01/07/2020
“Australia needs to turn their focus to the future, work on regenerating the millions of hectares of land and wildlife destroyed by our mismanagement. Let’s stop arguing, blaming and name calling. We are in this together...and we will rise from the ashes, because we are Australian.”
We are in this together, we are
WHAT MADE THE AUSTRALIAN BUSHFIRES SO EXTREME?
Please note: Overall, the bushfires are a result of 200 years of our mismanagement, it can not be blamed on one person, one government or group. It’s also important to note that these extreme fire events have been happening all over the world...not just in Australia. The most well known of course was the Amazon Rainforest and Californian wildfires.
First things first, what helped to make these fires so devastating and unprecedented?
WAS IT CLIMATE CHANGE?
No, climate change alone did not ‘cause’ the fires, but it would be straight out ignorance of scientific fact to say that ‘climate change has nothing to do with the fires’. The peer reviewed science overall states that fire intensity and frequency both increase with hotter years. Well, 2019 was Australia’s hottest year on record. Go figure.
So to be clear, yes...climate change has definitely made the fires more extreme, but it didn’t cause them.
HOW DID CLIMATE CHANGE MAKE THE FIRES WORSE?
* The ongoing Australian drought (climate change induced) has dried out vegetation making it more flammable - this is just basic common sense.
* Decrease in winter rainfall over the south-eastern parts of Australia leading to the further drying out of vegetation.
* Increase in temperatures including unprecedented heat waves (we have risen 1 degree above average temperature over the last 100 years) leading to periods of higher fire danger and increased risk of severe fires.
HOW HAS AUSTRALIA’S CLIMATE INDUCED WEATHER CHANGE PLANNED BURNS?
* It has caused an inability to ‘burn off’ more frequently due to safety risk - over the last decade the window of opportunity to undertake burns have dramatically decreased due to increasing climate change risk.
WAS IT THE GREENS POLICY OR THE ‘GREENIES’?
No, a straight out no...which has been stated over and over by various Fire Brigade representatives. Fire is managed accordingly by the area owners, permits are given out by the fire warden as required depending on certain relevant risks such as the weather. Does a better nation wide fire policy need to be implemented? Yes, but currently the Greens or any other environmental advocates for that matter have not stopped any planned burns.
WHAT STARTED THE FIRES?
I’ve heard a few different stories which I’m sure will come out in the investigations but they can mostly be attributed to:
* Arsonists (insignificant contribution)
* Lightning strikes (main contribution)
* Sparks from other fires
* Accidental (cigarette butts, campfire embers etc)
HOW DO WE PREVENT THIS FROM OCCURRING INTO THE FUTURE?
It’s Important to note that one single fire ‘blanket’ management strategy can not be applied to the whole of Australia - for example you can’t simply say ‘we need to burn off every year to reduce fuel load on every bit of land’.
Each area, each different ‘ecological niche’ responds differently to fire. Fire ecology is incredibly complex and the scientific knowledge constantly gets updated. Even though we can’t apply the same management strategy to any single area, we can apply the PRINCIPLES, which will ultimately determine the fire strategy moving forward. These principles are as follows:
1. FIRE ECOLOGY - using scientific case studies for every different ecosystem type, use the findings of how the flora and fauna respond to fire frequency and intensity into management strategy (for example, plants may or may not need fire in order to reproduce).
2. INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE - practises such as ‘mosaic burning’ where possible and local flora/fauna knowledge responses is crucial.
3. CLIMATE CHANGE PROJECTIONS - climate change has completely changed the Fire game. Incorporating the predicted temperature rises, droughts, decreased rainfalls, increased evaporation rates and frequency of heat waves is crucial to future fire planning.
4. HAZARD/FUEL REDUCTION - how this is done is the key, whether it be through regenerative grazing practises using cattle or sheep, or cool and more frequent burns (depending on planned frequency from a consensus of the other 3 points).
Australia needs to turn their focus to the future, work on regenerating the millions of hectares of land and wildlife destroyed by our mismanagement. Let’s stop arguing, blaming and name calling. We are in this together...and we will rise from the ashes, because we are Australian.
Written by Australian Environmental Scientist Khory Hancock
Image: Melina Illustrates
