Abstract
The use of fire by cattle ranchers is a major source of conflict between conservationists and local communities in tropical savannas. We evaluate the role of traditional pastoral management in wildfire prevention in two protected areas within the Brazilian savanna. Fine-grain field data from transect walks and interviews were combined with geospatial data at landscape scale to compare fire regimes in community-managed areas with those in government-managed areas. Local pastoral management creates seasonal mosaic patterns of burnings performed for productive activities and for deliberate landscape management, i.e. to protect fire-sensitive vegetation and avoid wildfires. Whereas government-managed areas were affected by large biennial late dry season wildfires, community-managed areas with a regular fire regime suffered less damage. These systems are under threat and poorly understood by researchers and environmental managers. In order to improve fire management in tropical savannas, greater understanding of pastoral management practices and their spatiotemporal dimensions is required.
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Notes
The Aqua MT satellite detects a fire front as small as 30 m in length and 1 m in width. The data are updated daily, producing new maps every month or two, depending on visibility.
For scene 221_067, INPE provides 6 data series for 2015 and 10 for 2014. For scene 221_068, 11 data series were downloaded for 2015 and 10 for 2014.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the families of the community of Mumbuca and Boa Esperança, and of the Ascolombas-Rios Association (Mateiros, Tocantins State) and environmental managers of ICMBio and Naturatins for welcoming us and taking part in the research. We also thank James Taylor for the careful revision of the manuscript. This study was funded by Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) through the “Cerrado-Jalapão” Project. LE received a Research Grant from the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) through the “Ciências sem fronteiras” Programme (Grant Number 88881.068021/2014-01) and from CNRS (Soutien à la mobilité Internationale).
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Eloy, L., Schmidt, I.B., Borges, S.L. et al. Seasonal fire management by traditional cattle ranchers prevents the spread of wildfire in the Brazilian Cerrado. Ambio 48, 890–899 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-018-1118-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-018-1118-8