Abstract: |
Mexico and Central America are rich in biodiversity and contain approximately 73,000,000 ha of forest land, including ecosystems adapted to, and influenced by, fire. Nevertheless, due to excessive number of fires occurring due to poverty and a lack of forestry culture, 43 percent of causes are linked to agricultural activities with an average of 21,000 fires which annually affect 677,000 ha in the region. In 1998, some 56,731 fires affected 2,330,000 ha. Forest fires contribute to deforestation and contamination as well as influencing global climatic change, among other negative impacts. There are around 17,500 permanent fire-fighters in the region with varying levels of resources and technologies for different fire management tasks. In general fire fighting resources in the region are insufficient, although there have been important advances in many cases, with relevant support from several countries. However, the future scenario is one of more fires. It will be necessary to intensify international collaboration and also the search for finance schemes, to increase human resources and materials, training, prevention detection and fire fighting. Other possible parallel activities are the use of alternative agricultural technologies instead of fire, particularly in the tropics, and ecological integrated fire management, in appropriate ecosystems and areas and with emphasis on community participation, with the support of universities and research institutes, as well as international agencies. |
