All the evidence – colonial accounts and records, First Peoples’ testimony and scientific data – points to the existence of widespread tall, dense forests 250 years ago.
Indigenous fire management shaped Australian tropical savannas over millennia, until the arrival of Europeans pushed the landscape back into a dangerous, unmanaged state.
The El Niño is a reminder that bushfires are part of Australian life. But whether or not this fire season is a bad one, Australia must find a better way to manage bushfires.
Satellite imagery shows how burnt areas in central Arnhem Land are lines carefully ‘painted’ across the landscape.
Sentinel Hub EO Browser
Two decades of satellite data have allowed us to map fires across the country and identify areas facing high fire risks. Fire activity has increased in several major regions over the past decade.
Australia’s largest parrot has just been listed as an endangered species. Here’s why they’re in trouble – but it’s not too late to save them.
Wildfires are the inevitable consequence of three factors coming together at the same time: an ignition, the weather and fuel.
Brenton Geach/Gallo Images via Getty Images
The fynbos vegetation that historically clothed the slopes of Table Mountain is highly inflammable. This has been worsened by the spread of alien trees that burn more intensely than the fynbos.
Rangers from Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa, conducting cool season burning on Martu Country.
Tony Jupp,The Nature Conservancy
Many of the recommendations of previous inquiries and reviews have yet to be implemented. What we need is a better fire and land management strategy – not another royal commission.
An estimated 85% of bushfires are lit by humans.
DAN HIMBRECHTS/AAP
The convergence of technologies such as 5G, artificial intelligence and virtual reality may offer hope for the way we manage future bushfire disasters.
Part of Mandy Martin’s painting Cool Burn (2016): in her painting workshops at Djinkarr, Indigenous rangers brought the threats to their land to life on canvas.
Feral cats and pigs, mission grass and climate change - in western Arnhem Land, Indigenous rangers are battling many environmental threats. Through painting and performance, they are also telling ‘healthy country’ stories.
Fire rages through the forest in a typical Australian bushfire.
Flickr/HighExposure
Tim Curran, Lincoln University, New Zealand; George Perry, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau, and Sarah Wyse, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
You might think having trees around your home is the worst idea during a bushfire, but some plants can actually help repel fire.
Matthew Flinders Professor of Global Ecology and Models Theme Leader for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Flinders University