Fire has been used to maintain vegetation, land reclamation, hunt, and agriculture from unmemorable times. Fire has always been a tool in rural areas. Many farmers in all parts of the world still use fire to control waste, recovering areas for cultivation and other activities. However, in the late twentieth century, due to the numerous and devastating fires, and media diffusion of catastrophic images and information, fire is viewed by the society as an enemy.. This negative view emerged as the consequence of the fear imposed by the media to the populations that their lives and goods are at risk. On the other hand, the rural exodus and lack of forest management, are the causes for the increase of fuel in the rural and wildland areas. This social behavior affected importantly the fuel accumulation in these areas. This great accumulation of fuels together with the increasing summer drought conditions as consequence of climate change are the responsible for the existence of high severity wildfires. This is what is called the paradox of forest fires. The ecological role of high severity fires is reduced.
Fire is used as a tool for management of rural and forest lands in many regions of the world. The application of fire as a management tool aimed to change the publicity caused by the media, and return the ecological role of fire to the ecosystems. Fire has an important role in the functioning of many ecosystems, and many species and habitats depend on the fire occurrence. However, high severity fires produce negative impacts in the ecosystems and society and are these that should be avoided. Gradually, prescribed fire for different management objectives have been introduced, extended. However, it is still in an early stage, and in some regions and countries is not well viewed and their use is still with a very negative image and even prohibited. One of the controversial aspects is the impact that these fires can cause to the environment. On the part of society still remains an issue.
The aim of this conference is to identify the opportunities and constraints of use fire as a land management tool, from an environmental, social and economic perspectives and share the most novel research and technical expertise carried out in different scenarios around the world.