One hundred and seventy-three people died in the Australian fires in February. Facing continued drought, the report about the inadequate fire response is due today. There is no doubt the fires were fueled by extreme drought of which the Australian people have yet to see any relief.
Australia's fire system 'flawed' (click title to entry - thank you)
By Nick Bryant BBC News, Sydney
An official investigation into Australia's wildfires earlier this year has called for sweeping changes to the warning system and evacuation policy.
The fires, which swept through a number of towns in Victoria state, killed 173 people. Many died trying to defend their homes from the flames.
The report urges a rethink of the stay-and-defend approach and identifies failings in the emergency response....
Evacuate children from fire zones (click here)
Darren GrayAugust 18, 2009
CHILDREN should not be involved or present during the defence of a property under attack from a bushfire, the Bushfires Royal Commission has recommended.
In recommendations concerning the controversial ''stay or go'' policy, the commission's interim report said that ''families with young children, older people, and disabled people'' should plan to relocate to safety early.
During the hearings the commissioners were clearly saddened by the number of children who were killed in the fires. Royal commissioner Bernard Teague told a hearing in June that more than 20 children had been killed. A further 17 children under 18 lost one or both of their parents in the blazes.
To help protect the safety of school children during future bushfires, the royal commission has urged the Department of Education to review all refuges in schools located in areas that are at risk of bushfires.
This was one of three important recommendations made in the interim report concerning schools, kindergartens, childcare centres, preschools and early learning centres....
Climate change fuels forest fires: Greenpeace (click here)
August 14, 2009
Greenpeace has warned of an imminent "global emergency" as climate change fuels forest fires that have already destroyed tens of thousands of hectares in southern Europe this year.
"Climate change is driving a new generation of fires with unknown social and economic consequences," said Miguel Soto, Greenpeace Spain forests campaigner.
Spain, Italy, France, Greece and Portugal have been among the countries worst hit by wildfires that swept across southern Europe in July amid sizzling temperatures and fierce winds.
Europe as a whole has lost some 200,000 hectares of forest to fires so far this summer, far more than the whole of 2008, when 158,621 hectares were destroyed, the EU said on Monday.
In Spain, fires have ravaged about 75,000 hectares of land this year, almost double the number for the whole of 2008, the Government in Madrid said.
"Forest fires are becoming more intense and out of control in Spain and across southern Europe, as well as in other semi-arid regions such as California and Australia," Soto told reporters on Thursday at the launch of their report on the issue....
Scientists: Australian Aboriginal Knowledge Could Curb Carbon Emissions (click here)
By Phil Mercer Sydney12 August 2009
...Since the European settlement of Australia the aboriginal fire management practices have faded.
But Scott Heckbert, an environmental economist at Australia's national science agency, the CSIRO, thinks that aboriginal knowledge can help reduce carbon pollution.
"Being able to go out in the early dry season when fires that are lit don't turn into massive infernos, they can create a mosaic of patchiness in the fuel that exists on the ground. In the late dry season, large wild fires that will inevitably start do not carry for thousands of kilometers across the landscape, as would happen in a completely unmanaged situation," he said.
Heckbert notes that wildfires account for about three percent of Australia's carbon emissions. Scientists have estimated that the widespread use of traditional fire management methods could cut the country's greenhouse gas emissions by up to five million tons.
Offsetting these reductions under a proposed carbon trading system could generate millions of dollars for indigenous communities, which are some of Australia's most disadvantaged.
Some aboriginal groups are considering renting out their woodlands and plains to store carbon as part of giant sequestration programs. Those plans aim to harness the ability of trees and soil to soak up carbon dioxide....
