Economics and Future Scenarios Final Report

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BushfireTopic: 
Human Resources
Risk Management
Project Reference: 
TitleEconomics and Future Scenarios Final Report
Publication TypeReport
Year of Publication2014
AuthorsCary, GJ, Clayton, H, A. Gill, M, Dovers, S, Collett, E, Mulvaney, J
Date Published24/04/2014
ISBN Number978-0-9925027-1-3
AbstractThe Bushfire CRC’s Future Scenarios & Economics project has provided new insights into future bushfire regimes and economic evaluation of bushfires in Australia. Our research indicates that fire activity is likely to increase in mesic (moister) environments, but decrease in arid environments. However, complex interactions between future climate and concentration of atmospheric CO2, which both affect fuel load dynamics, may result in relatively little change in intensity of future fires in some locations. Economic evaluation is a potentially useful tool in exploring management adaptation to these changes, but it is currently under-utilised within Australian land and fire management agencies. Our research has identified a number of key actions that are needed to increase the use of economic evaluation methods, including: (i) increasing the economic expertise amongst bushfire management and policy professionals, and (ii) designing economic evaluation that connects to the broader social and political context of bushfire management decision-making.