Desire for Greener Land

Human Environment
Cropland per household (ha)
10,000
Implementation activities, inputs and costs
Establishment activities
1. Planning and implementation
2. Fire control equipment
3. Monitoring prescribed fire
Maintenance/recurrent activities
Land user: employee (company, government)
Population density: < 10 persons/km 2
Annual population growth: negative
Land ownership: communal / village
Land use rights: communal (organised)
Water use rights: open access
Relative level of wealth: poor, which represents
75% of land users; 50% of the total land area is
owned by poor land users
1. No maintenance is necessary. Every 3 to 5 years,
prescribed fire is carried out again, repeating the process
described above.
Establishment inputs and costs per ha
Importance of off-farm income: none
Access to service and infrastructure: low:
health, education, technical assistance,
employment, market, roads & transport,
financial services; moderate: energy, drinking
water and sanitation
Market orientation: mixed (subsistence and
commercial),for example, mechanised
agroforestry
Technical drawing
Prescribed fire is a practice used to manage
vegetation in wildfire-prone areas. It consists of
slowly burning strategic areas in the wet season,
under specific weather and ground conditions
and procedures: the soil should be moist,
burning typically carried out in thin strips
(normally 10m distance between two fire lines)
from the top to the bottom of the slope, there
should be only a gentle breeze blowing upslope
and the ignition points should be 2m apart along
the contour. The fire is allowed to progress
downslope against the wind, which therefore
provides some control. Burning is achieved by a
number of the team who are prepared to dowse
the flames if the fire gets out of hand. This
degree of control is only possible when burning
small areas with the same slope angle.
Inputs Costs (US$) % met by
land user
Labour
Equipment
100 0
- machine use
100
0
TOTAL 200 0
Maintenance/recurrent inputs and costs per ha per year
Remarks:
Prescribed fire costs: timing, the right number in the team, fuel type and specific local conditions (slope and vegetation) are the most
important determining factors affecting the costs.
Calculation of costs has been made based on the prescribed fire conducted for the DESIRE project. They represent the costs to burn 3-
4ha, during a morning and including human resources (12 people), equipment (fire torch, fuel, special fire protection clothing, scythes,
and hoses) and specialized fire fighting vehicles.
SLM Technology: Prescribed fire, Portugal DESIRE – WOCAT 2012
191