Spatial distribution of ignitions in Mediterranean periurban and rural areas: the case of Catalonia

Perpinyà, Anna Badia i; Pallarès-Barberà, Montserrat

doi:10.1071/wf04008

Cited by 69 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…This is in concordance with other studies reporting that the proportion of burned areas increases with the distance from roads as a consequence of the lower accessibility by fire fighters (Cardille et al 2001, Vasconcelos et al 2001, Badia-Perpinya & Pallares-Barbera 2006. Other studies in Portugal demonstrated that larger distances impacted the proportion of area burned (Marques et al 2011a) or that ignitions that resulted in large fires occur further away from roads (Romero-Calcerrada et al 2010).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

Developing wildfire risk probability models for Eucalyptus globulus stands in Portugal

Botequim¹,

García-Gonzalo²,

Marques³

et al. 2013

iForest

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© iForest -Biogeosciences and Forestry IntroductionFire is a major disturbance impacting the Mediterranean landscape (Rundel 1998). In recent decades its incidence has increased dramatically in southern Europe (Rego 1992, Moreno 1999, Pausas et al. 2008. The Portuguese territory is characterized by a Mediterranean climate and a rugged topography. Moreover, the Portuguese vegetation cover is mostly evergreen and drought resistant. The country is thus prone to vegetation fires. Recent demographic, socio-economic and climatic trends (e.g., Mather & Pereira 2006, Pereira et al. 2002 have further contributed to the country's vulnerability to wildfires. In Portugal, wildfire is the most important agent of land cover change (Pereira & Santos 2003). In fact, in the period extending from 1975 to 2007 the total burned area approximated 3.8 · 10 6 hectares, representing 40% of the country's area (Marques et al. 2011a).In Portugal, around 90% of the total forest land is managed by private landowners (DGRF 2006) and most stands are monospecific or dominated by one species. Eucalypt is the most important forest species in terms of area as it extends over 8.12 · 10 3 ha, corresponding to 26% of the country's forestland (ICNF 2013). Further, it provides key raw material to the export driven pulp and paper industry (about 5.75 million m 3 of pulpwood per year -DGRF 2007). Wildfires constrain the economic viability of eucalypt in commercial forestry and the competitiveness of this industry (Nogueira 1990, Moreira et al. 2001. The development of forest plans that may mitigate wildfire impacts on the profitability of eucalypt management scheduling is thus a key factor to the sustainability of this forestry sub-sector. This prompted the research of models to assess wildfire occurrence probability in eucalypt plantations as a function of variables that may be controlled by forest managers. The forestry literature has associated the term risk with the probability of occurrence of a natural hazard (González et al. 2006, Jactel et al. 2009. In this research, we will refer to risk as the probability of a stand to be affected by a wildfire (i.e., probability of burning) if an ignition exists ). Thus, rather than modeling fire ignition probability, the focus of this research is on modeling at stand level the probability of wildfire occurrence at stand level. This is understood as a spatial process related to forest structure as potential fire spread is impacted by fuel presence/composition (Fernandes 2009).In Portugal, former studies have focused on the characterization of wildfire ignition or of wildfire risk as a function of environmental or socioeconomic variables (Vasconcelos et al. 2001, Pereira & Santos 2003, Nunes et al. 2005, Catry et al. 2008, Marques et al. 2011a. It was demonstrated that in general wildfire impacts depend on the forest cover types where they occur (Moreira et al. 2001, Godinho-Ferreira et al. 2005, Nunes et al. 2005. The characterization of these impacts on eucalypt plantations was addressed recently by Fernande...

