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2.1.8 Community involvement in fire management activities

An Integrated Forest Fire Management (IFFM) program was begun in the northeastern region (Caprivi) of Namibia in 1995 as part of the Namibian-Finland Forestry Programme (Jurvélius and Kawana 1998, 1999). The program consisted of two parts. The first was a very successful large-scale public awareness campaign via roadside billboards, local radio bulletins, pamphlets, village meetings and drama presentations. The campaign focused on school children because experience has shown that they are very successful in transmitting fire awareness to their parents and other members of the community. A particularly powerful extension tool has been fire-related open-air dramas presented at schools and in rural communities by the Caprivi Theatre Group. These plays met with an enthusiastic response because of the professionalism of the actors and participation by the school children. The second component of the program was the construction of cutlines (firebreaks) in the different rural communities. This involved constructing 10- to 15-m-wide cutlines (two cleared strips with a burnt central portion) that have a dual role as a means of applying backfires when controlling wildfires and in the application of controlled burns. The progress made in the construction of cutlines has been most impressive, having increased from 100 km in 1995 to 1 832 km in 1998. This also appears to have contributed to the public awareness campaign as well because both the local community leaders and members of the contract teams constructing the cutlines became very well informed about the necessity for controlling fires and the role cutlines play in achieving this objective.

Finally, an important addition was made to the IFFM program in Namibia in 1999 when the need for controlled burning was recognised as a means of maintaining the ecological well-being of savannah ecosystems. This has resulted in a research program in the Caprivi region to develop simplified techniques to assess whether or not an area of rangeland needs to be burned. The results of this research are currently being analysed. They will enable the IFFM program to develop controlled burning programs based on the ecological requirements of the vegetation for different systems of land use.

Frost (1999) describes the concept and history of another such community-based fire management programme in the Western Province (formerly the Kingdom of Barotseland), Zambia, and the initial steps taken to implement the programme.


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