Environmental Research Letters (Jan 2020)
Wildfire management in Mediterranean-type regions: paradigm change needed
- Francisco Moreira,
- Davide Ascoli,
- Hugh Safford,
- Mark A Adams,
- José M Moreno,
- José M C Pereira,
- Filipe X Catry,
- Juan Armesto,
- William Bond,
- Mauro E González,
- Thomas Curt,
- Nikos Koutsias,
- Lachlan McCaw,
- Owen Price,
- Juli G Pausas,
- Eric Rigolot,
- Scott Stephens,
- Cagatay Tavsanoglu,
- V Ramon Vallejo,
- Brian W Van Wilgen,
- Gavriil Xanthopoulos,
- Paulo M Fernandes
Affiliations
- Francisco Moreira
- ORCiD
- CIBIO/InBIO, Universidade do Porto , Campus Agrário de Vairão, 4485-601 Vairão, Portugal; CIBIO/InBIO, School of Agriculture, University of Lisbon , Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017 Lisboa, Portugal
- Davide Ascoli
- DISAFA, University of Torino , Largo Paolo Braccini 2, I-10095 Grugliasco, Italy
- Hugh Safford
- 2931 Bellows Court, Davis, CA 95618, United States of America
- Mark A Adams
- Faculty of Science, Engineering & Technology, Swinburne University of Technology , Victoria, Australia
- José M Moreno
- Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Avda. Carlos III, s/n; E-45071 Toledo, Spain
- José M C Pereira
- Forest Research Centre, School of Agriculture, University of Lisbon , Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017 Lisboa, Portugal
- Filipe X Catry
- CEABN/InBIO—Centre for Applied Ecology/Research Network in Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, School of Agriculture, University of Lisbon , Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017 Lisboa, Portugal
- Juan Armesto
- Departamento Ecologia, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile , Chile
- William Bond
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Town , Private Bag, Rondebosch, 7701, South Africa
- Mauro E González
- ORCiD
- Universidad Austral de Chile , Facultad de Ciencias Forestales y Recursos Naturales, Instituto de Conservación, Biodiversidad y Territorio, Center for Climate and Resilience Research (CR)2, Valdivia, Chile
- Thomas Curt
- IRSTEA-RECOVER, 3275 route Cézanne, CS4006, F-13182 Aix-en-Provence cedex, France
- Nikos Koutsias
- Department of Environmental Engineering, University of Patras , G. Seferi 2, GR-30100 Agrinio, Greece
- Lachlan McCaw
- Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, Manjimup 6258 Western Australia, Australia
- Owen Price
- Centre for Environmental Risk Management of Bushfire, University of Wollongong , Wollongong, NSW 2505, Australia
- Juli G Pausas
- ORCiD
- CIDE-CSIC, Ctra. CV-315, Km 10.7, E-46113 Montcada, Valencia, Spain
- Eric Rigolot
- URFM, Ecology of Mediterranean Forests, INRA, F-84914, Avignon, France
- Scott Stephens
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California , Berkeley, CA 94720, United States of America
- Cagatay Tavsanoglu
- Division of Ecology, Department of Biology, Hacettepe University , Beytepe 06800 Ankara, Turkey
- V Ramon Vallejo
- CEAM. C. Darwin 14, 46980 Paterna, Dep. Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences. University Barcelona , E-08028 Barcelona, Spain
- Brian W Van Wilgen
- ORCiD
- Centre for Invasion Biology, Department of Botany and Zoology, Stellenbosch University , South Africa
- Gavriil Xanthopoulos
- Hellenic Agricultural Organization ‘Demeter’, Institute of Mediterranean & Forest Ecosystems, PO Box: 14180, Terma Alkmanos, Ilisia, 11528, Athens, Greece
- Paulo M Fernandes
- ORCiD
- CITAB—Centro de Investigação e Tecnologias Agroambientais e Biológicas, Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro , Quinta de Prados, Vila Real 5000-801, Portugal
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab541e
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 15,
no. 1
p. 011001
Abstract
During the last decades, climate and land use changes led to an increased prevalence of megafires in Mediterranean-type climate regions (MCRs). Here, we argue that current wildfire management policies in MCRs are destined to fail. Focused on fire suppression, these policies largely ignore ongoing climate warming and landscape-scale buildup of fuels. The result is a ‘firefighting trap’ that contributes to ongoing fuel accumulation precluding suppression under extreme fire weather, and resulting in more severe and larger fires. We believe that a ‘business as usual’ approach to wildfire in MCRs will not solve the fire problem, and recommend that policy and expenditures be rebalanced between suppression and mitigation of the negative impacts of fire. This requires a paradigm shift: policy effectiveness should not be primarily measured as a function of area burned (as it usually is), but rather as a function of avoided socio-ecological damage and loss.
Keywords
