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Viability and desirability of financing conservation in Africa through fire management

Nature Sustainability volume 8, pages 226–233 (2025)Cite this article

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Abstract

Adopting early dry season fires in African conservation areas has been proposed as ecologically desired and a means of generating sufficient carbon revenues for their management. We interrogate available peer-reviewed information on the ecology and biogeochemistry of fire in Africa to offer an informed perspective on the full implications of the proposal. We conclude that there is insufficient evidence that a shift to early dry season fires will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, that resultant biodiversity and ecosystem service outcomes may not be desired, and that adopting a single burning regime limits the use of fire to achieve a diverse range of goals.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge that N.S. receives funding from the Trapnell Fund (University of Oxford); S.A. from the OGRC Future Ecosystems for Africa Program; G.H. from UKRI Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council Grant (number BB/V004484/1), USAID/NAS Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research (Sub-Grant 2000004946, Cycle 3) and National Research Foundation South Africa (numbers 114974, 115998 and 118847); J.D. from USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Grant (number 2021-67015-33407); P.L. from the National Science Foundation (US) number 1313820; and G.J.H. from International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Ottawa, Canada. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of IDRC or its Board of Governors. We thank C. Parry for editing the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cirrus, Cape Town, South Africa

    Tony Knowles

  2. School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Nicola Stevens, Jason Donaldson, Gareth Hempson, Catherine L. Parr & Sally Archibald

  3. Environmental Change Institute, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Nicola Stevens

  4. Department of Environmental Science, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa

    Esther Ekua Amoako

  5. Department of Ecotourism and Environmental Management, University for Development Studies, Tamale, Ghana

    Esther Ekua Amoako

  6. College of Agriculture and Renewable Natural Resources, KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana

    Mohammed Armani

  7. Southern African Science Center for Climate Change and Adaptive Land Management (SASSCAL), Angola National Node, Luanda, Angola

    Chipilica Barbosa

  8. Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK

    Colin Beale

  9. Biological Sciences Department, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

    William Bond

  10. Makeni Savanna Research Project, Lusaka, Zambia

    Emmanuel Chidumayo

  11. Geoecology, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland

    Colin Courtney-Mustaphi

  12. Center for Water Infrastructure and Sustainable Energy (WISE) Futures, Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology, Arusha, Tanzania

    Colin Courtney-Mustaphi

  13. Department of Environmental Science, University of Botswana, Gaborone, Botswana

    Kebonye Dintwe

  14. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA

    Andy Dobson

  15. Odum School of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA

    Jason Donaldson

  16. Wildlife Conservation Society, Kigali, Rwanda

    Luthando Dziba

  17. Centre for African Conservation Ecology, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa

    Luthando Dziba

  18. School of Natural Resource Management, Nelson Mandela University, George, South Africa

    Navashni Govender

  19. Conservation Management, Kruger National Park, South African National Parks, Skukuza, South Africa

    Navashni Govender

  20. School of Biodiversity, One Health & Veterinary Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK

    Gareth Hempson

  21. African Climate and Development Initiative, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

    Glynis Joy Humphrey

  22. Department of Natural Resources, Karatina University, Karatina, Kenya

    Duncan Kimuyu

  23. Geography Department, California State University, Long Beach, CA, USA

    Paul Laris

  24. Department of Natural Sciences (UFR SN), Laboratory of Ecology and Sustainable Development (LEDD)/Laboratory of Botany and Valorisation of Plant Diversity (LaBVDiV), Nangui Abrogoua University, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire

    Aya Brigitte N’Dri

  25. School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK

    Catherine L. Parr & James Probert

  26. Department of Zoology & Entomology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

    Catherine L. Parr

  27. ZEBRIS Geo-IT GmbH, Munich, Germany

    Gernot Ruecker

  28. Scientific Services, South African National Parks, Skukuza, South Africa

    Izak Smit & Tercia Strydom

  29. Sustainability Research Unit, Nelson Mandela University, George, South Africa

    Izak Smit

  30. School of Natural Resources, Copperbelt University, Kitwe, Zambia

    Stephen Syampungani

  31. Forest Science Postgraduate Programme, Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

    Stephen Syampungani

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  1. Tony Knowles
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Contributions

T.K., N.S. and S.A. conceptualized the idea. T.K., N.S., E.E.A., M.A., C. Barbosa, C. Beale, W.B., E.C., C.C.-M., K.D., A.D., J.D., L.D., N.G., G.H., G.J.H., D.K., P.L., A.B.N., C.L.P., J.P., G.R., I.S., T.S., S.S. and S.A. contributed to the drafting and revision of the paper, and have approved the final draft thereof.

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Correspondence to Tony Knowles or Nicola Stevens.

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Knowles, T., Stevens, N., Amoako, E.E. et al. Viability and desirability of financing conservation in Africa through fire management. Nat Sustain 8, 226–233 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-024-01490-9

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