Navigating the dual nature of wildfire in the Anthropocene: a framework for assessing impacts on nature’s contributions to people and pathways to adaptive management

Abstract

Wildfires historically shaped and sustained global biomes, but climate change, strict fire exclusion policies, and rapid expansion into the wildland–urban interface have fueled an era of unprecedented, high-severity “megafires.” This review synthesizes current literature on the dual nature of wildland fires, categorizing their impacts on material, non-material, and regulating Nature’s Contributions to People (NCP) using the IPBES framework. Grounded in case studies from regions experiencing acute megafires including California, Australia, Canada, Chile, Siberia, Maui, and Los Angeles, we present a conceptual framework illustrating fire's transition from an ecological regulator to a driver of severe NCP degradation. High-severity fires frequently cross ecological thresholds, causing acute detriments like massive timber loss, water quality degradation, disrupted soil microbiomes, and eroded recreational landscapes. Conversely, low-to-moderate severity fires, particularly Indigenous cultural burning practices, remain vital for sustaining these ecosystem contributions. We identify critical research gaps regarding multi-decadal post-fire recovery and sector-specific economic valuations, which are essential for improving decision support. Furthermore, we argue that risk-based NCP accounting must be paired with innovative conservation finance models to fund proactive, landscape-scale fire management. This synthesis underscores the urgent need to shift global land management from absolute fire suppression toward adaptive resilience and co-management, utilizing the NCP framework to evaluate complex trade-offs, target fuel treatments, quantify costs, and drive necessary policy reforms in increasingly fire-prone landscapes.