Burning, fire prevention and meanings of landscape among the Pemon, Gran Sabana, Venezuela: Toward an inter-cultural approach to wildland fire management in neotropical savannas

Sletto, Bjorn and Rodriguez Fernandez, Iokine (2013) Burning, fire prevention and meanings of landscape among the Pemon, Gran Sabana, Venezuela: Toward an inter-cultural approach to wildland fire management in neotropical savannas. Journal of Environmental Management, 115 (2013). pp. 155-166. ISSN 0301-4797

Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)

Abstract

Wildland fire management in savanna landscapes increasingly incorporates indigenous knowledge to pursue strategies of controlled, prescriptive burning to control fuel loads. However, such participatory approaches are fraught with challenges because of contrasting views on the role of fire and the practices of prescribed burning between indigenous and state fire managers. Also, indigenous and state systems of knowledge and meanings associated with fire are not monolithic but instead characterized by conflicts and inconsistencies, which require new, communicative strategies in order to develop successful, intercultural approaches to fire management. This paper is based on long-term research on indigenous Pemon social constructs, rules and regulations regarding fire use, and traditional system of prescribed burning in the Gran Sabana, Venezuela. The authors review factors that act as constraints against successful intercultural fire management in the Gran Sabana, including conflicting perspectives on fire use within state agencies and in indigenous communities, and propose strategies for research and communicative planning to guide future efforts for more participatory and effective fire management.

Item Type:	Article
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Global Development (formerly School of International Development) University of East Anglia Research Groups/Centres > Theme - ClimateUEA
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Global Environmental Justice University of East Anglia Schools > Faculty of Science > Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	13 Nov 2019 16:30
Last Modified:	04 Mar 2024 17:51
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/72957
DOI:	10.1016/j.jenvman.2012.10.041

Actions (login required)

View Item