OBJECTIVES AND PROPOSALS OF THE CAMPAIGN

Proposal-5

To terminate the harmful forms of prescribed burnings in all countries.

The catastrophic negative consequences of prescribed burning, considered in the position of the campaign, allow to conclude that an immediate necessary measure is to stop all harmful forms of prescribed burning in all countries where they are implemented. Achieving the implementation of this measure is one of the main objectives of the campaign!

However, it may be a very difficult task to ban and terminate prescribed burning practices in many natural regions. The ecosystems of natural areas where frequent burnings have been implemented for a long period of time have already been completely disturbed. In particular, they have slowed down or completely stopped the process of natural decomposition of plant organic matter (plant litter and dry wood) due to the destruction of detritophages and destructors communities caused by burnings. If people simply stop burning there, then undecomposed plant organic matter will accumulate in a large volume, which can lead to severe wildfires. The probability of such wildfires is especially high in regions where the local people have the ancient traditions of burning. For this reason, it is necessary to involve research teams in the task of stopping the practice of prescribed burning, and conduct comprehensive scientific research. For each natural region disturbed by burning, it is necessary to develop its own scientifically based program for the gradual termination of prescribed burning, and the restoration of the natural functioning of ecosystems. First of all, it is necessary to achieve the restoration of communities of detritophages and destructors in ecosystems, which will restore the ability of the natural territories to decompose plant organic matter. Such a program of rehabilitation of the territories should also include thoughtful work with the local people (adults and children), which need to be weaned from the tradition of burning, in order to reduce the risk of wildfires. This risk will be especially high during a transition period of restoration of the disturbed mechanisms of the ecosystems.

The “Stop the Harmful Forms of Prescribed Burning!” public campaign is aimed to terminate only the harmful, destructive forms of prescribed burning (as well as illegal artificial burning of the same character), which we define as the burning implemented inside natural lands with a frequency which exceeds the natural frequency of wildfires in this area, that is the period of time between wildfires that would occur in this area without human influence. At the same time, we assume that there may be forms of controlled burning that can be used without harming nature and humans in order to prevent and extinguish wildfires, restore disturbed natural ecosystems, or serve as an acceptable compromise for these purposes.

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