Forest fires are changing: let’s change the fire management strategy

Forest

article

Giovanni Bovio¹  Giorgio Vacchiano¹  Marco Marchetti²  Luca Tonarelli³  Michele Salis⁴  Raffaella Lovreglio⁶  Mario Elia⁷  Paolo Fiorucci⁸  Davide Ascoli⁹ 

[1] Già Dipartimento DISAFA, Università di Torino;Dipartimento di Bioscienze e Territorio, Università del Molise;D.R.E.Am Italia;Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Biometeorologia, CNR-IBIMET, Regione Baldinca;Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici, CMCC, Divisione IAFES;Dipartimento di Agricoltura, Università di Sassari;Dipartimento di Scienze Agro-Ambientali e Territoriali, Università degli Studi di Bari “A. Moro”;Fondazione CIMA Centro Internazionale di Monitoraggio Ambientale;Dipartimento Agraria, Università di Napoli, v. Università 100

关键词: Forest Wildfires;    Forest Management;    Climate Change;   

DOI  :  10.3832/efor2537-014

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Societa Italiana di Selvicoltura ed Ecologia Forestale (S I S E F)

【 摘 要 】

Forest fires in Italy are changing. More frequent heatwaves and drought increase the flammability of the vegetation; the abandonment of rural land produces 30.000 ha of newly afforested areas each year; and the wildland-urban interface is expanding with the sprawl of urbanized areas. However, forest fires are rarely understood and managed in their complexity. The public opinion is often misinformed on the causes and consequences of fires in the forest. Moreover, fire management relies almost exclusively on extinction and emergency response, resulting in high costs and limited efficacy versus extreme fire seasons. We advocate to increase the role and investments in wildfire prevention, which can be carried out by fuel-oriented silviculture, such as facilitating less flammable species or prescribed burning, in order to reduce the flammability of the vegetation and mitigate fire intensity in high-leverage areas. A centralized structure is necessary to implement such a strategy and coordinate the competences and actions of all local administrations and actors involved.

【 授权许可】

Unknown