Professor Jimmy J Li’s Insights on Modernising Wildfire Management in China
Professor Jimmy Junran Li, Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at HKU, published a letter titled “Modernizing wildfire management in China” in the journal Science, offering his insights on improving wildfire management strategies in China.
For over 70 years, China has successfully managed forest and grassland fires primarily through total fire suppression. However, this approach may become less effective due to climate change and rural depopulation. In his letter, Professor Li provides a succinct review of the existing wildfire management strategy and suggests that modern fire management approaches, including prescribed burns, fuel mitigation, forest thinning, and development and maintenance of fire-resistant fences and no-fuel corridors, should be adopted to address the challenges posed by wildfires in China and promote more sustainable fire management practices.
Link to the paper: here