Threats and Strategies for Global Biodiversity Conservation

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eptiles. However, fire from these grasslands can burn out ofcontrol and spread to adjoining forests. When this occursannually, it creates a negative feedback loop that expands thegrassland area at the expense of forests.Global and regional climate patterns influence the impact of fire on bothpeople and ecosystems in Southeast Asia. In 1997-98, an El Niño year,many human-caused fires burned out of control, creating dangeroushaze, closing airports and seriously affecting the respiratory health ofmore than 20 million people. © Kamarulzaman Russali/Reuters/Corbislarge areas to oil palm plantation. Further, within thecontext of land development, the existence of local people isunrecognized in the legal system, and they have been neglected(Murdiyarso and Adiningsih 2006). This can lead to landtenure conflicts, and often stakeholders use fires as a weaponto claim lands (Tomich et al. 1998). Therefore, social conflicthas become an indirect cause of fires.Of particular note is how the expansion of crop plantationsand ecologically-inappropriate fire use has impacted peatswamps in the region. Peatlands are usually continuously wetand contain high amount of moisture even during the normaldry season. Community fires are generally small and not aproblem. In non-El Niño years, access to the remote peatlandsis difficult. However, when peatlands are drained forland development or agriculture, access into remote peatlandsis facilitated by canals (Chokkalingam and Suyanto 2004).In this context, combinations of intensified communityactivities and dry conditions lead to more widespreadfires. Proper management and use of water can be usedto reduce the risk of the widespread fires.Climate change has been shown to alter fire regimes substantiallyin the Indo-Malay realm. Shifts in regional climaticpatterns due to climate change have caused intense El Niñoevents, which have resulted in severe drought. Extensive andsevere fires in Indonesia have been associated with extremedry weather during these El Niño years, which serves toaccelerate fire spread (Murdiyarso and Adiningsih 2006).The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC2001) recognized that extreme events in the Asian regionhave increased in intensity and frequency. This is supportedby Irawan (2000), who reported that, during the 1876-2000period, the frequency of El Niño tended to increase from oncein every eight years during the 1876-1976 period to once inevery four years during 1977-2000. These climate-firerelationships caused the recurrence of highly damaging fires in1982-83, 1991, 1994, 1997-98, 2002 and 2005-2006. Duringthese events, large areas of forest in the region were burned,causing habitat loss, fragmentation and declining biodiversity.Wildfires in tropical broadleaved forests are also a threat tocoastal marine ecosystems in the region. Research has shownthat iron fertilization by the 1997 Indonesian wildfires wassufficient to produce an extraordinary red tide, which led toreef death by asphyxiation (Abram et al. 2003). The vastamounts of smoke produced by these fires also reducedvisibility, and regional haze substantially impacted economicactivity in the region. In conclusion, agricultural burning,peat fires and altered fire regimes as a result of unsustainablelogging are the major causes of recurrent haze engulfing theregion seasonally, whereas prolonged droughts intensifywidespread of fires.Logging is also a primary cause of altered fire regimes inthe Indo-Malay realm. When performed according tosustainable forest management principles, logging willresult only in temporary disturbance to the forest ecosystem.However, illegal logging may cause previously closedcanopy forests to be opened to direct solar radiation,drying logging debris and fueling runaway fires.In the grasslands of the Indo-Malay realm, pastoralistspractice annual burning of their grazing lands, usually prior tothe beginning of the growing season, to ensure new, succulentshoots are formed that are suitable for livestock grazing. Fireis also used to facilitate hunting by burning tall grass, whichacts as a camouflage for animals. Burning facilitates trackingand finding stump holes that conceal small mammals andMembers of a local community conduct a prescribed burn in Chiapas,Mexico. This work is part of the community’s Integrated FireManagement Plan, which spells out where and when fires will beallowed. © Víctor Negrete Paz/CONANP14
