Aboriginal cultural heritage vulnerability to bushfires and prescribed burning

Bushfire is an ever-present force in the Australian Bush. However, the majority of Aboriginal Cultural Heritage (ACH) remains unrecorded, and the impact of bushfires on that heritage is not well understood or predicted. As a bushfire moves through the landscape and encounters various types of ACH the vulnerability of that heritage will depend on the fire behaviour; the location of the heritage material (such as if it is on the surface or subsurface); the nature of the heritage object and its vulnerability to radiant of convective heat, embers, soot, smoke or other outputs of a fire burning through fuel. Understanding the predicted vulnerability of ACH is difficult as in any actual fire these variables and their impact on the heritage are difficult to accurately predict. The ACH Vulnerability to Bushfire Product is a first step towards better predicting the vulnerability of both known and unknown ACH to Bushfire.\r\nThe ACH Vulnerability to Bushfire product is an initial attempt to map the vulnerability of Aboriginal Culture and Heritage to bushfire across NSW. It is based on the modelled potential distribution of ACH across the landscape in NSW as mapped in the Aboriginal Sites Decision Support Tool (ASDST)1. The product, and its method of derivation, has a range of applications to assess the vulnerability of various Natural Hazards or management actions to Aboriginal heritage.\r\nThe effectiveness of the vulnerability product is based on developing a landscape scale understanding of the distribution of recorded Aboriginal Sites in NSW and applying a basic approach to produce a landscape-wide risk map that can be used to assess the vulnerability of ACH. The use of predictive methods is necessary to address the gap in knowledge about Aboriginal heritage in its totality across landscape – the majority of Aboriginal heritage has not been recorded due to gaps in where survey and assessment for Aboriginal heritage have been undertaken. Thus, the vulnerability product assists spatial assessment of the risk to all potential Aboriginal heritage in a landscape – in addition to the recorded Aboriginal heritage listed in the Aboriginal heritage information management system (AHIMS)2

丛林野火在澳大利亚丛林中始终是一种常态化的灾害性力量。然而，绝大多数原住民文化遗产（Aboriginal Cultural Heritage，ACH）仍未被记录在册，且丛林野火对该类遗产的影响尚未得到充分认知与预测。当丛林野火蔓延过整片区域并接触到各类原住民文化遗产时，该遗产的脆弱性将取决于火灾行为、遗产载体的位置（例如是否位于地表或地下）、遗产对象的属性，以及其对辐射热、对流热、余烬、烟尘、烟雾或其他燃烧燃料产生的火灾产物的脆弱性。由于在实际火灾场景中，这些变量及其对遗产的影响难以精准预测，因此要预判原住民文化遗产的脆弱性颇具难度。
原住民文化遗产丛林野火脆弱性评估产品（ACH Vulnerability to Bushfire Product）是迈向更好地预测已知与未知原住民文化遗产丛林野火脆弱性的第一步。
该评估产品是首次尝试对新南威尔士州（New South Wales，NSW）范围内原住民文化与遗产遭受丛林野火的脆弱性进行空间制图。其数据基础为原住民遗址决策支持工具（Aboriginal Sites Decision Support Tool，ASDST）¹所绘制的新南威尔士州全域原住民文化遗产潜在分布模型。该产品及其衍生方法可用于多种场景，以评估各类自然灾害或管理措施对原住民文化遗产的脆弱性。
本脆弱性评估产品的有效性，基于对新南威尔士州已记录原住民遗址分布的全域尺度认知，并通过基础方法生成可用于评估原住民文化遗产脆弱性的全域风险制图。为填补全域范围内原住民文化遗产的认知空白——由于原住民文化遗产调查与评估工作存在覆盖缺口，绝大多数原住民文化遗产尚未被记录在册，使用预测方法实属必要。因此，除原住民遗产信息管理系统（Aboriginal Heritage Information Management System，AHIMS）²中已登记的已记录原住民文化遗产外，本脆弱性评估产品还可辅助对全域范围内所有潜在原住民文化遗产的风险进行空间评估。