Source: Conservation news
Australia's megafires are a product of 150 years of fire exclusion policy that reversed 1,000 years of Indigenous burning practices that kept fuel loads manageable and landscapes resilient. The research demolishes the "pristine wilderness" narrative and repositions Australia's current fire crisis as a consequence of settler colonialism's ecological management, not climate alone. Fire management becomes a political and historical question, with real implications for land governance and Indigenous land rights in fire-prone regions.