Key findings:
- Over 90% of bushfires in the Gambia are aggravated by human activities such as fuelwood and charcoal production, forest and farm clearing activities, pests and disease control, smoking, and increased fuel loads that accelerate fire spread
- Bushfires affect half of the Gambia forests, which are estimated at 423,000 hectares (about 47% of total land area), with 70% of them facing one or more forms of degradation
- In The Gambia, precipitation patterns are critical predictors of bushfire occurrence. Bushfires are highest during the dry and hot seasons and lowest during the rainy/wet seasons
- There is a wide human and institutional capacity gap in bushfire management in the Gambia, including an inadequate number of well-trained personnel, inadequate equipment and resources to suppress bushfires, inadequate communications and coordination on wildfire management, and lack of incentives towards preventing, suppressing and recovering after bushfires.