UDTR Global Rights of Nature Radar

Transforming fire governance in British Columbia, Canada: an emerging vision for coexisting with fire

Identification

Public canonical key

doi:10.1007/s10113-022-01895-2

Authors

Kelsey Copes‐Gerbitz · Shannon Hagerman · Lori D. Daniels

Reported year

2022

Reported language

en

Source type

article

First detected

2026-11-09T19:19:39.957582+00:00

Last metadata observation

2026-11-09T19:19:39.957582+00:00

Last HTTP verification

Not checked

Institutions reported by the source

University of British Columbia

Documentary abstract — original language

The dominant command and control fire governance paradigm is proven ineffective at coping with modern wildfire challenges. In response, jurisdictions globally are calling for transformative change that will facilitate coexisting with future fires. Enacting transformative change requires attention to historical governance attributes that may enable or constrain transformation, including diverse actors, objectives, worldviews of fire, decision-making processes and power, legislation, and drivers of change. To identify potential pathways for transformative change, we systematically examined the history of fire governance attributes in British Columbia (BC), Canada (until 2020), a region that has experienced seven catastrophic fire seasons in the twenty-first century. By reviewing 157 provincial historical documents and interviewing 19 fire experts, we delineated five distinct governance eras that demonstrated the central role of government actors with decision-making power shaping fire governance through time, superseding First Nations fire governance starting in the 1870s. The emerging vision for transformation proposed by interviewees focuses on the need for increased decision-making power for community actors, yet legacies of entrenched government power and organizational silos between fire and forestry continue to constrain transformation. Although progress to overcome constraints has been made, we argue that enabling transformative change in fire governance in BC will require intervention by the provincial government to leverage modern drivers of change, including recent catastrophic fire seasons and reconciliation with First Nations.

Identifiers

OPENALEX

W4220724418

DOI

10.1007/s10113-022-01895-2

Documentary context

Documentary family

Scholarship

Source-reported types

article

Jurisdictions studied — explicit sources

CA

Entity mentions are not evidence of legal recognition. Jurisdiction studied is separate from author affiliation country.

Sources

OpenAlex · Record 1 · Record 2

• DOI · https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-022-01895-2
• OpenAlex · https://openalex.org/W4220724418

Documented bibliographic relations

Source-declared references and links; they do not establish legal support or UGLC qualification. Up to 20 outgoing references are displayed.

• openalex:w1499664441 · CITES
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• openalex:w1955806497 · CITES
• openalex:w1969601839 · CITES
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• openalex:w1976622661 · CITES
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• openalex:w2006246395 · CITES
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• openalex:w2040266815 · CITES
• openalex:w2049815876 · CITES
• openalex:w2055608078 · CITES
• openalex:w2059464776 · CITES
• openalex:w2060032024 · CITES

3 incoming references within the detected corpus

Documentary status

Relevance pending

Library

This identity is not yet included in the Legal Library.