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Author(s):
John C. Z. Woinarski, Phillipa C. McCormack, Jan McDonald, Sarah Legge, Stephen T. Garnett, Brendan A. Wintle, Libby Rumpff
Year Published:

Cataloging Information

Topic(s):
Fire Ecology
Fire Effects
Fire & Climate

NRFSN number: 25761
FRAMES RCS number: 68423
Record updated:

Biodiversity is in chronic decline, and extreme events - such as wildfires - can add further episodes of acute losses. Fires of increasing magnitude will often overwhelm response capacity, and decision-makers need to make choices about what to protect. Conventionally, such choices prioritise human life then infrastructure then biodiversity. Based on shortcomings revealed in the 2019-20 Australian wildfires, we propose a series of linked steps that can be used to identify and prioritise biodiversity assets (including their priority relative to other types of assets), enhance and implement their protection through planning and practice, and strengthen legislation to safeguard them.

Citation

Woinarski, John C. Z.; McCormack, Phillipa C.; McDonald, Jan; Legge, Sarah M.; Garnett, Stephen T.; Wintle, Brendan A.; Rumpff, Libby. 2023. Making choices: prioritising the protection of biodiversity in wildfires. International Journal of Wildland Fire 32(7):1031-1038. https://doi.org/10.1071/WF22229

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