000)

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Flames in the Rain Forest:
Origins, Impacts and Alternatives to Amazonian Fires

(IFFN No. 22 – April 2000, p. 108)

This book is the first comprehensive analysis of fire and its new, disturbing role in the Amazon. The book builds on a 1996 study commissioned by the World Bank that examined the causes of increasing forest clearing and fires at five sites along the Amazon region’s arc of deforestation. Written by a team of scientists based at the Woods Hole Research Center (WHRC) and the Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia (IPAM), and with the collaboration of researchers from diverse institutions and disciplines, this book examines in detail the origins and impacts of Amazonian fires. Practiced by indigenous peoples during millennia fire is an ancient component of the regional landscape. Until recently, its impacts were generally localized. Today, however, fire affects all major ecosystems in the Amazon and releases more than 4% of the total carbon entering the atmosphere worldwide each year.

One of the book’s most disturbing findings involves the impacts of so-called forest surface fires such as those that struck Roraima. At first glance, these impacts appear to be small. Surface fires are usually confined to the forest floor, where they consume organic material and underbrush. Yet even such low-intensity fires damage the bark of rainforest trees, which slowly die during the following year. This slow death builds up substantial amounts of fuel on the forest floor, and the gradual open fires during the following year’s dry season. These findings suggest that the Roraima fires could be far worse in 1999.

In addition to analyzing the origins and impacts of Amazonian fires, the book explores alternatives that could enhance fire prevention and control. Based on a synthesis of available data on rainfall, soil and land-use practices, the authors present the first predictive model of forest fires in the Amazon. The model, which was used in preparing a World Bank emergency project for fire prevention and control in the region, provided a sobering outlook for the latter half of 1998: about 200,000 km2 of Amazon forest were under extreme threat of burning. The data used to construct this model were admittedly deficient. For example, the Brazilian Amazon contains 60 weather stations, compared to over 1,000 in the continental United States. With improved data collection, modeling could provide a powerful tool for fire prevention and control in the Amazon.

According to the authors, the key challenge confronting policy alternatives is that many of the benefits of fire prevention and control such as reduced emissions of greenhouse gases, protection of biodiversity, decreased flooding and erosion, and improved air quality-accrue to society as a whole, while the costs are borne entirely by individual landholders. Through enforcement of sensible policies and judicious use of economic incentives, a more balanced distribution of costs and benefits can be achieved. Finally, the authors conclude that Amazonian fires can no longer be treated only during “emergency” years, nor can they be effectively controlled by brigades of publicly financed fire fighters. Instead, fires must now be viewed as an integral part of the Amazonian landscape, and strategies for combating them must begin with the region’s local communities – where creative solutions are already being tested.

Nepstad, D.C., A. Moreira, and A..A.Alencar.1999. Flames in the Rain Forest: Origins, Impacts and Alternatives to Amazonian Fires. The Pilot Program to Conserve the Brazilian Rain Forest, Brazilia, Brazil. 190p.

IFFN No. 22

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IFFN Recent Publications: O Megaincêndio do Século – 1998 <The Wildfire of the Century> (IFFN No. 22 – April 2000)

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

O Megaincêndio do Século – 1998
<The Wildfire of the Century>

(IFFN No. 22 – April 2000, p. 108-109)

This book describes one of the most severe environmental destructions, in a region of Brazil which normally is not subjected to large seasonal wildfires. What happened in the State of Roraima in March 1998 was caused primarily by the intense dryness of the region, a consequence of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon which caused climatic perturbations all over the globe. In addition, farmers and land owners were not careful enough and continued to practice traditional burnings after the clearing of forests, in spite of the obvious high wildfire risk and the prohibitions by the Federal Government. It is this situation that is described in this book.

The book starts with a general description of how most of the wildfires get started in Brazil. It also highlights the impact on the environment and the atmosphere. It is important to realize that Roraima is located outside of the area of Brazil where vegetation fires occur regularly – the cerrado (savanna) region in the center of the country. The 1998 wildfires of Roraim were a big surprise and a great exception. The geographic region of Roraima is described, calling attention to the fact that it is almost entirely situated in the Northern Hemisphere. Chapter 3 describes the meteorology of the region, including information on the climatic phenomenon El Niño. Chapter 4 describes the evolution of the fire event during its most critical phase. How it started and developed during the month of March. The physical damage caused by the wildfire is described, as well as the technical assessment of the size of the burnt area, and in Chapter 6 the heroes and villains of the episode are mentioned. The end of the huge fire is described in Chapter 7. The fire was extinguished not by the firemen, who despite their excellent performance were helpless in view of the magnitude of the fire disaster, but by the natural rains that started to fall by the end of March and beginning of April.

Kirchhoff, V.W.J., and P.A.S. Escada. 1998. O Megaincêndio do Século – 1998. The Wildfire of the Century. TRANSTEC Editorial, Sao José dos Campos, 86 pp. (ISBN 85-85417)

IFFN No. 22

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