“Fire Ecology Across Boundaries”: the international congress focused on wildfires

Abstract

The current operating model based only on the approach of fire suppression has generated what experts call the “fire-paradox”: the control of all wildfires in the seasons with mild weather generates a fuel load which increases the probability of catastrophic wildfires in the years with extreme climate. Even though the fire has been present on earth long before man, and for at least 440 million years it has been an essential component of many land ecosystems, today wildfires are a recurrent social emergency that modern human and financial resources cannot manage. The present challenges stress the need to enhance the debate on potential solutions according to fire ecology: efficient alternatives to the wildfire suppression at all cost, the use of more traditional landscape management for adaptation of ecosystems under a changing climate, the benefits of prescribing fire to maintain long-term ecosystem services and finally the need to establish a wildfire risk culture through transdisciplinary science and enhance effective societal engagement. The “Fire Ecology Across Boundaries” Congress to be held in Florence from 20 to 23 October 2020 (http://fireacrossboundaries.org/) will be the opportunity to discuss the ecology and management of fire together with top international experts.

Keywords

• fire ecology
• wildfire
• florence
• conference