Forest Fire Essay

Fire is a natural process that plays a vital role in maintaining ecosystems. Since time immemorial, man has used fire as tool in food gathering, hunting, and habitat management (Mason, White, Morishima, et. al., 2012). Burning practices of man in forest lands have lasted for centuries. However, during the pre-settlement period, the use of fire has been misunderstood by the world (Mason, White, Morishima, et. al., 2012). According to Rowell and Moore (2000) in their Global Review of Forests, the forest fires during the years 1997 and 1998 created the largest ecological damage and human suffering to the world. An estimate of 22.6 million hectares (has) of land worldwide was damaged during those years; where 8-10 million has of the total estimate was from South East Asia (Rowell and Moore, 2000). Scientists have concluded that El Niño is one of the main culprits of forest fires. The frequency and intensity of forest fires was said to increase through time due to the drastic changes in weather condition brought by climate change (Rowell and Moore, 2000).

In the Philippines, the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) has the highest reported cases of forest fires. According to the summary report of the Department of Environment and Natural

Scientists, ecologists, and environmentalists have recognized the need to re-evaluate the existing approaches and policies on forest management and fire control. Rowell and Moore (2000) mentioned in their assessment that the different stakeholders in forest management, specifically the LGUs and NGOs are focused mostly on the high-technology spectrum of fire management activities rather than on the underlying causes of the increasing number of forest fire outbreaks. They believe that most of the approaches made by the stakeholders are short-term and more of a top-down approach rather than a long-term and bottom-up