Interdisciplinary challenges for wildfire futures

Wildfire has shaped many ecosystems across Earth, and humans have in turn shaped fire and its interactions within a range of socio-ecological systems. Climate change is changing fire regimes, and recent major and disruptive fire seasons around the globe have indicated a need to reimagine and redefine how fire research is conducted. One potential path forward is increased promotion and development of interdisciplinary approaches to fire research, yet these are hindered by a lack of a common language and ‘framing’ of the ‘problem’. In this paper, we seek to advance the field of interdisciplinary fire research by bringing together experts from a wide range of disciplines to identify the key challenges for understanding and living with wildfires of the future (‘Wildfire Futures’). Through an iterative process, we identify seven major interdisciplinary challenges relating to Wildfire Futures in south-eastern Australia: data and understanding of fire; the need to reorientate cultural relationships with fire; recognising diverse tangible and intangible values of fire; exploring different ways to understand fire risk; adaptation pathways to envision alternate ways of living with fire; exploring the uncertainties and trade-offs inherent in decision making around fire; and how inertia in multiple systems hinders transformative change and interdisciplinary progress. Our paper illustrates how researchers from diverse disciplines can develop a common language for interdisciplinary fire research and identifies fire challenges relevant to many other regions around the world.