Transforming fire suppression into an intercultural and participative fire management policy in Canaima National Park, Venezuela. A learning together and Indigenous, academic and institutional knowledge integration process

A transformative shift in fire management policies within Canaima National Park, Venezuela, has been achieved through the integration of Indigenous Pemón knowledge with academic and institutional expertise. The study reveals that Indigenous practices, such as controlled burning for shifting cultivation and savanna-forest border management, are sophisticated strategies to mitigate catastrophic wildfires exacerbated by climate change. Over nearly 20 years, collaborative fire experiments involving Indigenous communities, firefighters, and scientists demonstrated that fire exclusion policies, while intended to protect ecosystems, paradoxically increase fuel accumulation, leading to larger, more destructive fires under current hotter and drier conditions. This research highlights the potential of intercultural collaboration in developing sustainable fire management strategies that balance ecological preservation with Indigenous livelihoods.

Bilbao, B. A., Millán, A., Leal, A., Méndez, C., Vessuri, H., Mistry, J., Berardi, A., Constati, V., Chani, H., Lambos, F., Pérez, F., Lanz, I., Mariño, M., Matany, M., León, E., Picón, G., Deza, M. E., Rodríguez, H., Gómez, E., et al. (2019). Transforming fire suppression into an intercultural and participative fire management policy in Canaima National Park, Venezuela. A learning together and Indigenous, academic and institutional knowledge integration process. Biodiversidade Brasileira, 9(1), 316. https://doi.org/10.37002/biodiversidadebrasileira.v9i1.1345