It is interesting that the JNCC recently tweeted about its Eastern Mournes Wildfire Project in Northern Ireland (see here) in the context of COP26 and the role of nature-based solutions in the fight against climate change.
Firstly, because the project uses prescribed burning to reduce wildfire risk. The need for such moorland vegetation management is a point we have made many times, and with increasing urgency as less grazing and more wild land in the uplands increases fire fuel loads.
Secondly, the project illustrates the important and dangerous work of the Fire & Rescue Services (FRS) in having to control wildfires that could have been prevented in the first place by prescribed burning. It’s striking that the local FRS for the Eastern Mournes Project area recommended using land management, including prescribed burns, to reduce risk in key areas.
Finally, this project lays bare that our conservation agencies have a problem – their assessments of habitat quality still penalise this effective and necessary management.
Favourable Condition assessments of habitats on designated sites are undertaken by country agencies such as Natural England and NatureScot for JNCC as part of our statutory duties, and these are now being used as a benchmark for natural capital policy initiatives. Managing vegetation fuel load is increasingly widely recognised as reducing wildfire risk, supporting wildlife conservation and net-zero objectives. Yet the Common Standards Monitoring assessment for Upland Habitats often still views prescribed burning as damaging.
These monitoring guidelines are out of date and yet still affect how we see the quality of our upland habitats and their management. The guidance must be updated so they recognise prescribed fire as a critical supporter of valuable public goods and services.
For more information see our Working Conservationists case study on the Eastern Mournes Wildfire Project – Fighting Fire with Fire.