Recommendations:Strategies for Global Biodiversity ConservationIntegrated Fire Management (IFM) is an approach foraddressing the problems and issues posed by both damagingand beneficial fires within the context of the naturalenvironments and socio-economic systems in which theyoccur (Myers 2006). IFM is a framework for evaluatingand balancing the relative risks posed by fire with the beneficialor necessary ecological and economic roles that itmay play in a given conservation area, landscape or region.IFM facilitates implementing cost-effective approachesto both preventing damaging fires and maintaining desirablefire regimes. When fires do occur, IFM provides aframework for: (1) evaluating whether the effects willbe detrimental, beneficial or benign, (2) weighing relativebenefits and risks, and (3) responding appropriatelyand effectively based on stated objectives for the area inquestion. IFM takes into account fire ecology, socioeconomicissues and fire management technology to generatepractical solutions to fire-related threats to biodiversity.More information on the components and applicationsof IFM can be found in Myers (2006). Within the frameworkof IFM, which can be applied at any spatial scalefrom landscapes to nations to regions (see Box 5 for anexample from Mexico), a number of strategies arenecessary to restore and maintain fire regimes in the faceof increasing land use, climate change and uninformedpublic policies, including:Evaluate whether the effects of fire will bedetrimental, beneficial or benign.• Geographic patterns in fire’s ecological role, in thehuman land uses that maintain or alter this role, andin needs for community health and safety should informconservation goals, priorities and actions.Weigh the relative benefits and risks of fire andhuman actions.• Habitats that currently have intact fire regimes are relativelyrare and should be monitored for trends that maydegrade the ecological role of fire, such as climate change,urban development, energy production and agriculture.• Fire is an integral part of many habitats, and the value ofthe environmental services that intact fire regimes providemust be weighed against the social and economic values ofthese habitats for human development and resource use.• The benefits and risks of maintaining fire’s ecological role,or preventing its detrimental environmental and socialimpacts, should be considered within the context of thelocal social, economic and political systems, the naturalcharacter of the habitat and fire regime, and currentecological conditions.15Respond appropriately and effectively.• Protect, restore and maintain habitats that can be used todemonstrate the ecological role of fire and compatiblesocial and economic uses.• Promote and enable laws and policies for land uses suchas agriculture, ranching, logging, energy production,housing, transportation infrastructure and naturalresources management such that they are compatiblewith maintaining the role of fire in ecosystems, orpreventing fire where it is destructive.• Promote and enable climate change, emissions, firesuppression, and air quality policies such that theyprotect biodiversity and human health and safety, butdo not constrain the needs for restoring and maintainingfire-dependent habitats.• Create economic incentives to manage landscapesfor fire, ecosystems and people, including (1) paymentto land owners for restoring and maintaining theecosystem services of intact fire regimes, (2) tax or otherincentives for the commercial marketing of woody biomassand other products of restoration actions, and (3)implementation of development loan criteria thatintegrate fire’s ecological role, and the needs to preventharmful human-caused fires, into housing and infrastructuredevelopment, as well as other land use activities.• Recognize gaps in capacity to address fire’s ecologicalneeds, or its threats to ecosystems and people, andbuild adequate capacity for Integrated Fire Management,including training, mentoring and human andmaterial resources.• Educate practitioners and policy-makers and decisionmakersabout the ecological role of fire and the ecologicaland social risks and costs of altered fire regimes.• Monitor fires and changes in land use and land coverfor ecological forecasting, threat analysis, emergencyresponse, and assessing the effectiveness of conservation,land management, and human development actions.• Commit to learning and be adaptive to changingknowledge, social and political contexts, and ecologicalconditions.The global needs for restoration and maintenance offire’s ecological role are enormous, and fire’s relationshipto human health and safety are complex.Only through collaboration and cooperation, within andacross borders, can we achieve our collective goals for fire,ecosystems and people.
Page 2 and 3: Citation:(see inside back cover for
Page 4 and 5: Mopping-up after a prescribed burn
Page 6 and 7: This area in Sepang, Selangor, Mala
Page 8 and 9: There are a variety of ways invasiv
Page 10 and 11: In order to craft effective strateg
Page 12 and 13: Box 4. Global Fire Assessment WebGI
Page 14 and 15: very degraded—often repeat themse
Page 16 and 17: ecological restoration or community
Page 18 and 19: Cattle grazing and browsing in Mall
Page 22 and 23: Box 5. Needs for Integrated Fire Ma
Page 24 and 25: Notes:1. Ecoregions share similar e
Page 26 and 27: ReferencesOlson, D.M., E. Dinerstei
Page 28: The mission of The Nature Conservan

Threats and Strategies for Global Biodiversity Conservation

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