Our world is confronted with natural disasters ranging from those of the biblical period to the latest ones. We are barraged by breaking news dealing with deadly floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, and droughts.

These problems are further exacerbated by unwise resource management systems and inadequate preparedness in Ethiopia. Unfortunately, it is after the disasters took their toll that we put our meagre resources to deal with them. It seems we are only able  to treat one disaster at a time, while overlooking other equally fatal disasters elsewhere.

The floods awash over the country last year are a relevant illustration. They affected over 200,000 people of all regional states with the exception of Benshangul and Harari, killing 639 people, and while properties worth millions of Birr were destroyed. Such incidents have shocked the nation and compelled government and non-governmental institutions to take precautionary measures ahead of the probable floods in 2007. The Disaster Preparedness and Prevention Agency set up a Flood Task Force of Early Warning Working Group to raise public awareness, especially in flood prone areas of the country.

While preparation for flood hazards is a credible measure, losing sight of the other face of a natural disaster, such as wildfire, is a big mistake. The appalling fact is that both flood and wildfire hazards have become very frequent and cataclysmic in connection to the global climate change. Ironically, the nasty wildfires - which are capable of turning lives, properties and ecosystems into ashes in a matter of days or weeks - are sidelined.

Yet, wildfires are very hard to control. They are challenging even in the highly industrialized countries. Look at the recent wildfire that ravaged Southern California. The fire blazed over 1,800sqkm area fuelled by the gusty and dry air. Over half a million people were evacuated and more than 2,200 houses turned to ashes. This wildfire was controlled only after highly skilled fire fighters, several numbers of fire-fighting aircrafts, and manned and unmanned high-tech aircrafts were deployed. New thermal-imaging sensors, developed by NASA engineers, that can accurately map a wildfire's behaviour, were used to pinpoint hot spots and to quickly deploy resources in fighting the wildfire.

In Ethiopia, just before the short rainy season starts, very large areas of lowland woodland and grasslands are affected by fires. In 2000, for instance, the merciless fire has engulfed large areas in western and southeastern Ethiopia, inflicting tremendous impacts on the biophysical and human environment. The wildfire is believed to have been started by farmers, which particularly affected the Afro-Montane forests of Bale Mountains National Park. The park was home to several of the world's more rare mammal species, including the Simien Fox, Mountain Nyala and Menelik's Bushbuck.

This wildfire destroyed over 100,000hct of forest, scrub, and coffee plantations. The deployment of over 70,000 people and the support obtained from GTZ and the Global Fire Monitoring Centre armed with helicopters, funding and logistical support, were not adequate enough to knock the fire out. If it was not for the two-day rain that showered the area, it would have been even more costly and damaging before the wildfire that flared up in 71 different directions at 35 different places was finally arrested.

Can Ethiopia afford any further vegetation loss to wildfire?

Certainly not. Less than three per cent of the country is covered with forest. Loss of natural vegetation would pose numerous ramifications, which include extinction of endemic species, erosion of top soils, enhancement of surface runoff, destruction of wildlife habitat, disruption of ecological balance, sedimentation of lakes, dams, and riverbeds. Wildfire would significantly discourage the little resource conservation practices available in the country, which ultimately leads to the vicious cycle of land resource degradation.

And yet, fire is essential for forest regeneration; it provides tangible benefits for local communities. Fires become a problem when they burn in the wrong places, or in the right places but at the wrong frequency or above the required temperature.

The alternative way to fight wildfire, even for countries highly armed with the state-of-art technologies, is to take measures to reduce risks. Prevention is much easier and costs less.

The problem in Ethiopia is that deliberate firing as part of land management is widely practiced for purposes of controlling tree diseases, cleaning weeds and weed seeds, and inducing sprouting of fresh vegetation for cattle grazing. As air temperature has been rising from time to time, the potency of those frequent wildfires would get even higher. Accordingly, controlling those mega wildfires would get more challenging than ever before. In the absence of support from wildfires dedicated airborne or satellite-based remote sensors, attempts to control wildfires would be inefficient. It is only two of the 58 national forest priority areas in Ethiopia fully organized for fire protection.

Prevention is thus very critical because we do not have the modern tools to detect hotspots and directions of wildfires. We do not have the required financial resource and trained personnel in fire fighting. Therefore, the most cost effective option we have at our disposal is to minimize the occurrence of wildfires. This could be made possible through raising awareness of the rural population to undertake controlled and prescribed fire system.

The mandate given to Forestry Research Centre (FRC) should be tuned from the growing occurrence of wildfires. Its responsibilities should be broadened to help farmers and pastoralists avoid starting forest fires. It should be the task of centre to undertake extended research to generate alternative measures to wipe out tree diseases, weeds, and weed seeds without the use of fires. In the absence of such alternative options, the danger that farmers would continue to practice forest fire is inevitable.

In addition to the wildfire protection efforts, reforestation programmes needs to be aggressively promoted. I am glad to see the Ethiopian millennium celebration accomplishing the planting of millions of seedlings, although the success rate is yet to be seen and the practice seems to have concentrated in urban and semi-urban environment. Nonetheless, it is really a good move.

It represents to me a pleasant reminder that outliving such disasters invokes utmost ingenuity and farsightedness. Indeed, dealing with wildfire through "business as usual" mood would take us nowhere.