Smart-Solutions for Wildfire Risk Prevention: Bottom-Up Initiatives Meet Top-Down Policies Under EU Green Deal

Ascoli, Davide; Oggioni, Silvio; Barbati, Anna; Tomao, Antonio; Colonico, Mario; Corona, Piermaria; Giannino, Francesco; Moreno, Mauro; Xanthopoulos, Gavriil; Kaoukis, Konstantinos; Athanasiou, Miltiadis; Colaço, Conceição; Rego, Francisco; Sequeira, Ana Catarina; Acácio, Vanda; Serra, Marta; Plana, Eduard

doi:10.2139/ssrn.4071721

Cited by 4 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…This can be explained by the large size of most proposed interventions (which makes them more effective in re containment), their location within large areas of massive fuel build-up that will be fragmented, and the marked reduction in fuel load pursued. The sequential action of different stakeholders has proven extremely effective when the placement of initial public interventions is jointly planned with LLMs that will make a continuous and pro table use of them (Ascoli et al 2022). A paramount example is that of La Rioja region of northern Spain, in which mechanical fuel removal followed by livestock grazing is associated with an 81% reduction in mean re size (Lasanta et al 2022).…”

Section: Governance and Burned Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Fire-Smart Territories: a proof of concept based on Mosaico approach

Pulido

Corbacho

Bertomeu

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Context Here we develop a practical framework (Mosaico) and report a real-world example of early implementation of a Fire-Smart Territory (FST) in Sierra de Gata-Las Hurdes region of central Spain. Objectives We aimed to assess the impact of landscape changes induced by local land managers (indirect prevention) on simulated fire spread under different governance scenarios developed in 2016-2021. Methods Following a participatory process in the region, we received 250 proposals for intervention (49.6% from agriculturalists, 22.8% from forest producers -mainly resin tappers-, and 27.6% from shepherds). From the 94 (37.6%) proposals implemented by the end of the study, we quantified changes in fuel models over the whole territory (Scenario 1, S1). Then, we simulated fires in 20 ignition points to estimate area burned in S1 and three other governance scenarios. Results To date, the sole intervention of LLMs results in a low to moderate impact (current mean: 10.5; median: 1.8), which can be explained by the high frequency of small-scale interventions (agriculture) and the modest impact on fuel reduction of large-scale interventions (livestock grazing). A combination of LLM and public actions is needed to reach a more substantial reduction of burned area (S2-S3, mean % impact:14.1-18.9; median: 6.9-10.8). Relaxing legal/administrative constraints to allow large private intervention would result in the greatest attainable impact on burned area (S4, mean: 25.0; median: 17.8). Adaptive management of Mosaico approach must be focussed on improving LLM capacity to modify larger portions of the territory and prioritizing critical areas such as fire propagation nodes.

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Section: Governance and Burned Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Unfortunately, the lack of similar experiences on bottom-up, multi-sectoral preventive management hampers global comparisons. A recent review in Euromediterranean countries (Ascoli et al 2022) showed that most of them are based on fuel treatments through mechanical tools, grazing or prescribed burning at local scale.…”

Section: Llm Enrolment and Successmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fire-Smart Territories: a proof of concept based on Mosaico approach

Pulido

Corbacho

Bertomeu

et al. 2023

Preprint

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“…In terms of the support provided by the DCAFRA program, none of the farmers indicated that grazing was well paid and nine said it was clearly insufficient (Figure 7e), while seven considered the subsidy to be slightly fair or adequate. There was, therefore, clear dissatisfaction expressed with the economic compensation, even if, in terms of bureaucracy, most farmers (11) agreed with the criteria used to determine eligibility for the subsidy (Q3.2 in Table 4) and for nine the effort made in terms of paperwork appeared not to be relevant (Q3.3 in Table 4). The most critical point was the technical support provided by the DCAFRA services, which was deemed bad (35%) or regular (24%) (Figure 7f).…”

