Paleofire and vegetation changes across eastern Africa during the Holocene
05.09.2025 CEREGE, Aix, France
Abstract
In eastern Africa, humans have modified and interacted with fire regimes for hundreds of thousands of years with a cascade of effects on landscapes, nutrient cycles, biodiversity, plant compositions, and other forms of ecological disturbances (Archibald et al., 2011 PNAS). As additional paleofire records are developed in the region, we are beginning to understand some of the patterns and impacts people have had on their landscapes (Finch et al., 2017; Githumbi et al., 2018; 2021; Courtney Mustaphi et al., 2021a; 2023; 2025a; 2025b; Githumbi et al., 2025 in press). Each year, Africa has more vegetation fires than other regions. With an increasing population and competing land use pressures, there are emerging questions related to how to manage fire today’s regimes (Nyongesa et al., 2018; Laris, 2021; Tear et al., 2021; Knowles et al., 2025), from no top-down policies, to fire restrictions, and purposeful burning. Records of past fire may help us understand the range of variability that has led to certain environmental conditions and may act as analogues and comparators for dialogues on land management amongst stakeholders. This presentation will explore some of the Holocene records of paleofire and vegetation change in the region as well as the potential roles of humans in changing fire regimes. And will also discuss the potential role of these types of data in economic development, land management, and Global South–Global North relations (Courtney Mustaphi et al., 2014; 2019; 2021b). (Courtney Mustaphi et al., 2025c).
References
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