Australia's indigenous people have a solution for the country's bushfires. And it's been around for 50,000 years

What has been news is the fires in Australia, which has undoubtedly been burning for months, consuming almost 18 million acres of land, causing the evacuation of thousands and potentially killing millions of animals. In fact, they show minimal signs of deceleration. The Australian state of New South Wales, where Sydney and Canberra are located, declared a state of emergency this week, as worsening weather conditions could lead to an even greater fire hazard.

Even so, it is necessary to indicate that there could be a 50,000-year-old solution: aboriginal burning practices. Certainly, as previously mentioned, the indigenous peoples of Australia have a solution for the country’s wildfires.

How it works

The aborigines had a deep knowledge of the land, said historian Bill Gammage, professor emeritus of the National University of Australia who studies the history of Australia and the aborigines. They can feel the grass and know if it would burn well; They knew what types of fires to burn for what types of land, how long to burn and how often.

Likewise, aboriginal techniques are based in part on fire prevention: removing fuel from the earth, such as debris, scrub, brush and certain herbs. The fuel ignites easily, allowing more intense flames that are harder to fight. In this way, the aborigines would cause small-scale fires that were not too intense and would clear the land of additional debris. Fires of less intensity would also lessen the impact on insects and animals that occupy the land, in addition to protecting trees and canopy.

And although current ground firefighters still use some fuel control and risk reduction techniques, Gammage said it is not enough. It’s not like they didn’t know anything, Gammage said, especially the firemen on the ground. But he said that it is not enough to make Australia safe.

Setting smaller, low-intensity fires to avoid larger forest fires may sound common sense. In practice, however, it is really difficult. It all comes down to knowledge, Gammage said.

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Source: Leah Asmelash | CNN