Section: Section 3-forest Fire-prevention Grazing Subsidymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Bottom-up initiatives, such as FF, require a certain level of self-sufficiency and avoidance of exclusive dependency on public subsidies to carry out essential tasks. This means addressing organizational issues first: governance, renewing the commitment and role of all stakeholders, and incorporating strong new actors to provide tools and resources; these are common challenges facing bottom-up initiatives across southern Europe [11]. On the other hand, pastoralism is increasingly being considered a nature-based solution that, as an environmental service, merits reimbursement [17,41,42].…”

Section: Strategic Action Lines For the Future Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several initiatives are being implemented in Europe, many of them in Mediterranean countries. Despite these initiatives having different economic activities and approaches, all serve the common objectives of wildfire risk reduction [11]. For centuries, extensive livestock farming was an important tool for managing the landscape and reducing the potential for fires getting larger.…”

Section: Introduction 1background and Aims Of Investigationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Fire Flocks: Participating Farmers’ Perceptions after Five Years of Development

Nuss-Girona

Soy

Canaleta

et al. 2022

Land

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Nowadays, extensive livestock farming faces substantial threats in the Mediterranean region, provoking a setback dynamic in the sector. In 2016, the Fire Flocks (FF) project was conceived and implemented as a regional strategy to revert this situation and revalue the sector in Catalonia, in the NE of the Iberian Peninsula. FF promotes forest management through extensive livestock farming, and more specifically silvopastoralism, to reduce vegetation load and wildfire risk. The initiative also works on fire risk awareness with the aim of promoting extensive livestock products through FF label and valorization strategies. Five years after its initial implementation, the project managers detected several weaknesses and potential improvements directly affecting the economic and environmental performance of the participating farms. It was therefore considered necessary to conduct targeted qualitative interviews with the farmers participating in the project in order to gather their opinions on the project’s functioning and further steps. To this end, 17 farmers were interviewed with the aid of a qualitative questionnaire. The farmers stated that although FF is not providing them with any direct financial benefits, it does present an opportunity to belong to a group of farmers working on wildfire prevention, thereby lending them a voice as a group, and reaching more social visibility. The qualitative analyses elucidate key elements to be promoted in FF, such as redesign of the operational structure, expansion to a regional scale and action lines to facilitate grazing activity.

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Governance drivers hinder and support a paradigm shift in wildfire risk management in Italy

Kirschner,

Ascoli,

Moore

et al. 2024

Reg Environ Change

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Fire is a fundamental social-ecological process, but a combination of changing climate, land use and values at risk is increasing the incidence of large wildfires with high societal and biodiversity impacts. Academic and practitioner understanding is now converging around the need to manage fire risk as an outcome of intersecting governance regimes, comprising geohistorically defined institutions and decision-making pathways shaped by earlier wildfires. We investigate this proposition through a case study of Italy, a country greatly affected by wildfire and characterised by strong organisational, socio-cultural and geographical variation nationally. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study collecting and analysing qualitative data on how different national and sub-national governance procedures interrelate to promote particular risk management strategies, and support or impede adaptive change. Participants in key agencies were consulted across seven nationally representative regions. Findings show a highly fragmented institutional structure, where wildfire policy responsibilities are increasingly allocated to disparate organisations at a variety of scales. Local stakeholder participation has been displaced by this shift to extra-local actors and networks. While institutions are formally committed to adopting a precautionary approach to wildfire risk, in practice, emergency response remains the default choice, as a result of patchy and uncoordinated legislation. Notably, the wider national and international (EU) regulatory context plays a muted role in governing wildfires. We present our results as a novel action research agenda for Italy and southern Europe more generally, emphasising the urgent need to develop new anticipatory systems of wildfire incidence through closer integration of cross-scale governance arrangements.

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Smart-Solutions for Wildfire Risk Prevention: Bottom-Up Initiatives Meet Top-Down Policies Under EU Green Deal

Cited by 4 publications

References 21 publications

Fire-Smart Territories: a proof of concept based on Mosaico approach

Fire-Smart Territories: a proof of concept based on Mosaico approach

Fire Flocks: Participating Farmers’ Perceptions after Five Years of Development

Governance drivers hinder and support a paradigm shift in wildfire risk management in Italy

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