Wildfires in Africa - Causes and effects of wildfires

Image: SWT

COVER STORY

By Dorcas Kang’ereha

Using satellite images, NASA has found that there are more wildfires in Africa than in the Amazon. According to NASA, 70 percent of the total area burned by fire around the world is Africa and 90 percent of these fires are human-caused. While fires are a natural part of the ecosystem, they can also pose a serious threat to human life. Fires in Africa are often sparked by lightning strikes, and most of them occur during the wet season. According to ICPAC June 2020 report Zooming into the Eastern Africa region, wildfires in the region are a regular occurrence especially after the rainy season, when the environment is conducive for fire. They are a natural cycle in many ecosystems, especially the savanna, but also in the forest ecosystems. The region experiences two fire seasons in a year’s circle that is, April to August in the areas south of the Equator and September to March in the areas north of the Equator.

“It all depends on context, time of the year, frequency, etc. Some of the negative impacts can range from air pollution, excessive erosion, loss of species; damage to infrastructure, negative impacts on the economy and livelihoods, loss of life is also possible,” asserts Dean Ferreira, Managing Director at NCC Environmental Services (Pty) LTD. “In some ecosystems, if wildfires occur at the incorrect frequency or season, if the fire intensity is too high (or too low), the ecosystem can be damaged due to a loss of species and even affecting ecosystem services such as water retention or carbon sequestration,” he adds.

Conferring to Global Forest Watch (GFW), South Africa’s peak fire season typically begins in late June and lasts around 20 weeks.

There were 6,883 VIIRS fire alerts reported between 11th of October 2021 and 3rd of October 2022 considering high confidence alerts only. This is high compared to previous years going back to 2012, says GFW. The online monitoring platform further discloses that, From 2001 to 2021, South Africa lost 116kha of tree cover from fires and 1.41Mha from all other drivers of loss. The year with the most tree cover loss due to fires during this period was 2017 with 20.5kha lost to fires — 22% of all tree cover loss for that year.

In Western Africa, UNISDR Regional Subsahara Wildland Fire Network indicates that, fire is a regular feature in the landscape of most West African countries especially in areas dominated by savanna and woodland vegetation. More recently wildfires have become annual events in the forest and forest transition zones of some countries (e.g. Ghana). The causes of wildfire occurrence are quite similar in most member countries in the West African region and are mostly humancaused. In spite of these negative impacts, most countries lack a holistic and efficient system for preventing and controlling wildfires. Consequently, the problem of rampant wildfires continues to persist.

Since early August, 106 fires have broken out in Algeria, destroying 800 hectares of forest and 1,800 hectares of woodlands, this is according to Interior Minister Kamel Beldjoud, who said some had been caused by arson.

The recent wildfires in eastern Algeria have killed at least 43 people and 200 people were injured. Officials have not confirmed the numbers but local media has said that the death toll may be higher. This is due to scorching air temperatures and dry conditions as well the lack of fire-fighting aircraft by the authorities.

In Central African Republic the peak fire season typically begins in late November and lasts around 14 weeks. There were 11,706 VIIRS fire alerts reported between 11th of October 2021 and 3rd of October 2022, this is according to Global Forest Watch.

While the numbers of fires are significantly higher than those in the Amazon, forest fires in Africa are an ongoing concern due to the rainforests. People ignite fires to open up new areas for farming. Cattle farmers light fires in the savannahs to stimulate nutritious grass for animals and to control parasitic ticks. These fires often get out of hand and become difficult to put out. As a result, up to half of the Serengeti grasslands burn every year. This region is renowned for the migration of wildebeest and other safari animals. In order to prevent future fires, education campaigns are mandatory.

“Each year more and more areas of Kenya’s precious water towers are being lost to wild fires. If this is to continue, where will Kenyans get their water from in the future?” Questions Toby Dunn, Director at Farmland Aviation Ltd. Fires are a common problem throughout Africa, and their extent is becoming much greater in some parts of the continent. Some of the fires are caused by farmers performing prescribed burns. These burns are often conducted during the dry season. However, it is important to note that the number of fires does not necessarily mean that there is ecological damage.

