Fires, science and society

Brian van Wilgen (Organismal Biology) is chief ecologist with the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. He has three decades of experience as an applied ecologist in southern Africa, in research and the application of ecological understanding in environmental management and policy development. His main interests revolve around the use of research to generate practical solutions to problems of ecosystem conservation, management and sustainable use. His research has been focused on three main fields – the ecology and management of invasive alien plants; the ecology of vegetation fires and the use of fire in ecosystem management; and the conservation of biological diversity. From 1996 to 2004 he acted as scientific advisor to the Working for Water programme.