Contribuições ao Manejo Integrado do Fogo em áreas úmidas: Aspectos ecológicos, etnoecológicos, evolução do conhecimento científico e políticas de manejo.

Abstract

Integrated Fire Management (IFM) represents a fundamental shift in how societies and ecosystems coexist with fire, replacing rigid exclusionary policies with adaptive, integrated, and participatory approaches. In the international context, consolidated experiences from African savannas, Australian landscapes, and Mediterranean regions demonstrate that total fire suppression promotes biomass accumulation, intensifies megafires, and undermines essential ecological processes. In contrast, the strategic use of fire—through prescribed burning, structured prevention, continuous monitoring, and community engagement—has significantly reduced fire severity and enhanced ecosystem resilience. In the Pantanal, this movement gained momentum particularly after the catastrophic fires of 2019–2020, which exposed vulnerabilities in environmental governance, such as the lack of institutional integration, insufficient firefighting resources, and the absence of robust preventive policies. The Pantanal, the largest continuous tropical wetland on the planet, is an environment shaped by the interaction between fire and flooding—two ecological filters that structure its biodiversity and support traditional activities, including extensive cattle ranching based on native pastures. The main objectives of this thesis are to contribute to the implementation of integrated fire management in wetlands. Our results show that different fire-season timings generate distinct ecological responses: early- or late-season burns of lower intensity favor diversity and maintain ecological functionality, whereas more intense fires reduce species richness and homogenize plant communities, particularly in more flood-prone areas. These findings align with our analysis of traditional Pantanal knowledge, in which fire is used as a tool for pasture renewal and vegetation control. Practices such as queima de bola, which uses surrounding water as a natural firebreak, reveal a high degree of technical refinement and safety, reinforcing the value of local knowledge. The response to megafires also catalyzed institutional and technological advances. The National Policy for Integrated Fire Management (PNMIF), approved in 2024, officially recognized the ecological, cultural, and economic role of fire, regulated prescribed burning, and promoted integration among traditional communities, environmental agencies, local firefighting brigades, and scientific institutions. At the same time, technological advancements have expanded monitoring capacity and rapid response, strengthening the infrastructure required for adaptive management. Scientific production on fire in the Pantanal has also expanded since 2020, with increased interinstitutional collaboration, greater interdisciplinarity, and the incorporation of social, cultural, and economic dimensions into analyses. This has helped fill gaps related to the integrated understanding of fire, flooding, grazing, and human practices. Thus, the Pantanal emerges as a socioecological innovation frontier, where science and tradition complement each other in strengthening resilience to climate change, particularly under conditions of prolonged drought, more frequent heatwaves, and greater vegetation flammability. In this context, Integrated Fire Management becomes more than a preventive technique—it becomes a comprehensive strategy for living with fire, reconciling biodiversity conservation, socioenvironmental safety, and cultural heritage. The Pantanal stands as an example of IFM implementation, demonstrating that ecological and social resilience depends on a diversity of practices, dialogue among knowledge systems, and collective governance.