Climate change manifesto

Wildfire is the most pervasive disturbance an ecosystem can undergo (Fernandes et al, 2010). In recent years, uncontrolled forest fires surged all over the globe. Australia, Siberia, the Amazon, California and the Mediterranean have been confronted with repetitive fire fronts roaming through their lands, destroying both natural systems and human settlements. Scientific predictions on future climate conditions, point out with certainty that extreme fire weather will only increase its frequency in the years to come (IPCC, 2021).

The consequences of uncontrolled wildfire in natural systems have various levels. Direct impact includes ecosystem destruction, as mature vegetation and decomposers are destroyed. At the same time, harmful gases are released in the atmosphere, contributing to air pollution and greenhouse emissions, such as sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide and more1 (IPCC, 2021).

Furthermore, indirect consequences on post-fire landscapes are equally important. Soil erosion accelerates, stripping the land of its nutritious layers. The runoff material forms landslides and debris with destructive power (Schuler, 2021). In case of intense rainfall, sudden floods and powerful streams that flow until they reach a flat end. Finally, a wildfire outcome not to be omitted is political decisions on scarred landscapes. In a host of cases, such areas are prone to encroachment from investors or private interest. Agricultural fields enter the forest, cities expand towards natural habitat, or industrial benefits enter zones of preservation.

However, as Pyne (2020) argues, Earth is a planet that regenerates with fire. In the past, humans evolved using controlled fires as a mean to organize landscape. In contemporary world, Aboriginal landscape burning practices are still a paradigm of such coexistence. Pyrodiversity is a term used to describe fire as a keystone process, that transforms the succession of flora in a fireprone landscape, resulting in habitat diversity and rebirth (Bird et al, 2016). Burning can both destroy and regenerate a landscape.

Under such a threat, landscape architects can play a crucial role to limit its consequences and restore destroyed habitat. In this study, I seek to understand how landscape architecture can engage with wildfires both as a prevention tool and as a post-catastrophe restoration method.