title: Living on a flammable planet: interdisciplinary, cross-scalar and varied cultural lessons, prospects and challenges.
abstract: Living with fire is a challenge for human communities because they are influenced by socio-economic, political, ecological and climatic processes at various spatial and temporal scales. Over the course of 2 days, the authors discussed how communities could live with fire challenges at local, national and transnational scales. Exploiting our diverse, international and interdisciplinary expertise, we outline generalizable properties of fire-adaptive communities in varied settings where cultural knowledge of fire is rich and diverse. At the national scale, we discussed policy and management challenges for countries that have diminishing fire knowledge, but for whom global climate change will bring new fire problems. Finally, we assessed major fire challenges that transcend national political boundaries, including the health burden of smoke plumes and the climate consequences of wildfires. It is clear that to best address the broad range of fire problems, a holistic wildfire scholarship must develop common agreement in working terms and build across disciplines. We must also communicate our understanding of fire and its importance to the media, politicians and the general public.This article is part of the themed issue 'The interaction of fire and mankind'.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX 75275, USA croos@smu.edu.
authors.forename: Christopher I
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-8754-7655
authors.initials: CI
authors.lastname: Roos
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, UK.
authors.forename: Andrew C
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-1998-3508
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Scott
authors.affiliation: wildFIRE Lab, Hatherly Laboratories, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4PS, UK.
authors.forename: Claire M
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-3496-8290
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Belcher
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, UK.
authors.forename: William G
authors.initials: WG
authors.lastname: Chaloner
authors.affiliation: Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK.
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Aylen
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
authors.forename: Rebecca Bliege
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Bird
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA.
authors.forename: Michael R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Coughlan
authors.affiliation: Department of Landscape Architecture, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97401, USA.
authors.forename: Bart R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.affiliation: Menzies Institute for Medical Research, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania 7000, Australia.
authors.forename: Fay H
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Johnston
authors.affiliation: School of Environment, Education, and Development, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK.
authors.forename: Julia
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-1040-176X
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: McMorrow
authors.affiliation: School of Environment and Sustainability, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada S7N 5C8.
authors.forename: Toddi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Steelman
mesh_terms: D001290:Attitude; D057231:Climate Change; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D004782:Environmental Health; D005390:Fires; D006801:Humans; D011158:Population Growth
keywords: climate change; fire management; fire-adaptive communities; smoke and health; wildfire