Burning Table Mountain
Subtitle: an environmental history of fire on the Cape Peninsula
By: Simon Pooley
Publisher: UCT Press
Published: 2015
Place of publication: Claremont
Language: eng
Number of pages: 316
ISBN-13: 9781775820017
Subjects: Wildfires; History; Environmental conditions; Social conditions; Social aspects; Human ecology
Description: "In Burning Table Mountain the author tackles the environmental and social challenges of fire management on the wildland-urban interface of South Africa\2019s Cape Peninsula, where a UNESCO World Heritage Site for Nature protects the unique fynbos vegetation and incorporates the iconic Table Mountain, and abuts the suburbs, townships and informal settlements of South Africa\2019s parliamentary capital. He combines narrative, the history of ecological science in the region and the role of fire in fynbos ecology, to provide the first integrated history of wildfire and its management on the Cape Peninsula. He reflects on the need to use a holistic approach to understanding the range and conjunctions of causes that conspire to cause large fires and increase fire incidence over time. This book will demonstrate the contribution environmental history can make, through combining scientific and social approaches, to understanding past environments and managing the environment today. It is a seminal contribution to a neglected area of South African history, but also offers an important contribution to global histories of fire"--
Notes: Includes bibliography (pages 276-290) and indexes.
Table of contents: title: PART I. FIRE AT THE CAPE FROM PREHISTORY TO 1900; title: 1. Fire at the Cape : From Prehistory to 1795; title: 2. Fire at the Cape : British Colonial Rule, 1795-1900; title: PART II. FYNBOS AND FIRE RESEARCH MANAGEMENT, C. 1900-1993; title: Science, Management, and Fire in Fynbos, 1900-45; title: 4. Science, Management, and Fire in Fynbos : 1945-99; title: PART III. FIRE ON THE CAPE PENINSULA, 1900-2000; title: 5. Fire Geography and Urbanisation on the Cape Peninsula; title: 6. Conserving Table Mountain; title: 7. Afforestation, Plant Invasions and Fire; title: 8. Socio-Economic Causes of Fires : Population, Utilisation and Recreation; title: 9. Fire on the Cape Peninsula : 1900-2000; title: Appendix 1: Cape Peninsula vegetation; title: Appendix 2: Fire Causes.