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Forest fire management, climate change, and the risk of catastrophic carbon losses
Author(s) -
Bowman David MJS,
Murphy Brett P,
Boer Matthias M,
Bradstock Ross A,
Cary Geoffrey J,
Cochrane Mark A,
Fensham Roderick J,
Krawchuk Meg A,
Price Owen F,
Williams Richard J
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
frontiers in ecology and the environment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.918
H-Index - 164
eISSN - 1540-9309
pISSN - 1540-9295
DOI - 10.1890/13.wb.005
Subject(s) - herbarium , excellence , center of excellence , library science , geography , history , management , political science , ecology , law , biology , computer science , economics
Approaches to management of fireprone forests are undergoing rapid change, driven by recognition that technological attempts to subdue fire at large scales (fire suppression) are
ecologically and economically unsustainable. However, our current framework for intervention excludes the full scope of the fire management problem within the broader context of fire−vegetation−climate interactions. Climate change may already be causing unprecedented fire activity, and even if current fires are within the historical range of variability, models predict that current fire management problems will be compounded by more frequent extreme
fire-conducive weather conditions (eg Fried et al. 2004). Concern about climate change has also made the mitigation of greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions and increased carbon (C) storage a priority for forest managers.