Climate change not the only blame for bushfire crisis

A new study from the University of Melbourne suggests that restoring Indigenous cultural burning practices could help break a catastrophic fire loop plaguing Australia's southeast forests. The research, published on Thursday, examined the past millennium of vegetation, fire, and erosion in Victoria's Croajingolong National Park, one of the most fire-prone regions in the country.

The study found that climate change alone should not be solely blamed for the current fire crisis. Seasonal fire weather patterns, comparable to those seen during the Ash Wednesday and Black Saturday bushfires, occurred repeatedly in the region before European settlement. However, the open landscape maintained through cultural burning protected the land from catastrophic fires.

Upon the onset of European colonisation, this care for the land ceased, allowing the forest to expand and thicken across the region, filling it with fuel. The study posits that this transformation has handed control of fire to climate. The researchers developed a conceptual model, the "catastrophic fire loop," which is affecting many parts of southeast Australia.

This loop involves disruptions in the traditional fire management practices following British colonization, leading to hotter fires as shrubs increase in response to no longer being subjected to continual low-intensity burns. These hotter fires then trigger eucalypt recruitment and forest thickening, which in turn prompts more fires, creating a self-perpetuating cycle now largely driven by climate change.

The initial cause of this loop is a land-use change. The study strongly recommends restoring cultural burning practices and empowering Traditional Owners to care for their lands as crucial steps in mitigating fire risk. Gunaikurnai elder Uncle Russell Mullett, a spokesperson for the Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Corporation, emphasized the importance of cultural burning, stating that his ancestors were raised with "towera" (fire) as part of their daily life on country.