- Title:
-
Wildland Fire Science and Technology Trends and Initiatives: A global perspective
- Date:
- September 2010
- Organisations
- AFAC 2010 Conference
- Authors:
-
Jim Gould, CSIRO Forest Biosciences
Stream 1
Download the presentation slides here. A summary is available from the link above. - Location:
- Australia, Australia
Overview
Fire is a world wide phenomenon and over the past decade there have been moves to a new level of wildland fire management activities and a shift in management priorities. In looking to the future, there is now a general consensus from wildland fire management agencies on the cumulative effects of climate change, fuel treatment, forest disturbances, and wildland-urban-interface shifts on the wildland fire environment. While there are differences about the magnitude and timeframe associated with these changes there is a broad agreement on the threats and risk of wildland fire. Wildland fire management involves decision making at various stages, including prevention, preparedness, response and recovery.
Science and technology (S & T) has an important role in the decision-making process by providing science-based evidence for the agencies that are engaged in a range of wildland fire activities. The process of providing and using scientific knowledge is resource intensive and involves challenging tasks. A Canadian example on economic evaluation of fire danger rating and fire behaviour research demonstrated a range of net benefits to society. The benefits of research were measured as the difference in the financial returns from a project (the with-research scenario) and those that would have resulted if there were no changes to their current knowledge (the without-research scenario). The results indicated high levels of net economic benefits if fire danger and fire behaviour knowledge was enhanced.