“It is also very important to understand that wildfires are part of the African landscape and not all wildfires are bad. Certain ecosystems are not only fire prone, but also fire driven. The Fynbos Biome, the most diverse biome on the planet, requires fire to maintain this unique diversity, as long as they occur during the right season and at the appropriate frequency. African landscapes are burnt to ensure grazing, reduction in fuel, for localized agriculture and this indigenous practice has occurred for 100’s, if not 1000’s of years. The landscape has adapted to this. Africa is the fire continent and wildfires will be part of it for 100’s of years to come,” states Dean.

“Broadly speaking, veld fires are a very necessary in rejuvenating the veld, getting rid of bush, parasites, and of course, the ash provides much needed fertilizer to the new growth,” says Mark Jackson, Owner at Leading Edge Aviation. “It is when the veld is not allowed to burn, normally around a 15 year cycle, that disastrous fires take place. Our task is to help extinguish the fires that threaten the urban interface. We protect people’s homes, farms and of course their lives in extreme cases. During an initial attack concept last Cape fire season, we saved property worth an estimated R94m and no one fell into harm’s way,” he articulates.

Researchers have found that wildfires are caused by several factors, including climate change. Climate variability is one cause, although widespread management practices has reduced flammable materials in forests. Nevertheless, wildfires are responsible for 3 to 8 percent of terrestrial net primary productivity each year. These fires release between 1.7 and 4.1 gigatonnes of carbon into the atmosphere.

Even so, the fire frequency in tropical Africa is expected to decrease, it will remain high in certain regions. The Sahel and southern Africa are particularly vulnerable to fire. This is because grasslands burn more easily

and prevent the forest from regrowing. Additionally, recent El Nino events may have increased the frequency of fires in these areas. However, there are a number of ways to mitigate the risk of wildfires in Africa.

Ways to mitigate the blazes

In his opinion, Toby recommends to rapidly attack wildfires while they are still small to contain their spread. “Aircraft can respond to a fire in the wilderness a lot quicker than teams on the ground. Farmland Aviation Ltd uses purpose built Air tractors to contain the wild fires giving the ground crews time to get on sight and mop up the remaining embers. It’s a proven strategy for preventing greater wildfire damage while substantially reducing firefighting costs,” he affirms.

“The cheapest fire is the one that is extinguished immediately. Every fire starts small, and only time allows it to grow. The bigger the fire, the more dangerous and costly it becomes. Our company hopes to continue with our QRF, bringing a new dimension to aerial fire-fighting in the Cape,” acclaims Mark.

According to Dean, integrated wildfire management is one of the tools to mitigate the risk of devastating wildfires. Dean further elaborates on wildfire management and the components of mitigating the risk. “There are 5 components of integrated wildfire management and to mitigate the risk, land managers, policy makers, politicians and those that control the purse strings need to recognize this and devise strategies for their own context.”

ongoing training and fitness, equipment preparedness, practicing and checking 3. Response – mobilizing, in a safe manner, to suppress the fire within the objectives of the landscape e.g. initial and direct attack or allow for indirect in areas that ecologically require to be burnt and the conditions permit that. 4. Restoration – post the event, replacing/acquiring lost or damaged equipment, fixing of roads, fence, potential erosion sites, etc 5. Research – undertaking applicable research into IWFM, equipment, fire regimes, crew safety, nutrition, etc.

“Education and community wildfire resilience is critical (the first R). Too much time and resources are dedicated to readiness and response. Not enough effort is put into the final two R’s – Restoration and Research,” says Dean.

“The context of the landscape in question needs to be understood and the appropriate application of the 5 R’s then needs to be strategized and implemented. One common theme from around the world is that we (firefighters) have spent so much time stopping fires, which the consequence is now a massive amount of fuel build up, that when these unburnt areas burn, the outcomes can be devastating. Climate changes is exacerbating this,” he adds.

Nonetheless, as global temperatures continue to rise, wildfires will become more frequent and more destructive. In fact, the UN has issued a report warning that humans are contributing to the problem. While most wildfires are caused by human activities, they are also a major contributor to climate change. The nutrient-rich aerosol from Africa contributes almost half of the phosphorus found in the Amazon Basin. As a result, the African continent plays an important role in the Amazonian ecosystem.

“Finally – we need to ensure that our responders are properly trained, kitted out and competent to perform their tasks when they are called on. Responding to wildfires is dangerous!” recommends Dean.