Changing fire regimes in East and Southern Africa’s savanna-protected areas: opportunities and challenges for indigenous-led savanna burning emissions abatement schemes

IF 3.6 3区 环境科学与生态学 Q1 ECOLOGY
Abigail R. Croker, Jeremy Woods, Yiannis Kountouris
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引用次数: 1

Abstract

Abstract Background Late dry-season wildfires in sub-Saharan Africa’s savanna-protected areas are intensifying, increasing carbon emissions, and threatening ecosystem functioning. Addressing these challenges requires active local community engagement and support for wildfire policy. Savanna burning emissions abatement schemes first implemented in Northern Australia have been proposed as a community-based fire management strategy for East and Southern Africa’s protected areas to deliver win–win-win climate, social, and biodiversity benefits. Here, we review and critically examine the literature exploring the design and application of savanna burning emissions abatement schemes in this region, characterizing their contextual and implementation challenges. Results We show that the application of Northern Australian savanna burning methodologies in East and Southern Africa tends to adopt centrally determined objectives and market-based approaches that prioritize carbon revenue generation at the national level. The exclusive prescription of early-dry season burns in African mesic savannas prone to woody thickening can compromise savanna burning objectives to mitigate late-dry season wildfires and their greenhouse gas emissions in the long-term, as well as present multiple biodiversity trade-offs in the absence of formal metrics monitoring species’ responses to changes in fire regime. These features restrict indigenous participation and leadership in fire management, creating uncertainties over the opportunities for local income generation through carbon trading. Findings suggest that future savanna burning applications will need to address asymmetries between formal institutions and local land governance systems, explicitly acknowledging colonial legacies in institutional arrangements across protected areas and hierarchies in agrarian politics that threaten processes of equitable decentralization in natural resource management. Conclusion We argue that the effective transfer of the Northern Australian fire management model is limited by a lack of long-term ecological and emissions data and political and institutional barriers, and is hindered by the region’s recent colonial history, population growth, and consequences of rapid climatic change. To provide a community-based strategy, savanna burning schemes need to establish context-specific legal frameworks and implement Free, Prior, and Informed Consent to safeguard the roles and responsibilities of indigenous and local people and their distribution of carbon benefits.
东非和南部非洲稀树草原保护区火灾制度的变化:土著主导的稀树草原燃烧排放减排计划的机遇和挑战
背景撒哈拉以南非洲热带稀树草原保护区的旱季晚期野火正在加剧,增加了碳排放,并威胁到生态系统功能。应对这些挑战需要当地社区积极参与并支持野火政策。热带稀树草原燃烧减排计划首先在澳大利亚北部实施,已被提议作为东非和南部非洲保护区的社区火灾管理战略,以实现三双赢的气候、社会和生物多样性效益。在这里,我们回顾并批判性地研究了探索该地区稀树草原燃烧排放减排方案的设计和应用的文献,并描述了它们的背景和实施挑战。结果表明,在东部和南部非洲,北澳大利亚稀树草原燃烧方法的应用倾向于采用中央确定的目标和基于市场的方法,优先考虑国家层面的碳收入产生。在非洲易发生木材增厚的mesic稀树草原上,早干季燃烧的专属处方可能会损害稀树草原的燃烧目标,从而长期减轻晚干季野火及其温室气体排放,并且在缺乏监测物种对火情变化反应的正式指标的情况下,存在多种生物多样性权衡。这些特点限制了土著居民在火灾管理方面的参与和领导,给当地通过碳交易创收的机会带来了不确定性。研究结果表明,未来的稀树草原燃烧应用将需要解决正式制度和地方土地治理系统之间的不对称,明确承认保护区制度安排中的殖民遗产和土地政治中的等级制度,这些制度和制度会威胁到自然资源管理中公平权力下放的进程。我们认为,北澳大利亚火灾管理模式的有效转移受到缺乏长期生态和排放数据以及政治和制度障碍的限制,并受到该地区近期殖民历史、人口增长和快速气候变化后果的阻碍。为了提供以社区为基础的战略,稀树草原焚烧计划需要建立针对具体情况的法律框架,并实施自由、事先和知情同意,以保障土著和当地人民的作用和责任,以及他们对碳效益的分配。
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来源期刊
Fire Ecology
Fire Ecology ECOLOGY-FORESTRY
CiteScore
6.20
自引率
7.80%
发文量
24
审稿时长
20 weeks
期刊介绍: Fire Ecology is the international scientific journal supported by the Association for Fire Ecology. Fire Ecology publishes peer-reviewed articles on all ecological and management aspects relating to wildland fire. We welcome submissions on topics that include a broad range of research on the ecological relationships of fire to its environment, including, but not limited to: Ecology (physical and biological fire effects, fire regimes, etc.) Social science (geography, sociology, anthropology, etc.) Fuel Fire science and modeling Planning and risk management Law and policy Fire management Inter- or cross-disciplinary fire-related topics Technology transfer products.
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