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Forest Fires in Mexico:
Causes and Strategies 1
Luis Antonio Bojorquez-Tapia 2
Forests and woodlands in Mexico
cover 38.9 million ha, approximately
20% of the territory (SARH 1988).
They are diverse communities from
the taxonomic and ecological viewpoints (Rzedowski 1978). However,
despite the abundance of natural resources, forestry has been relegated
to a secondary role in the Mexican
economy by a complex combination
of cultural, economic, and social factors. As an aftermath, deforestation
is rampant; about 5.3 million ha have
been lost since 1978 (SARH 1980,
1988). Misuse of fire as a management tool has been an important element contributing to forest devastation. Therefore, it can be asserted
that one of the effects of those factors
is the high incidence of man made
forest fires in Mexico.
The objective of this paper is to
summarize the causes of wildfires
and the strategies proposed and implemented to prevent and combat
forest fires in Mexico.
It is estimated that approximately
90% of all wildfires are associated to
human activities (SARH 1985). Although the main causes of wildfires
are regional (table 1), wildfires are
induced by one or a combination of
several of the following socioeconomic and cultural reasons (Rzedowski 1978):
'Poster paper presented at the conference, Effects of Rre in Management of
Southwestern Natural Resources (Tucson,
Al, November 14-17, 1988).
2
Centro de Ecologfa, UNAM, Apartado
Posta17D-275, MeJdco, D.F. 04570, MeJdco
1. Inadequate management
schemes makes forestry unprofitable for poor rural inhabitants. This motivates rural inhabitants to look for
relatively better-paying occupations. But, scarcity of alternative employment force
them to agriculture or cattle
raising with meager yields.
Fire is used for clearing the
land and forage improvement. Ordinarily, fires are
lighted every year in most
inhabited forest lands, which
can generate acute ecologic
changes when combined
with overgrazing (BenitezBadillo 1988). However, forest residents are compelled
to move to untouched forested areas because improper
agriculture, overgrazing, and
wildfires produce soil erosion and general environmental degradation in short
time.
2. Nomadic agriculture is traditional in the tropical regions.
It consists of clearing, burning, planting, and growing
crops in an area for several
years. For the Mayans, nomadic agriculture was a multiple-use method that allowed tropical forests to recover after a period of crop
production (Toledo et al.
1976). Unfortunately, this agricultural method is obsolete
193
since land recovery is not
permitted nowadays, partly
because of the excess of rural
population in relation to the
available land.
3. Unchecked agricultural crop
fires that burn free into adjacent forests.
4. Land ownership and use are
anarchical in some regions;
when conflicts arise, arsonists burn for revenge or spite.
In relation to the design of
management programs, this
factor also complicates planning and implementing forestry programs.
5. Public involvement in fire
prevention and combat is insignificant because the role of
forests in providing goods
and services, besides timber
and firewood, has not been
recognized by the general
population. Consequently
visitors' negligence provokes
wildfires in areas where
camping, hunting, fishing,
and picnicking are popular.
6. Increasing demands for natural resources, living places,
or recreational areas by
growing rural and urban
populations.
7. Limited resources are available to activities for wildfire
presuppression and combat.
The only governmental office
assigned to these activities is
the Secretariat of Agriculture
and Hydraulic Resources,
which is poorly coordinated
with other governmental offices.
Strategy
Considering that human activities
are the main cause of wildfires, a
new· strategy has been implemented
for presuppression and combat since
1984. This strategy consist of the following programs:
1. Governmental agencies coordination.-To optimize available resources, it has been
necessary to coordinate with
different governmental offices to locate, prevent, and
combat wildfires. Formal
agreements have been established between SARH and
local and federal authorities;
outstanding accords have
been subscribed with the
Civil Aeronautic Bureau, to
help in locating fires, and the
Secretariat of Defense, for
logistical and material support, and personnel.
2. Civic co-partnership.-The
objective of this program is
to increase public understanding and cooperation.
