Good, bad or ‘necessary evil’? Reinterpreting the colonial burning experiments in the savanna landscapes of West Africa.
A simple ecological model underlies contemporary fire policy in many West African countries. The model holds that the timing (or seasonality) of annual savanna fires is a principal determinant of vegetation cover. The model's origin can be traced to the ideas held by influential colonial scientists...
| Publicado en: | Geographical Journal Vol. 172; no. 4; pp. 271 - 291 |
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| Autores principales: | , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
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Wiley-Blackwell
Dec2006
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=23407785&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 23407785 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00167398 GEO jtl: Geographical Journal issn: 00167398 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: Dec2006 vid: 172 iid: 4 pid: 480 pub: Wiley-Blackwell artinfo: ui: 23407785 10.1111/j.1475-4959.2006.00215.x ppf: 271 ppct: 20 formats: fmt: @attributes: type: P size: 354KB tig: atl: Good, bad or ‘necessary evil’? Reinterpreting the colonial burning experiments in the savanna landscapes of West Africa. aug: au: Laris, Paul Wardell, David Andrew affil: Department of Geography, California State University, Long Beach, 1250 Bellflower Blvd, Long Beach, CA 90840, USA Institute of Geography, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 10, DK 1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark Centre for World Environmental History, University of Sussex su: Ecological model (Communication) Environmental degradation Fire insurance Environmental sciences Population biology Africa sug: subj: Africa Ecological model (Communication) Environmental degradation Fire insurance Environmental sciences Population biology keyword: colonial science fire policy Mali remote sensing savanna West Africa ab: A simple ecological model underlies contemporary fire policy in many West African countries. The model holds that the timing (or seasonality) of annual savanna fires is a principal determinant of vegetation cover. The model's origin can be traced to the ideas held by influential colonial scientists who viewed anthropogenic fire as a prime force of regional environmental degradation. The main evidence in support of the model derives from the results of a series of long-term burning experiments carried out during last century. The experimental results have been repeatedly mapped onto fire policy often taking the form of a three-tiered model in which fire exclusion is considered the ultimate management objective, late dry-season fire is discouraged and early dry-season fire is allowed but only under specific, often state-controlled circumstances. This paper provides a critique of contemporary fire policy in the region and the fire ecology model on which it is based. Through an analysis of burn scars for the 2002–3 fire season generated from ETM+ imagery, the study documents the spatiotemporal pattern of burning for an area in southern Mali. It argues that current policy, which is informed by an a-spatial model, cannot adequately account for the critical pattern of burning that is characteristic of the region. A reinterpretation of the burning experiments is presented in light of four factors: empirical data; recent developments in patch-mosaic theory; historical evidence on the effects of fire suppression; and data on indigenous burning strategies, all of which suggest a need to reconsider current fire policy. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Geographical Journal is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Geographical Journal holder: Wiley-Blackwell dt: @attributes: year: 2006 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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