Climate change, large fires, and cultural landscapes in the mediterranean basin: An analysis in southern Spain

Moreno, Miguel Sánchez; Bertolin, Chiara; Arlanzon, Daniel; Ortiz, Pilar; Ortiz, Rocío

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e16941

Cited by 11 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…Both the increased intensity and likelihood of extreme events, whether occurring in isolation or concurrently, are globally lengthening the wildfire risk season (Jain et al, 2022). This has been observed regionally (Moreno et al, 2023) and seems to also be the case in the Valencian region. The data shows that, since 1968, three out of the five largest wildfires in the low-risk wildfire season (November -March) have happened in the last 20 years (specifically, two of them in 2023, Figure 7).…”

Section: Mediterranean Wildfires Under the Current Context: A Multifa...mentioning

confidence: 86%

“…Also, the perceptions around fire shifted from considering it a valuable tool to seeing it as 'destructive', informed mainly by forestry productivity aims (González-Hidalgo et al, 2014). Then, from the mid-twentieth century onwards, both industrialisation and modernisation drove the disappearance of many economies that relied on fire as a tool and replaced them with economies reliant on fossil fuels (Huffman, 2013;Moreno et al, 2023;Seijo & Gray, 2012). Consequently, anthropogenic wildfire regimes shifted significantly, intensifying and increasing their spatial and temporal extent (Montiel, 2013b;Seijo & Gray, 2012).…”

Section: Anthropogenic Fire In the Spanish Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These imbalances are further reinforced by extractivist activities (such as natural resources exploitation, large-scale energy production, or livestock industries), whereby impacts deriving from urban lifestyles are inequitably distributed towards rural territories, thus enhancing socio-environmental conflicts (del Romero, 2019). Simultaneously, the severe processes of depopulation, entailing both a loss of inhabitants and territorial infrastructures, have led to the disappearance of activities and knowledges linked to managing the territory, as well as reducing social articulation, thus decreasing the resilience of rural socio-ecosystems towards disasters like wildfires (Moreno et al, 2023;Vázquez-Varela et al, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Kindling Change: Shaping a New Fire Culture in Mediterranean socioenvironmental systems from the roots

2024

hgeo

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In line with global trends, the Valencian Region (Spain) is experiencing increasingly extreme wildfires, exacerbated by entangled socioenvironmental factors like climate change, the human-nature dichotomy, and wildfires managed basically through technocratic approaches. Rural grassroots movements are emerging amid worsening wildfires, advocating for local agency to build socioenvironmental resilience in wildfireprone territories. Inspired by these movements, we propose a transformative paradigm -a New Fire Culture -to elicit critical reflections on current wildfire management and build socioenvironmental just futures. By drawing on our experiences around the 2022 Vall d'Ebo and 2023 Villanueva de Viver wildfire events and resulting from an interdisciplinary deliberation process, we present a comprehensive analysis of the present wildfire context and suggest guiding principles for a New Fire Culture. Acknowledging its context-specificity, we call for transdisciplinary processes among local actors, academics, and practitioners to collectively explore and build a New Fire Culture within their socioenvironmental systems.

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Section: Mediterranean Wildfires Under the Current Context: A Multifa...mentioning

confidence: 86%

Section: Anthropogenic Fire In the Spanish Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Kindling Change: Shaping a New Fire Culture in Mediterranean socioenvironmental systems from the roots

2024

hgeo

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“…Previous studies at subregional scales, such as [5,41,47,89,90], and for the entire study region, such as [54,[91][92][93][94][95], have analyzed fire statistics using various techniques. This allows us to make partial comparisons with our results.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of Trends in the Distance of Wildfires from Built-Up Areas in Spain and California (USA): 2007–2015

Marey-Perez,

López-Álvarez,

Franco-Vázquez

2024

Forests

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Wildfires present a significant risk to societies globally due to population growth, concentrated activities, climate change, and extreme environmental conditions. To establish effective fire suppression and management policies, it is crucial to determine whether the distance between ignition points and urban areas is increasing or decreasing. This study analyzes 101,597 fires in Spain and California between 2007 and 2015, where ignition points and all built-up areas were precisely geolocated in 2014. The study employs the Mann–Kendall test to determine trends and analyze the relative distance of wildfires to human buildings over time. The results indicate that wildfires are becoming statistically significantly closer in several areas. It is also observed that the majority of wildfires are moving away from buildings, although this is not a significant finding. These results suggest the possibility of further research into the reasons behind these observations and possible future developments and their consequences.

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“…Despite the good climatic adaptation of this species, the reforestation of Aleppo pine has been controversial [4]. The high temperatures and low humidity typical of the semi-arid climate, together with the presence of sometimes dense fuel stands, make this species highly vulnerable to fire [5]. A further handicap is that post-fire regeneration of this species is often hyper-dense at a young age, which usually leads to competition between trees for light and soil resources [3,6,7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Short-Term Effects of Heavy Thinning on Selected Soil Carbon Pools and Microbial Activity in a Young Aleppo Pine Forest

Lull,

Gil-Ortiz,

Bautista

et al. 2024

Forests

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Pinus halepensis Miller is a widespread tree species in the western Mediterranean basin, where very dense monospecific stands can be found, especially in natural regeneration after forest fires. Silvicultural thinning can reduce the competition of trees for natural resources and favour their development, although its effect depends on the habitat. The present study aims to know the effects on the soil at the physicochemical and microbiological levels after a heavy thinning in a young pine forest stand with a high stocking density. The stand is on a slope where the soil depth tends to decrease with altitude, and shows changes in its physicochemical properties between the upper and lower zones. Several soil carbon fractions (i.e., soil organic carbon (SOC), water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC), and microbial biomass carbon (MBC)), microbial activity (basal soil respiration (BSR)) and enzyme activities (acid phosphatase (AP) and urease (UA)) were analysed at specific dates over a period of about five years after a heavy thinning. The changes in organic matter content were abrupt in the slope, conditioning the observed differences. It is highlighted that the SOC and WSOC contents in the mineral soil were 2.5- and 3.5-fold significantly higher, respectively, in the upper shallow zone compared to the lower deeper zone. This was also reflected in significantly higher levels of gravimetric water content (GWC) and MBC (both about 1.4-fold higher), with higher levels of BSR and UA, and 2.5-fold significantly higher levels of AP. As a result, most of the properties studied showed no significant differences between the thinning treatment and the untreated control. Results varying between dates, with a strong dependence on climate (soil temperature and humidity) of WSOC and UA. It can be concluded that the heavy thinning applied in this short-term case study favoured the growth conditions of the pine without negatively affecting the soil properties studied.

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Climate change, large fires, and cultural landscapes in the mediterranean basin: An analysis in southern Spain

Cited by 11 publications

References 46 publications

Kindling Change: Shaping a New Fire Culture in Mediterranean socioenvironmental systems from the roots

Kindling Change: Shaping a New Fire Culture in Mediterranean socioenvironmental systems from the roots

Analysis of Trends in the Distance of Wildfires from Built-Up Areas in Spain and California (USA): 2007–2015

The Short-Term Effects of Heavy Thinning on Selected Soil Carbon Pools and Microbial Activity in a Young Aleppo Pine Forest

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