Landscape-wildfire interactions in southern Europe: implications for landscape management
Author(s)
Date Issued
2011
Type
article
Abstract
Every year approximately 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 major
knowledge gaps.
Additional information
L'articolo รจ disponibile sul sito dell'editore www.elsevier.com
Citation
Moreira, F. et al. 2011. Landscape-wildfire interactions in southern Europe: implications for landscape management. "Journal of Environmental Management" 92 : 2389-2402
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