Establishment of close contacts between SARH and local civic associations are encouraged. The latter include,
for example, ecologists, boy
, and girl scouts, amateur radio clubs, and agricultural,
forestry and ranching societies. A series of meetings are
implemented to educate the
public about the effects of
wildfires, increase public interest with local information,
develop proper public attitude and opinion concerning
wildfires, and demonstrate
correct procedures for preventing and dealing with
fire.
3. Private enterprises co-partnership.-This program
looks for the collaboration of
forestry private enterprises
in fire prevention and suppression; specially by providing funds, personnel, and
supplies.
4. Training and technological
development.-The National
Center of Training and Technological Development was
founded to achieve proper
training of firemen and improvement of fire fighting
tools and equipment.
194
5. Advertising.-The objectives
of this program are similar,
though more general, to
those of the program for
civic co-partnership. Mass
media campaigns, including
radio, television, newspapers
and other publications, has
been implemented to reach
the general public. Each of
these media devotes a quota
of its time or space to community service free of
charge.
These programs are coordinated
through an Operating System, which
was devised to integrate prevention
and combat policies. The operating
system is divided into presuppression and combat. Presuppression
combines the six programs with
other prevention procedures such as
fire management, installation of lookout towers, establishment of firebreaks, and introduction of appropriate natural resources exploitation
methods. Combat consists of a follow
through procedure for detection,
planning attack (based upon reports
and meteorological data), control
and suppression tactics, and assessment of damages.
Results
Both the total annual number of
wildfires and the total annual area
affected per year have increased
since 1961 (figs. la-b). At least partially, these results can be explained
by the implementation of better fire
detection procedures (Martfnez
1988). Although the number of fires
and area affected are correlated to
each other, the average area affected
per fire has decreased from 1983 to
1987 (fig. lc), which is significant because during the period 1986-87 the
number of fires and the area affected
recorded were the greatest (figs. lab). This indicates that the Operating
System has worked satisfactorily, at
least in wildfire combat. Notwith-
.
I
..;
t-:
standing, general population's quality of life has to improve before the
goals of wildfire presuppression programs are achieved.
a
I
7-
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1
4-i
Limitations and Future
J
I
1
~~
2
Although the results are promising so far, serious limitations exist
for fulfilling the goals of the Operating System. First, the economic crisis
in Mexico has limited the funds
available for fire presuppression and
combat. Second, meterological data
are not sufficient for fire combat
planning. Finally, compilation of reports is time consuming and inaccurate.
Consequently, those three areas
have to be resolved in the future. Better meterological data is needed for
fire fighting and limiting access to
forests during severe dry periods. A
computerized data base will be indispensable for prediction and assessment of damages.
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Acknowledgments
--------,
J
Ing. Roberto Martinez from SARH
and Sonia Gallina supplied photographs for the presented poster.
Literature Cited
1
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Figure 1.-Wlldflres in Mexico: (a) total number of wildfires per year; (b) total affected area
per year; (c) average area affected per fire per year.
195
Benftez-Badillo,G. 1988. Efectos del
Fuego en la Vegetaci6n Herbacea
de un Bosque de Pinus hartewegii
Lidl. de la Sierra del Ajusco; pages
111-152, In: E.H. Rapoport and I.R.
Lopez-Moreno (eds.), Aportes ala
Ecologia Urbana de la Ciudad de
Mexico. Limusa, Mexico D.F.
Martinez, R. 1988. Personal communication.
Rzedowski, J. 1978. Vegetaci6n de
Mexico. Limusa, Mexico D.F.
432 p.
SARH. 1980. Vademecum Forestal
Mexicano. Subsecretaria Forestal y
de la Fauna, Mexico, D.F.
SARH. 1985. Estrategias para Ia Pre-
venci6n y el Combate de Incendios
Forestales 1985-1988. Subsecretaria
Forestal, Mexico D.F.
SARH. 1988. Informacion de Amilisis
y Estudio, Las Selvas Industria
Forestal Tropicales de Mexico. Industria Forestal27:2-3.
Toledo, V.M., A. Argueta, P. Rojas.
1976. Uso Multiple del Ecosistema,
Estrategias de Ecodesarrollo.
Ciencia y Desarrollo 11:33-39.
196