ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the case of savanna fire burning in the country of Mali, West Africa and explores how and why landscape mosaics are manipulated and managed through the use of fire. It outlines the mosaic patterns produced by anthropogenic burning regimes and their biogeographical implications and shows that the social, cultural and political factors that underlie the burning regimes in southern Mali. The specific nature of fire suppression policies in Mali and the rigour with which policies are enforced have shifted through time. Prior to 1982, the Mali fire code reflected the view of the French colonial foresters who considered savanna fires a major cause of woodland degradation. Savanna patches have a wide variety of cover types including annual or perennial grasses, shrubs, savanna trees, riparian forest and a variety of forms related to agriculture and fallow systems. The linkages between these three factors, disturbance, soil conditions and landscape pattern are little studied in savanna environments.
