How Mexico is Taming its Wildfires

In Mexico, there is a growing trend towards longer and more severe drought seasons, which generate conditions conducive to forest fires, which have affected a larger area recently. However, in places such as the Los Tuxtlas Biosphere Reserve, Veracruz, and El Ocote, Chiapas, strategies such as integrated fire management have managed to keep the conflagrations smaller and with minimal impacts for approximately two decades.

Christoph Neger, a researcher at the Academic Unit of Territorial Studies in Yucatan, of the UNAM Geography Institute, explained: In these areas, it has been possible to maintain certain limits that do not significantly impact biodiversity; it has been possible that, since the last major events, recorded in 2003, these ecosystems have recovered.

Biosphere reserves are interesting areas to observe how a certain harmony can be achieved between human development and environmental conservation, that is, how to relate to the environment in a healthier way, said the expert.

“In my studies I focus, for the moment, on the southeast of the country, where we have tropical ecosystems that are the most biodiverse in Mexico and the world, but where there are also effects of human activity,” he said.

These spaces are priority for conservation due to the biological diversity they contain, as well as the ecosystem services they provide to the communities that live there and in the surrounding areas. Several supply hydroelectric dams for energy generation, produce oxygen, capture carbon (important in the context of the climate change we face), have tourist activity, etc., which is affected if there is a conflagration.

Christoph Neger clarified that not all fires are negative; There are adapted ecosystems that even need them in a controlled manner, with a certain intensity and frequency, such as pine forests, since this way they “rejuvenate”, the trees sprout again and the accumulation of combustible material that can cause uncontrollable mega-incidents is avoided. But this is not the case in tropical ecosystems, especially the high evergreen forest, where it should be avoided as much as possible.

In addition to drought, there are events such as hurricanes that generate more combustible material, fallen trees and branches, which cause intense inflammation. It is estimated that “the cause of the fire starting, in 99 percent of the reported cases, is the human being and only in one percent the cause is lightning,” he stressed.

They can be intentional to deforest and extend the agricultural frontier, for example; accidental because of bonfires, cigarettes or inappropriate use of fire in communities; in the southeast of Mexico it is also used to get animals out of their hiding places and hunt them.

New perspective

The conventional approach to fire management on a global scale is simply to extinguish it, but this is a short-term measure that does not solve the problem and does not foresee what may occur next year.

Therefore, another vision is needed, that is: integrated management, consisting of preventing it, physically, through firebreaks, or the collection of combustible materials; legal, when the law determines where it is prohibited to use it; and cultural, with the intervention of awareness-raising actors to avoid accidental fires.

This perspective considers the ecology of fire, that is, determining where it is naturally found, what role it has in the ecosystem and how to control it. “In some places there may be prescribed burns, which imitate the effect of a forest fire, but controlled,” said the expert.

Another fundamental aspect of integrated management is the participation of communities with their uses, customs, knowledge and experiences, which are often not considered in the strategies of the authorities.

Because prescribed fire is not recommended in tropical forests, there are other ways to manage fuels; for example, people go into the forest and remove these materials to use as firewood, or the wood is used to make crafts and furniture.

According to Christoph Neger, there is also a need for greater inter-institutional coordination so that there is a common strategy between federal, state and municipal actors; and in this way, to avoid inconsistencies.

Even more research is required. “I mainly focus on social issues, but we need more participation from the exact sciences in tropical ecosystems to know what the ecological effects of fire and its impacts really are so that all this information can be included in decision-making,” he stressed.

For the expert, there is too much to work on and in multiple areas, such as climate change, soils, ecology, etc. A multi- and transdisciplinary approach is needed, which exists, but must be increased.

Integrated management, which generally has positive effects, can be used anywhere, and although each area and community will require its own approach, the basic principles of considering the ecology of fire and openness to different forms of knowledge, not only technical and scientific, but also that of the people, are applicable.

Trying to apply a national strategy, “everything the same for all places,” is not going to work; the measures must be adapted to each place and its specific conditions. Taking that into account and the empirical experience of the fighters, we can obtain more adequate management.

In addition, we need to move towards a strategy of interculturality, inter-institutional coordination, considering the communities, and investing budget in prevention, gaps, prescribed burns, brigades with the capacity for rapid response, etc. “There are studies that indicate that prevention is 10 times cheaper than fighting a fire.”

Neger called on those who visit rural areas to be careful about making bonfires and throwing away lit cigarettes, because they can cause a forest fire. This way, “we can contribute to reducing this risk, and when we see a fire, we must report it to 911 so that it can be dealt with immediately.”