What if I told you that Iceland, a land known for glaciers, snowstorms, and volcanic fury, is quietly becoming a frontier in wildfire risk? It sounds contradictory. Yet, that’s exactly what we experienced during a two-and-a-half-day FoRISK wildfire workshop held from October 7 to 9, in Selfoss, southern Iceland. This training was hosted by the Icelandic Civil Protection, under the Technical Assistance Financing Facility (TAFF) of the European Commission’s Directorate General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO, the World Bank and the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR).
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Authors: Gesche Schifferdecker and Jo Van Brusselen Over the past years, the Forest Carbon Monitoring project (FCM) has been pioneering remote sensing-based, user-centric approaches for…
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Change doesn’t happen overnight. To facilitate the shift toward healthier forests that store more carbon and restore biodiversity, it is vital to work closely with the people who manage, use and work with forests.
To share scientific insights and knowledge with those who have the power to influence forest management in the field, a set of training sessions have been designed by the Forest Ownership Centre (CPF), a forest administration in Catalonia, to address “multipliers” such as forest professionals and other public forest workers who work hand in hand with small private forest owners in the region. The first session took place in El Montmell, a village in the Tarragona province, for a group of 26 forest rangers. The training took place in an Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis) forest to show how sustainable forest management can help capture more carbon and reduce CO₂ emissions while preventing wildfires. The site is an area partly affected by a wildfire in 1976 that has since grown back naturally and now consists of a dense cover of Aleppo pine regeneration. These young forests are especially at risk of burning again, and repeated fires can cause permanent tree and soil loss. Forest management can lower this risk by reducing excess biomass and helping stronger trees grow faster and produce seeds in a shorter cycle. This approach prevents fires, enhances the chances of tree recovery in case of a new fire and helps capture more carbon from the atmosphere.
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“Millions are being invested in trying to find the right solution to wildfires. And yet, we are further away than ever from it,” says Carmen Rodriguez. Some are even starting to talk about “the wildfire crisis”. As a scientist exploring the socio-political dimension of wildfires, the question driving Carmen’s research parts ways from cutting-edge AI models, sophisticated drones, and high-tech sensors to ask herself and the wildfire community: Are we looking for solutions in the right places?
Carmen’s research challenges mainstream conceptualizations of the wildfire problem, seeking to see “beyond the flames.” Understanding wildfires as a territorial problem shifts the focus away from emergency response and broadens it to incorporate the complexity of the territories where wildfires occur, including the ecological, social, and economic dynamics that shape them. By shifting the narrative, and placing not wildfire suppression but rather societal needs at the centre, new pathways for (social) innovation and enhanced resilience emerge. Watch the video to learn more.
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The Resilience for Mediterranean Landscapes MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) is a groundbreaking online course developed as part of the ResAlliance Project. This free and accessible resource addresses the growing challenges of climate hazards in the Mediterranean region, focusing on innovative solutions in forestry and agriculture.
Featuring contributions from experts at 16 leading European research institutions and real-world case studies from Spain, Italy, Portugal, Greece, and Cyprus, this MOOC combines cutting-edge research with practical knowledge.
Whether you’re a professional in forestry or agriculture, a student, a policymaker, or simply someone passionate about environmental resilience, this course equips you with the tools and insights to understand and tackle the impacts of climate change by exploring practical solutions at various levels to enhance resilience, especially in forestry and agriculture. Learn about initiatives in different contexts, connect with practitioners and experts, and engage in collaborative discussions to share and develop effective solutions for addressing climate-related challenges.
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Waldbrandexperte Alexander Held im Gespräch mit G’Scheitholz! über Waldbrand, Prävention und Bekämpfung
Waldbrände prägen seit Jahrhunderten die mediterranen Landschaften in Südeuropa. Aber auch in Mitteleuropa werden Waldbrände immer häufiger und riskanter. Sowohl Klimawandel als auch Trends in der Landnutzung und Landschaftveränderungen führen weltweit zu extremer Feueraktivität und stellen die verschiedenen Regionen vor neue Herausforderungen.
Die Prävention von Waldbränden müsste noch mehr zur Zielsetzung werden, meint Waldbrandexperte Alexander Held vom European Forest Insitute im Gespräch mit dem österreichischen Klimaschutz-podcast G’Scheitholz!. Zwar können wir nicht alle Feuer verhindern, doch eine gute Prävention kann dafür sorgen, dass die Feuer, die auftreten, beherrschbar bleiben für die Feuerwehr. Das bedeutet beispielsweise die Brandlast, also die Menge an Brennmaterial, an Waldwegen zu reduzieren und mehr Pufferzonen zu schaffen.
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The work of Oficina C brings science to policymaking in Spain
In 2019, the church of Notre Dame burnt down. Citizens of Hong Kong took the streets to protest for a better democracy. Students protested against inequality in Chile. The Amazon burned (and the hashtag #PrayforAmazonas went viral). Theresa May resigned as prime minister of the UK, and Simone Biles became the gymnast with the most medals in the history of world championships. Anyone slightly following the news probably remembers most of these events.
However, in this blogpost I will talk about something else that happened in 2019, in this case in Spain, that went unheard of for most. It was the year when the Spanish Congress approved the creation of the Office for Science and Technology (Oficina C), in order to support a scientifically informed debate in the lower House. And you may wonder why is this relevant at all. It is relevant, because we live in the era of the “post-truth”. An era when fake-news appear on a daily basis, and where online disinformation is a matter of public concern. Making scientific findings accessible for policymakers has always been relevant, but now we need to facilitate evidence-based discussions more than ever.
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The combination of climate change and land abandonment is creating the perfect conditions for forest megafires in the Mediterranean. Higher temperatures, erratic rainfall and longer droughts are becoming increasingly commonplace, as well as claims that megafires “are here to stay”. Still, not all hope is lost. Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) can help prevent fire disasters by reducing the amount of flammable biomass that accumulates in forests, among other adaptation measures.
The INFORMA project’s case study in the Segre-Rialb basin, Spain, is an example of an area that has suffered decades of continuous rural exodus and decurrent lack of forest management. There, the project will equip forest practitioners with insights on how to adapt to increased climate variability while ensuring the provision of important ecosystem services such as water quality and quantity, wood and non-wood forest products, recreation, and biodiversity conservation.
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It cannot be stressed enough: More than 100 participants from 22 countries gathered in the Polish forest to attend the SNEP (Association of Independent Firefighting…
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How can students develop skills such as argumentation and critical thinking? The Umeå University is investigating the topic using learning materials around forest use and forest protection as part of the MULTIPLIERS project
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