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

Developing wildfire risk probability models for Eucalyptus globulus stands in Portugal

Botequim¹,

García-Gonzalo²,

Marques³

et al. 2013

iForest

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“…Arianoutsou, 2001;Curt and Delcros, 2010;Martinez et al 2009;RomeroCalcerrada et al 2010;Wittenberg and Malkinson, 2009;Vasconcelos et al 2001;Vazquez et al 2002). In fact, population density and distance to road networks are the major drivers of ignition risk and recent fire research studies identified the rural-urban interface as the most fire prone areas in Mediterranean countries (Badia-Perpinya and Pallares-Barbera, 2006;Catry et al, 2009;Curt and Delcros, 2010;Moreira et al, 2009).…”

Section: Landscape Changes Have Been Increasing Fire Hazard In the Lamentioning

confidence: 99%

Landscape – wildfire interactions in southern Europe: Implications for landscape management

Moreira¹,

Viedma²,

Arianoutsou³

et al. 2011

Journal of Environmental Management

727

567

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Every year approx. half a million hectares of land are burned by wildfires in southern Europe, causing large ecological and socio-economic impacts. Climate and land use changes in the last decades have increased fire risk and danger. In this paper we review the available scientific knowledge on the relationships between landscape and wildfires in the Mediterranean region, with a focus on its application for defining landscape management guidelines and policies that could be adopted in order to promote landscapes with lower fire hazard. The main findings are that (1) socio-economic drivers have favoured land cover changes contributing to increasing fire hazard in the last decades, (2) large wildfires are becoming more frequent, (3) increased fire frequency is promoting homogeneous landscapes covered by fire-prone shrublands; (4) landscape planning to reduce fuel loads may be successful only if fire weather conditions are not extreme. The challenges to address these problems and the policy and landscape management responses that should be adopted are discussed, along with the major knowledge gaps.

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“…Although southern European cities are usually regarded as representative examples of compact, dense and land-saving cities (Paul and Tonts [5]; Kasanko et al [6]; Cakir et al [7]), urban growth especially in the form of discontinuous, low density settlements, was found increasing in recent years [8]. Threatened by exurban development, peri-urban landscapes and, more in general, rural areas surrounding big cities are characterized by a variety of land-use classes, which are reflected in fragmented environments sensitive to fires and soil erosion (Arianoutsou [9]; Allen [10]; Badia-Perpinyà and Pallares-Barbera [11]; Briassouli [12]). Forest fires, especially big fires, are relevant events shaping the ecological fragility of the Mediterranean landscape, altering the structure, composition and diversity of landscapes and determining land degradation in certain environmental conditions with important consequences also for the social and economic local context (Christopoulou et al [13]; Martìnez et al [14]; Moreira et al [15]).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding the Spatial Distribution of Forest Fires in a Growing Urban Region: Socioeconomic Indicators Tell You More

Salvati¹,

Ferrara²,

Carlucci³

2014

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The present study analyzes the spatial distribution of 881 forest fires recorded during four recent years (2009)(2010)(2011)(2012) in 59 municipalities of a Mediterranean region (Attica, Greece) characterized by high fire risk and relevant human pressure due to uneven urban expansion. The hypothesis that a defined fire profile (in terms of density, severity and land-use selectivity) on a local scale was associated to a specific set of socioeconomic and territorial variables, was tested explicitly using six fires' indicators and eight contextual indicators under a multivariate analysis framework. Analysis identified two main dimensions for both forest fires (dimension and selectivity) and the socioeconomic context (demographic variables associated to the urban-rural gradient and average income). Fire density and forest/pastures burnt areas did not correlated to any socioeconomic variable. At the same time, average declared income and elevation of each municipality did not correlated to any fires' variable. To the contrary, the average fire size, the percentage of burnt area per municipality and the proportion of cropland affected by fires correlated positively with the distance from the inner city and the total surface area of each municipality and negatively with the proportion of compact settlements, population density and growth. These results confirm the importance of the urban-rural divide determining the spatial distribution of forest fires in Attica while pointing out the modest influence of variables such as the socioeconomic status of resident population.

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Spatial distribution of ignitions in Mediterranean periurban and rural areas: the case of Catalonia

Cited by 69 publications

References 8 publications

Developing wildfire risk probability models for Eucalyptus globulus stands in Portugal

Developing wildfire risk probability models for Eucalyptus globulus stands in Portugal

Landscape – wildfire interactions in southern Europe: Implications for landscape management

Understanding the Spatial Distribution of Forest Fires in a Growing Urban Region: Socioeconomic Indicators Tell You More

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