Probabilistic Wildfire Risk Assessment and Modernization Transitions: The Case of Greece

Troumbis, Andreas Y.; Gagani, Cleo; Sideropoulos, Haralambos

doi:10.3390/fire6040158

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 85 publications

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“…According to Hood et al [43], fire typically increases soil organic matter by killing plants, which reduces the amount of organic matter that is available for decomposition. The removal of plant cover decreases the quantity of organic matter and the activity of microorganisms in the soil because the components that build up and degrade organic matter are removed from the system [71]. This has an impact on the soil's stability and infiltration properties as well [14,26].…”

Section: Fire and Soil Nutrients And Fertilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Other Side of Fire in a Changing Environment: Evidence from a Mediterranean Country

Kalfas,

Kalogiannidis,

Chatzitheodoridis

et al. 2024

Fire

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In forested ecosystems all over the world, usually, fire is the main disturbance, and due to global climate change, its effects are worsening in many areas. Although fire impacts have been studied for many years, integrative analyses of their effects on various ecosystem services (ES) at different scales are uncommon. This study tries to assess the ecological role of fire in a changing environment, focusing on a Mediterranean country. Data were collected by the use of an online questionnaire in Greece, where the summer fires in the last decades have had significant impacts on the environment and the economy and, in many cases, there were many human and animal victims from them. The sample size of the survey was 384 workers in the primary production sector from all over the country. The study showed that fire has several effects on animal husbandry, the quality of soil nutrients and fertility, the overall vegetation cover, and on general biodiversity. It seems that the degree to which fire has an effect on ecosystem components depends on the intensity, frequency, and length of the fires. Additionally, the frequency, intensity, and length of fire affect the impacts of fire on herbaceous plant, woody vegetation, soil physical qualities, and on the different animals’ habitats.

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Section: Fire and Soil Nutrients And Fertilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Other Side of Fire in a Changing Environment: Evidence from a Mediterranean Country

Kalfas,

Kalogiannidis,

Chatzitheodoridis

et al. 2024

Fire

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“…Notice here that our goal is not technical. In other words, to precisely calculate the value of the scaling factor γ of the classic frequencysize distribution, approximating the power law curve between the lower limit (smaller size) of burned area min and the upper limit, s max (which is de facto truncated) [72][73][74][75][76][77]. Our goal is to propose categories of reed-bed-burning sizes and potential, but not definitive, explanations of the underlying mechanisms in each category.…”

Section: General Description Of the Reed-bed-fire Phenomenonmentioning

confidence: 99%

Leveraging Reed Bed Burnings as Indicators of Wetland Conversion in Modern Greece

Gaganis,

Troumbis,

Kontos

2024

Land

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This study explores the historical occurrence of wetland ecosystems in Greece by using recurring Phragmites australis (common reed) burnings as an indicator. Phragmites australis, a plant closely associated with wetlands, provides excellent insights into wetland distribution. We establish a substantial association between reed fires and historical wetland existence in Greece using geographical and statistical analysis, with these fires exhibiting remarkable constancy across time. Using Corine land-cover (CLC) data, we extend our analysis into land-use dynamics, demonstrating that places with the highest reed-bed-fire rates were originally wetlands, particularly those converted into permanent irrigated land and areas with complex agriculture patterns. We find spatial commonalities between reed fires and past wetland existence by analyzing fire occurrence across three main categories: reed fires, agricultural land fires, and grassland fires. Historical records of wetland conversion into agricultural land (or land reclamation works) in locations such as Yianitsa and Kopaida give context to our findings. Visualizations confirm the clustering of reed fires around these converted agricultural regions. In summary, our study offers a unique indicator based on Phragmites australis burnings that can be used to identify previous wetland-type ecosystems, with Mediterranean-wide implications. Despite data constraints, this study adds to the conversation about wetland preservation and sustainable land-use management.

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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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Probabilistic Wildfire Risk Assessment and Modernization Transitions: The Case of Greece

Cited by 5 publications

References 85 publications

The Other Side of Fire in a Changing Environment: Evidence from a Mediterranean Country

The Other Side of Fire in a Changing Environment: Evidence from a Mediterranean Country

Leveraging Reed Bed Burnings as Indicators of Wetland Conversion in Modern Greece

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

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