BRIDGE – a participatory-action research project for community engagement in forest fire risk prevention

Abstract

This presentation introduces the BRIDGE research project, its core objectives and the main activities that are being developed in view of stimulating local action for forest widfires risk reduction. BRIDGE is a participatory action research project (PCIF/AGT/0072/2019) about the development of strategies for forest fire risk reduction, mainly through preventive action, that build upon scientific and local knowledge and engage local community action. BRIDGE means linking science and local communities to reduce the vulnerability to forest fires risk. It was initiated in March 2021, with the Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa coordinating a consortium that includes the Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil and the Universidade of Algarve. BRIDGE adopted the Monchique municipality (southern Portugal, Algarve region) as a case study, but aims to develop knowledge, tools and experiences that can be shared with other forest fire risk prone regions in Portugal and elsewhere. An Innovation Laboratory (InnoLab) is central in BRIDGE as a privileged space aiming to promote dialogue and knowledge sharing between local communities, science and organizations involved in forest wildfire risk reduction, in this case in the Monchique municipality. The main objective of the InnoLab is to bring together all relevant multiple actors that act, directly or indirectly, in the management of forest territories to promote social learning about forest wildfire risk, strengthening networks and building skills and capacities, both socially and institutionally, to foster participatory processes focused on forest wildfire risk reduction. In Monchique, among the actors involved are community leaders (formal and informal), representatives of local entities (local government, associations and cooperatives), and the organizations that are part of the Integrated Management System for Rural Fires (SGIFR) and that have the competencies to act in plans, programs, and policies focused on the management of forest fires, as established in the National Plan for Integrated Management of Rural Fires (PNGIFR - RCM 45-A/2020). The Participatory Map has been adopted as a participatory methodology in the InnoLab, involving communities, local organizations and other key actors in the process of identification, analysis and management of forest territories to enhance wildfire risk reduction in Monchique. Participatory cartography allows a visual expression of the realities perceived by communities and local actors through characteristics of the territories 'filtered' by local experiences and perceptions. The visualization and interpretation of risk areas and local vulnerabilities then leads to the identification of strategies for forest wildfire risk reduction that integrate both bottom-up and top-down perspectives. The presentation will share achieved outcomes from collective debates that aim to broaden fair and balanced dialogues as well as the identification of self-organization of activities that can lead to better local resilience.