Wildfires are inevitable, but we can learn to control them

Al Jazeera

3 days ago

We are midway through summer in the Northern Hemisphere, and we are witnessing another severe wildfire season. In May, wildfires were burning throughout Russia's Far East. Last month, wildfires broke out throughout Turkiye, Greece, Cyprus and Bulgaria. Fires continue in Portugal, France and Spain. In Canada, the blazes have not stopped since April.
Satellite data show that fires burn on average about 4 million square kilometres (1.5 million square miles) of the planet's surface each year, including forests. And the number of wildfires is expected to increase by 50 percent by the end of the century.
There are two main reasons for the rise in wildfires.
First, the changing climate is driving protracted and frequent heatwaves and droughts that dry out forests, providing an immediate source of tinder and fuel. In a self-perpetuating cycle, wildfires themselves then billow carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, contributing further to the climate crisis. Fires emitted an estimated 6,199 megatonnes of carbon dioxide globally in 2024.
Second, the way we live and use land today means we are increasingly encroaching on forests and elevating the risk of wildfires. Many of these fires are started by humans for different reasons – such as carelessness and clearing land for agriculture and settlements. And urban infrastructure is edging closer to nature, increasing the danger that fire poses to human lives.
There is no doubt that the costs of wildfires for people and the planet are immense. Wildfires destroy property, crops, businesses and livelihoods and can be especially devastating for developing countries.
But not all fires are bad.
Fires have been part of the Earth's ecosystem for hundreds of millions of years, occurring naturally on every continent except Antarctica. They can help generate and stimulate the replenishment of ecosystems. They can clear away the layers of litter on the forest floor and add nutrients to the soil, allowing new shoots to grow that provide food for birds and animals. For some plant species, seeds even depend on fires to germinate.
Conducting controlled fires – often during cooler months – is a vital way for people to prevent destructive wildfires before they begin.
For many Indigenous peoples, prescribed burning has been an integral part of land management for millennia, helping to curb dangerous wildfires, encouraging ecological diversity and procuring food by promoting new growth and attracting grazing game animals.
A recent study into the return of Indigenous fire burning in Australia's Kimberley region showed that the annual massive wildfires in the region had reduced to once-in-a-decade events since the practice was reintroduced by the traditional owners of the land.
The use of fire for sustainable resource management is also one of the recommendations that the organisation I work for, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, is recommending as part of its integrated fire management approach.
Other preventive measures against wildfires are also needed, and community engagement is a key strategy. The practical experience and knowledge held in communities must shape integrated fire management strategies and policies from the ground up. This is essential. Actively engaging communities in decision-making, leveraging local knowledge and practices, and building capacity for fire prevention, preparedness and control can reduce wildfire risks and build long-term resilience.
Another layer of defence is fire early-warning systems. By incorporating drought indices, local traditional knowledge of weather and climatic influences, such systems predict fire-danger conditions and help with planning well before the wildfire season.
Some fires are simply inevitable, however, and having better monitoring mechanisms to detect fires and an appropriate fire extinguishing capacity at the ready is necessary if we are to contain wildfires before they become dangerous. In this way, suppression action can happen before fires grow beyond the possibility of containment. Certain countries already do an excellent job of fire monitoring, but the practice is yet to become standard in others.
Maintaining biodiversity and diverse landscapes – rather than monotonous, fire-prone, human-created landscapes – can also reduce the risk of fire spreading and causing damage and loss.
People must learn to live harmoniously with nature, not simply bend it to their will. That means inappropriate development in fire-prone ecosystems must be discouraged, given that the building of new infrastructure adjacent to wild spaces may play a central role in causing wildfires.
These strategies may sound onerous, but they take up far fewer resources, not to mention fewer lives, than battling uncontrollable wildfires.
With the right measures, humans can coexist with fire.
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial stance.