As contribuições do Manejo Integrado do Fogo para o controle dos incêndios florestais nas Terras Indígenas do Brasil

Abstract

There has been several recent technical, political and structural changes within wildfire prevention and control in Brazil. Among them, the adoption of the Integrate Fire Management (IFM) approach and the creation of fire brigades composed by indigenous people to work in Indigenous Reserves (IR) present an almost perfect synergy. Combining social, cultural and ecological aspects to well established techniques for wildfire prevention and fighting, implementing IFM in IR allowed for the recognition of traditional ecological knowledge and fire management practices. The indigenous firefighters (brigades) program provided training, income and technical expertise to implement environmental protection actions and support to community activities. Among the positive results of this program, we can cite the preservation of indigenous cultures, income generation, food security, conservation of biodiversity and the reduction of smoke and greenhouse gases emissions. It is important to notice that the beginning of wildfire prevention and fighting in Indigenous Reserves in Cerrado suffered from the same mistakes that characterized several Brazilian programs regarding wildfires. Especially due to its focus on technical activities imposed by environmental agencies based on a ‘zero fire’ policy, which did not consider nor
understood local communities relationships with the environment they live in or with fire. Slowing, with
changes in environmental agencies staff perception, goals of such programs were changed and local
ecological knowledge started to be considered and acknowledged to plan and execute fire management
actions. In this paper, we synthesize briefly the recent work of the indigenous fire brigades in IR in Cerrado
(the Brazilian savanna). With this, we aim to help improve and expand fire management practices in the
Cerrado, within and outside IR. In the present climate and cultural changing scenarios that affect indigenous
communities in Brazil, the non-expected junction between traditional knowledge on fire management and
biodiversity conservation shows that the solution for part of the current environmental problems may lie
upon relatively simple and low cost initiatives