Fire regimes have changed dramatically across the Asia-Pacific region in the last 50 years, and fires are a much more serious problem than they once were.
The primary reason for this is the large areas of grassland that now cover land once occupied by forests. Many of these grasslands are subject to annual fires which can threaten adjoining areas of plantations and secondary forests. Technical solutions as well as cultural changes will be needed to solve this problem.
Nearly every country in the region has numerous laws at national and local levels to regulate fire use, but cultural changes are needed amongst rural communities if fires are to be less damaging. This applies especially to fires that escape during agricultural clearing operations.
This will require a greater degree of participatory engagement between forest owners and managers on the one hand, and other groups and stakeholders in the rural community on the other. This engagement may involve fire prevention activities as well as managing and controlling fires that start. There should also be scope for reducing the fire hazard by surrounding important reforestation areas with fire breaks comprised of fire-tolerant species. (Moore et al. 2002)
The identity of these species and the ages at which they become fire tolerant needs to be established and the knowledge shared. These boundary zones might then be burned to act as buffers or fire breaks during periods of high fire risk. Some of this knowledge exists, but it has not yet been widely used in practice.
