Integrated Fire Management incorporates the ecological, socio-economic and technical aspects of fire in a holistic fashion to address the social and conservation problems and issues that result from the burning of vegetation, and meet the goal of sustainable ecosystems and human livelihoods in fire-prone environments.

The goals of this paper are to (1) succinctly define the role of fire in ecosystems, (2) discuss how too much, too little, or the wrong kind of fire can be a threat to biodiversity, (3) define the concept of fire regime and the role of fire regimes in maintaining ecosystems, (4) illustrate the need of many rural communities to use fire and how some of the current approaches to fire prevention are out of step with those needs, (5) define Integrated Fire Management, and (6) present a process for integrated and collaborative approaches to dealing with fire issues.