David Bowman, Professor of Pyrogeography at the University of Tasmania, explains the shocking reality behind the Amazon rainforest fires. This piece originally aired on ABC’s On Drive on 27 August 2019. Brazil’s hard-right government has this afternoon declared it will knock back an aid package from G7 countries with money and resources to help extinguish […]
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DAVID BOWMAN: More funds are needed, for example to pay for a smartphone warning app A CRITICAL warning was buried in a report on last summer’s Tasmanian bushfires. The report released this month focused on the 2019 fires that burnt nearly 3 per cent of the state’s land area, concentrated in the Tasmanian Wilderness World […]
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DAVID BOWMAN: After 1967 and Dunalley, it’s hard to explain the ignorance of the potential for catastrophic bushfire in Hobart HOBART is framed by kunanyi/Mt Wellington, which provides a superb backdrop to our city. It is an ancient presence, framing our daily lives, even sometimes affecting our moods. But there is another, fierce dimension to […]
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Mapping fire impacts in Tasmanian giant Eucalyptus forests using state-of-the-art remote sensing techniques The Fire Centre is looking for a PhD student to study the impacts of the 2019 Tasmanian Bushfires on Tasmania’s iconic Tall Wet Eucalypt Forests. The Research Project Tasmania is world-renowned for tall Eucalyptus forests. In early 2019, vast areas of forest […]
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Understand the bushfire risk profile of the City of Hobart using a transdisciplinary biophysical and social geographic approach The Fire Centre is looking for a PhD student to engage in a multi-disciplinary project identifying vulnerable populations in the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) around the Tasmanian capital of Hobart. The research will employ both sociological and biogeographic […]
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Fire Centre Director Prof. David Bowman and Dr. Cathelijne Stoof from Wageningen University in the Nederlands have written a communication for the prestigious journal Nature discussing the importance of diversity, both in terms of background and in terms of perspective, in the wildland fire sector. One of the core goals of the Fire Centre is to promote the […]
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ABC Hobart’s Leon Compton speaks with Prof. David Bowman, Director of the Fire Centre, and Sandra Wight, Director of Community Fire Safety at the Tasmania Fire Service about living in a bushfire-prone landscape in the context. Southeastern Tasmania appears to be particularly vulnerable to climate change and developing new solutions to landscape management and incorporating new […]
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The open-access journal Fire has announced a special issue focusing on bushfire in Tasmania. Prof. Crystal Holden, Prof. David Bowman and Dr. Rebecca Harris, all members of or contributors to the Fire Centre, are guest editors. The Special Issue focuses on bushfire in Tasmania, its sociopolitical, economic and ecological impacts, its management by the state agencies […]
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At the Fire Centre, we strive to empower local communities to develop solutions and to understand the cultural context of these solutions. In the USA, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and local tribes are leading the way in this regard. The BIA has been the only federal agency in the USA to substantially increase […]
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Predicting fire refugia to help protect Tasmania’s palaeoendemic plants The Fire Centre is looking for a PhD candidate on predicting fire refugia to help protect Tasmania’s palaeoendemic plants. This would be an exciting project for someone with an interest in field work, conservation management of vegetation and who has good numeric skills. Contact greg.jordan@utas.edu.au. Applicants […]
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