Historical trajectories and current perspectives on sub-Saharan wildland fire science and management in select scientific literature

Abstract

Fire has long been a fixture on African landscapes to which ecosystems, wildlife and people have adapted. Not surprisingly, wildland fire science in Africa has also undergone substantial change and development. Three broad eras of wildland fire science and management in sub-Saharan Africa have been described: An imperial period associated with European colonialism; an empirical period, during which fire research became more rigorous but remained reluctant to accept the role of humans; and an increasingly inclusive period, in which human dimensions of fire regimes are recognised and fire is understood to be part of complex landscape dynamics. Here we review the history of fire research in sub-Saharan Africa by analysing important literature from the past century, including a systematic review of peer-reviewed fire literature published by the Grassland Society of Southern Africa (GSSA) over the past six decades. We also highlight two important projects from the mid-20th century: the 1972 Proceedings of the 11th Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference in Tallahassee, Florida, USA – titled Fire in Africa – and the products of the South African programme on the Ecological Effects of Fire in South African Ecosystems, both being closely coupled to the fire literature published by the GSSA. We found that trends in fire science in Africa align well with the evolution of ecology as a global scientific discipline. We highlight evidence for transitions between the eras of understanding as they are reflected in contemporary publications, and critically analyse important contributions from South African publications. The empirical tradition of fire research is particularly strong in South Africa, but several colonial assumptions and scientific norms from the global north have persisted even as the interactions between wildland fire and human livelihoods are increasingly evident. The GSSA, in particular, has an opportunity to be an increasingly inclusive source for the exchange of fire knowledge from both social and ecological perspectives via its annual congresses and publications.