Chile’s 2016-2017 fire season marked the worst in the country’s history, with over 500,000 hectares of wildfires devastating cities, towns, rural areas, national parks, and reserves. The social, economic, and health impacts were profound, underscoring the urgent need to understand the causes and consequences of wildfires and to implement innovative prevention strategies.
In response, researchers from Columbia University (CU) and Chile’s Pontificia Universidad Católica (UC), with support from Columbia’s Presidential Global Innovation Fund and the Columbia Global Center Santiago, convened in Santiago and southern Chile in October 2017 to launch a collaborative research initiative. The project aims to address three key objectives: (a) examining the climatic and anthropogenic causes of wildfires, (b) assessing their ecological and socioeconomic consequences, and (c) exploring the application of The Rainforest Standard Protected Area Credits™ (RFS|PAC) system, a science-based financial mechanism, to incentivize wildfire prevention.
A week of seminars, fieldwork, and meetings brought together researchers and key stakeholders, including Chile’s National Forest Corporation (CONAF), the National Emergency Office (ONEMI), and representatives from the forestry sector. Outcomes included identifying research sites (Malleco National Park and Tolhuaca National Reserve), finalizing a detailed research plan, and establishing partnerships for a project set to begin in March 2018.
The three-year initiative will deploy a multidisciplinary team of scientists and students from CU, UC, and other universities in the United States, Chile, and Canada. The team comprises leading experts in wildfire assessment and modeling, forest and biodiversity conservation, below- and above-ground ecology, socio-economic and cultural analysis, and climate change adaptation and environmental policy.
The project is co-led by CU Professor Don Melnick, from the Center for Environment, Economy, and Society (CEES) and the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology (E3B), and UC Professor Cristián Bonacic, Chair of the Department of Ecosystems and the Environment.
