Democratizing wildfire strategies. Do you realize what it means? Insights from a participatory process in the Montseny region (Catalonia, Spain)

Open Access: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0204806

A pilot study shows how social participation in wildfire prevention planning can reduce risk

Recent wildfires in Greece, California and elsewhere show how wildfire risk is becoming increasingly problematic. Climate change and land-use changes are some of the main reasons behind this trend. Despite efforts to improve wildfire policies, a small number of wildfires overcome the suppression and civil protection capacity of the states, leading to tragic outcomes. A paper now shows that wildfire intensity and the loss of landscape values can be reduced through the participation of stakeholders and citizens in wildfire prevention planning. Led by the Integrative Research Institute on Transformations of Human-Environment Systems (IRI THESys) at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, the paper was developed in close collaboration between researchers and firefighters. It has been published in PLOS ONE in October 2018.

“We have learned how to improve wildfire risk management by making it more democratic” says Iago Otero, former postdoctoral researcher at IRI THESys and lead author of the paper. By developing a pilot method, Otero and his colleagues found out that integrating the landscape's social, economic and ecological values into the Fire Departments’ models can contribute to adapt wildfire management. Otero's team organized a series of participatory workshops and exhibitions in the Montseny Biosphere Reserve, a region of Catalonia (Spain) where the study was conducted between 2014 and 2016. "On the one hand, these sessions served to better coordinate the different stakeholders such as the fire department, the fire prevention services and the forest landowners. On the other hand, stakeholders and citizens could express which areas and landscape values should be given priority in the face of wildfire risk" says Otero who spent several months with the Catalan Fire Department for his research project at IRI THESys. The central valley of the study region turned out to be the most valued one due to the existence of residential areas, an important tourism industry, and its potential for bioeconomic development. 

All information was finally integrated into the wildfire spread models that the Catalan Fire Department’s wildfire fighting specialist group GRAF uses to manage wildfires. This allowed the identification of priority management points where a reduction of fuel load was planned in order to reduce wildfire intensity and minimize its impacts in the most valued area. These planning proposals were agreed upon with the stakeholders in the final workshop of the project, together with coordinated measures to implement them. According to Marc Castellnou, head of GRAF and co-author of the article, this innovative procedure was a first step to explore how society can take responsibility for wildfire risk reduction. “The Fire Department needs that society becomes an active part in emergency management, otherwise the extinction system collapses”. 

The paper also points out that democratizing wildfire management entails a transformation of the landscape itself and of the society that shapes it. "To further reducing wildfire risk, a less combustible landscape is needed" concludes Otero. This is why a number of landscape management proposals emerged in the participatory process such as enhancing sustainable forestry and extensive grazing, as well as promoting the trade of local products like biomass or cheese. These proposals are considered to have the potential to create such a landscape, because they convert the excess of vegetation into sustainable products with added value for the region’s communities. However, the paper stresses that implementing these measures would require re-organizing the socioeconomic activities and reversing the land abandonment experienced by the region in the last century. This is easier said than done. Strengthening the transformative potential of participatory wildfire planning is a challenge that remains for future experiences.

CAT: Aquest estudi pilot, el mètode del qual serà replicat ara a major escala, mostra que la participació social en la planificació de la prevenció pot reduir el risc d'incendis forestals. L'equip d'Otero, exinvestigador postdoctoral a la Universitat Humboldt de Berlín, va organitzar un seguit de sessions participatives entre 2014 i 2016 que van servir per coordinar millor els diferents actors i perquè la ciutadania expressés quines zones haurien de ser considerades prioritàries davant del risc de incendis. Aquesta informació es va integrar en els models de propagació del foc que fan servir els Bombers de la Generalitat, el que va permetre identificar aquells PEGs que minimitzessin els impactes en les zones més valorades. Segons Marc Castellnou, cap del grup d'especialistes en incendis forestals GRAF de Bombers i coautor de l'estudi, aquest mètode pilot és un primer pas cap a la corresponsabilització de la societat en la gestió del risc d'incendis. "Bombers necessita que la societat esdevingui una part activa de la gestió d'emergències. Altrament el sistema d'extinció, davant els reptes del canvi climàtic, col·lapsa", va remarcar Castellnou.

CAST: Este estudio piloto, cuyo método será replicado ahora a mayor escala, muestra que la participación social en la planificación de la prevención puede reducir el riesgo de incendios forestales. El equipo de Otero, ex investigador postdoctoral en la Universidad Humboldt de Berlín, organizó una serie de sesiones participativas entre 2014 y 2016 que sirvieron para coordinar mejor a los diferentes actores y para que la ciudadanía xpresara qué zonas deberían ser consideradas prioritarias frente al riesgo de incendios. Esta información se integró en los modelos de propagación del fuego que usan los Bomberos de la Generalitat, lo que permitió identificar aquellos PEGs que minimizasen los impactos en las zonas más valoradas. Según Marc Castellnou, jefe del grupo de especialistas en incendios forestales GRAF de Bomberos y co-autor del estudio, este método piloto es un primer paso hacia la co-responsabilización de la sociedad en la gestión del riesgo de incendios. “Bomberos necesita que la sociedad se convierta en una parte activa de la gestión de emergencias. De lo contrario el sistema de extinción, ante los retos del cambio climático, colapsa”, remarcó Castellnou.