dos Santos, José Adilson

Falleiro, Rodrigo de Moraes

Santana, Marcelo Trindade

Xerente, Pedro Paulo

English

Portal de Revistas do ICMBio (Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade)

Evaluation of traditional fire 11 
Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade 
 
Biodiversidade Brasileira, 10(1): 11, 2020 
 
 
Evaluation of traditional fire management  
in the Brazilian Cerrado 
 
 
Rodrigo de Moraes Falleiro*1, Marcelo Trindade Santana*2, Pedro Paulo Xerente*3 e  
José Adilson dos Santos*4 
 
*Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama), Brasília, Brazil 
＊Contact email: 1 rodrigomfalleiro@gmail.com; 2 mclsantana@hotmail.com;  
3 pedropauloxerente@gmail.com; 4 adilsonbdb@hotmail.com 
 
 
 
 
 
ABSTRACT – Fire is a natural component of ecosystems and has been widely used by 
indigenous peoples in the management of tropical savannas. However, in recent decades, 
public policies aimed at the exclusion of fire have suppressed the use of burns and the 
related traditional knowledge has begun to be lost. Recently, traditional management has 
been valued again, being restored and applied as a strategy for protection against forest 
fires and management of natural resources by indigenous brigades hired by Ibama / 
Prevfogo. In the Brazilian Cerrado, this traditional knowledge recommends a 
concentrated fire regime between March and May, with some regional variations. Among 
the main management objectives was the increase in the amount of edible fruits and 
animals. The present work aims to evaluate if these objectives were achieved, after 03 
years of implementation of this traditional regime in 16 Indigenous Lands. The evaluated 
fruits were Hancornia speciosa (mangaba), Byrsonima sp. (muricis), Anacardium 
occidentale (cajuí), Mouriri pusa (puçá), Caryocar brasiliense (pequi) and Pouteria 
ramiflora (veadeira). The animals evaluated were from the families Cervidae (deers), 
Canidae (wolves and foxes), Tinamidae (partridges) and Dasypodidae (armadillos); as 
well as the anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla), emu (Rhea americana), tapir (Tapirus 
terrestres) and seriema (Cariama cristata) species. The effects on the flora were evaluated 
by the proportion of reproductive individuals and the fruit yield per plant. The fauna 
effects were assessed by the frequency of traces. The traditionally managed areas 
(prescribed burns) were compared with areas hit by wildfires and areas subject to fire 
exclusion. In the managed areas, all plants showed better reproductive rates than the other 
treatments, except H. speciosa, which presented better results with the exclusion of fire. 
In relation to the animals, half of them preferred the managed areas and the other half 
preferred the areas excluded from fire. No animals or plants presented better results in 
areas affected by wildfires. The results show that traditional management was efficient to 
increase fruit and game production for the studied indigenous communities, validating 
the traditional use of fire for these purposes. 
 
Keywords: integrated fire management, prescribed burning, traditional knowledge, 
indigenous communities, natural resources, food security. 
 


Evaluation of traditional fire management  in the Brazilian Cerrado

https://www.icmbio.gov.br/revistaeletronica/index.php/BioBR/article/download/1597/1110

Evaluation of traditional fire management in the Brazilian Cerrado

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