The 2024 UK Wildfire Conference was recently held in Aberdeen. RSPB’s David Douglas, Principal Conservation Scientist, and Neil Forbes, Ecologist, reflect on the event.
This conference had the tagline ‘Resilience in a changing world’. Presentations were a mixture of keynotes, invited and submitted shorter talks, and a roundtable discussion on prescribed burning. This is an important bi-annual event, bringing together firefighters, land managers, scientists, conservationists, and policymakers among others. Putting on a conference like this takes considerable work and we commend the organisers on a well-run event.
In a pre-conference blog, we raised concerns that the programme appeared to be dominated by content on prescribed burning and its potential role in reducing wildfire risk. We also noted that scarcely any space had apparently been afforded to the role of habitat restoration in building wildfire resilience, which is pertinent to a changing world as restoration also addresses the climate and nature crises. We feared that without wider ideas being discussed, a landowner, policymaker or member of the Fire and Rescue Services could be forgiven for thinking that prescribed burning was the only way forward. We hoped there would be space for more forward-thinking dialogue on how to manage wildfire risks in the UK. Regrettably, our fears were well placed.
Some excellent keynotes, including those from Jim Fairlie MSP, Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity, and Francesca Osowska, CEO of NatureScot, discussed the range of approaches for building resilience to wildfire. Yes, prescribed burning was covered, for example to create fire breaks, but so were peatland restoration, the importance of diverse habitat mosaics, and expansion of native woodland. These latter three topics are important because homogeneous vegetation monocultures on moorland are likely to be particularly fire-prone, and low-flammability native woodland could provide naturally resistant firebreaks. However, the rest of the conference programme didn’t reflect the breadth of approaches outlined in these keynotes. Across the two days, prescribed burning on fire-prone, heather-dominated moorland and grassland, was the recurring theme in presentations on reducing wildfire risk. Other than a single presentation on conservation grazing to alter vegetation, topics such as peatland restoration, diverse habitat mosaics and expansion of native woodland were overlooked as the subject of presentations. One discussion point arising was the recognition that further research is required on whether peatland restoration builds wildfire resilience. On this, we wholeheartedly agree.
Francesca Osowska, CEO of NatureScot, spoke of the need to consider holistic, longer-term approaches to building wildfire resilience. We welcome these comments, and the good work being done at sites such as Beinn Eighe NNR, to expand native woodland. Even if prescribed burning can be considered a method for building wildfire resilience, of which we are sceptical (see our pre-conference blog – we believe that burning simply perpetuates a fire-prone landscape), the idea that it can be applied wherever there is considered to be a wildfire risk across the UK’s fire-prone moorland is unrealistic. Firstly, much moorland overlies peat soils which must be protected from burning, to avoid contributing to climate change (not least because climate change is increasing wildfire occurrence). Secondly, applying a short-term fix such as prescribed burning, that needs to be repeated, at regular intervals across the vastness of the UK’s moorland, not just where grouse moors and some farmers choose to do it, is unrealistic. Holistic, nature-based solutions such as peatland restoration (highlighted in a new briefing by the IUCN UK Peatland Programme as having a key role in wildfire resilience) and large-scale expansion of native woodland, must be part of the solution, and must be given appropriate air-time at these events.
Partnership working will be key to building wildfire resilience. We welcome the support and advice we’ve had from Scottish Fire and Rescue Service over many years, in developing wildfire protocols for our estate. A recurring theme at the conference was the importance of education and sharing information, and it was widely recognised that most UK wildfires are started by people rather than natural events. Initiatives such as patrols in sensitive areas, and education / outreach programmes, will also be important in helping to mitigate the risk of wildfires occurring and reducing the damage that they cause. It would be good to hear more case studies focussing on this type of work at future conferences.
These wildfire conferences do a great job of bringing together the key groups on this issue, of this there is no doubt. The next conference in this series will be held in England in 2026. We hope that, next time around, there will indeed be space for more forward-thinking dialogue on building resilience to wildfire in the UK.
Main image: The aftermath of the wildfire at Corrimony by Mark Hamblin.