Namibia lies in the west of Southern Africa, bordering Botswana and South Africa to the east and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and covers an area of approximately 824,000 km2. A gradient in average annual rainfall, from more than 750 mm in the extreme northeast to less than 100 mm in the west largely explains a predominance of woodland and savanna vegetation in the eastern and central regions and a transition to deserts in the west. rnLarge areas burn each year with a distribution relating to the rainfall gradient (and hence fuel loading) so that fires are most widespread and frequent in the north, and especially in the northeast. There is a perception that excessive, indiscriminate burning is having highly negative effects on some ecosystems, whilst in other areas, fire frequencies are more in equilibrium with requirements for long-term stability of existing vegetation communities (Goldammer 1999). The Namibia Forestry Strategic Plan consequently recognises the need for different regions in Namibia to be able to adopt different fire management policies as necessary. Also see: http://www.fire.uni-freiburg.de/iffn/country/na/na_3.htm.