51 research outputs found
Quantitative Assessment of the Relationship between Land Use/Land Cover Changes and Wildfires in Southern Europe
Wildfires are key drivers of land use/land cover (LULC) dynamics by burning vegetation
and affecting human infrastructure. On the contrary, LULC changes (LULCCs) may affect the
fire regime by influencing vegetation type, burnable areas, fuel loads and continuity. This study
investigates the relationship between LULCC and wildfires. We developed a methodology based on
different indicators, which allowed us to quantitatively assess and better understand the transitions
between LULC classes and burnt area (BA) in Europe in the last two decades (2000–2019). The
assessment was performed for the entire European continent and, independently, for each of the
five European countries most affected by wildfires: Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Greece. The
main results are the following: (i) LULCC analysis revealed a net loss in forests and arable land and a
net gain in shrubs; (ii) most of the BA occurred in forests (42% for the whole of Europe), especially
in coniferous forests; (iii) transitions from BA generally were to transitional woodland/shrub or,
again, to BA. Overall, our results confirm the existence of a strong relationship between wildfires
and LULCCs in Europe, which was quantified in the present study. These findings are of paramount
importance in fire and environmental system management and ecology.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
INNOSETA regional workshops: analysis of the needs for better dissemination of spraying innovations in vineyards and orchards
In the framework of the H2020 INNOSETA thematic network focused on agricultural
spraying, 17 workshops were organised across Europe on issues related to the appropriation
of spraying innovations by farmers. The objective of these workshops, which gathered a
total of 850 people, was to foster exchanges between the various stakeholders (sprayer
manufacturers, PPP companies, authorities, advisors, farmers’ representatives, researchers,
etc.) in a multi-actor approach; to address issues related to the dissemination of innovation;
and to identify ways to improve farmers’ uptake. Each workshop was organised as a technical
day combining demonstrations of innovations with interactive discussions. The outcomes
of the discussions highlighted in all countries are that there is still a lot to be donePostprint (published version
The potential of satellite data to study individual wildfire events
Geophysical Research Abstract of EGU General Assembly 2014, held 27 April - 2 May, 2014 in Vienna, Austria
Lightning-ignited wildfires and long-continuing-current lightning in the Mediterranean Basin: Preferential meteorological conditions
Lightning is the major cause of natural ignition of wildfires worldwide and produces the largest wildfires in some
regions. Lightning strokes produce about 5% of forest fires in the Mediterranean basin and are one of the most important precursors of the largest forest fires during the summer. Lightning-ignited wildfires produce significant emissions of aerosols, black carbon and trace gases, such as CO, SO2, CH4 and O3, affecting air quality. Characterization of the meteorological and
5 cloud conditions of lightning-ignited wildfires in the Mediterranean basin can serve to improve fire forecasting models and to upgrade the implementation of fire emissions in atmospheric models
Wildfire management in Mediterranean-type regions: paradigm change needed
PerspectiveDuring the last decades, climate and land use changes led to an increased prevalence ofmegafires in
Mediterranean-type climate regions (MCRs).Here, we argue that current wildfire management policies in
MCRs are destined to fail.Focused on fire suppression, these policies largely ignore ongoing climate warming
and landscape-scale buildup of fuels.The result is a ‘firefighting trap’ that contributes to ongoing fuel
accumulation precluding suppression under extreme fire weather, and resulting in more severe and larger
fires.We believe that a ‘business as usual’ approach to wildfire in MCRs will not solve the fire problem, and
recommend that policy and expenditures be rebalanced between suppression and mitigation of the negative
impacts of fire.This requires a paradigm shift: policy effectiveness should not be primarily measured as a
function of area burned (as it usually is), but rather as a function of avoided socio-ecological damage and lossinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Landscape - wildfire interactions in southern Europe: implications for landscape management
ReviewEvery 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 gapsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
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