Integrated fire management as an adaptation and mitigation strategy to altered fire regimes

Altered fire regimes are a global challenge, increasingly exacerbated by climate change, which modifies fire weather and prolongs fire seasons. These changing conditions heighten the vulnerability of ecosystems and human populations to the impacts of wildfires on the environment, society, and the economy. The rapid pace of these changes exposes significant gaps in knowledge, tools, technology, and governance structures needed to adopt informed, holistic approaches to fire management that address both current and future challenges. Integrated Fire Management is an approach that combines fire prevention, response, and recovery while integrating ecological, socio-economic, and cultural factors into management strategies. However, Integrated Fire Management remains highly context-dependent, encompassing a wide array of fire management practices with varying degrees of ecological and societal integration. This review explores Integrated Fire Management as both an adaptation and mitigation strategy for altered fire regimes. It provides an overview of the progress and challenges associated with implementing Integrated Fire Management across different regions worldwide. The review also proposes five core objectives and outlines a roadmap of incremental steps for advancing Integrated Fire Management as a strategy to adapt to ongoing and future changes in fire regimes, thereby maximizing its potential to benefit both people and nature.

Authors are grateful to the FIRE-ADAPT project (EU grant HORIZON-MSCA-2021-SE-01086416) for support and to the FIRE-ADAPT Consortium for general discussion of ideas during study hubs and exchange secondments. I.O.M. and M.S.M. were supported by NERC grant NE/W00058X/1. P.M.F. was supported by National Funds from FCT - Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, under project UIDB/04033/2020 (https://doi.org/10.54499/UIDB/04033/2020). L.B. was supported by the wildE Horizon Europe (GAP- 101081251) project. B.A.B. was funded by the LANDMARC project (European Union's Horizon 2020 grant agreement No 869367). AR.was supported by the EU-funded 'Firelogue' project (Grant agreement ID: 101036534) and a 'Ramon y Cajal' fellowship program of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (RYC2022-036822-I). S.dM. was supported by a Serra Hunter fellowship provided by the Government of Catalonia (Generalitat de Catalunya). G.J.H. was supported by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Ottawa, Canada. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of IDRC or its Board of Governors.M.W.J. was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC; NE/V01417X/1). D.A.P. was supported by the Colombia Ministry of Science and the General System of Royalties project BPIN 2020000100456.