Nature-Based Solutions to Extreme Wildfires

Dear Colleagues,

The perception of fire as a fundamental ecological process is being increasingly accepted by the scientific community, but is not yet well-acknowledged by civil society. Consequently, fire management have been largely focused on suppression rather than prevention, which has paradoxically increased the proneness and flammability of our landscapes. The combined effects of climate and land-use change have complexified the problem by shifting fire regimes from their baselines. The ancient use of fire by local communities as a management tool is another critical factor to understand the role that fire has historically played in shaping landscapes and fire regimes. However, the growing disconnection from nature, together with the lack of a long-term perspective in land management, undermine our ability to find (and eventually implement) efficient and sustainable solutions to the increasing wildfire hazard.

Nature-based Solutions (NbS), defined as ‘solutions that are inspired and supported by nature, which are cost-effective, and simultaneously provide environmental, social and economic benefits and help build resilience’, should enable decision- and policymakers to cope with extreme wildfires while ensuring biodiversity conservation and the long-term supply of ecosystem services.

The goal of this Special Issue is to identify NbS to the societal challenge of extreme wildfires. We encourage authors to submit their articles to this Special Issue if the paper covers at least two of the three abovementioned issues (namely, fire management, biodiversity and/or ecosystem services):

• Effects of fire management on ecosystem services.
• Effects of fire management on biodiversity.
• Trade-offs between fire mitigation and ecosystem services.
• Trade-offs between fire mitigation and biodiversity.
• Cost–benefit analysis of fire management.

Dr. Adrián Regos
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Fire is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• fire management
• extreme wildfires
• biodiversity
• ecosystem services
• nature-based solutions
• complex socio-ecological systems
• local communities and stakeholders’ perception

Nature-based solutions may help reducing wildfire occurrence and enhance carbon stock in Mediterranean regions

Authorship: Rui Simões, Paulo Flores Ribeiro and José Lima Santos

Affiliation: Forest Research Centre and Associated Laboratory TERRA, School of Agriculture, Universidade de Lisboa. Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017 Lisbon, Portugal

Abstract: Climate and land-use changes have been contributing to increase the occurrence of extreme wildfires, shifting fire regimes, and driving desertification, particularly in Mediterranean-climate regions. However, few studies have researched the effects of land-use change on fire regimes and carbon storage at the broad national scale. To address this gap, we used spatially explicit data from annual burned areas in mainland Portugal to build a typology of fire regimes based on the accumulated burned area and its temporal concentration (Gini index) between 1984 and 2019, which was combined with 2018 carbon stock data (above- and below-ground), and a landscape typology describing land-use composition, configuration, and diversity, to explore relationships between landscape types and the two major ecosystem services at stake: wildfire reduction and carbon stock. Cluster analysis, logistic and linear regressions were performed on these data and results revealed a strong relationship between landscapes dominated by maritime pine and eucalypt forest plantations and high-hazardous fire regimes, in a negative trade-off with carbon stock. Shrubland-mixed landscapes were associated with low carbon stock and less hazardous fire regimes. Agricultural landscapes were the least associated with wildfires, as well as native forests and agroforestry landscapes. Farmlands however, revealed the poorest carbon stock, denoting land degradation. Native forests and agroforestry systems hold the best trade-off between carbon stock and fire regime. Our findings support how nature-based solutions promoting wildfire mitigation and carbon stock ecosystem services may prevent and revert land degradation harming Mediterranean regions.

Integrating nature-based solutions in wildfire and disaster risk reduction strategies
Eduard Plana, Jan Sendzimir, JoAnne Linnerooth-bayer, Adrián Regos, Marta Serra, Annick Smeenk, Sara Nebot, Teresa Deubelli
Abstract: Land use changes that increase biomass accumulation at landscape scale are adding to wildfire risk conditions in many regions across the world, especially and historically in rural mountainous areas. Land abandonment and other changes are resulting in landscapes becoming increasingly hazardous, both in terms of wildfire propagation (fire velocity and intensity overcoming so-called suppression capacity) and in terms of damaging impact (increased potential of wildfires to critically impact values at risk). This trend is exacerbated by the fire-prone conditions posed by a warmer, dryer and vegetation-stressing climate, jeopardizing the adaptation capacity of risk management systems. This combination of factors is increasing the risk of extreme wildfire events and shifting the perception of wildfires as mainly an ecological phenomenon to a disaster risk management issue. While nature-based solutions (NbS) are increasingly prevalent on disaster risk reduction agendas, their application to wildfire risk has been poorly conceptualized up until now. This paper explores the consequences of the evolving wildfire risk in terms of disaster risk management, both in traditional and non-traditional fire-prone areas, and how the NbS concept can be applied as part of risk-reduction strategies. Fundamentals of fire ecology and traditional sustainable forestry practices for risk reduction, climate change and biodiversity are contrasted, exploring the boundaries of concepts such as fire-smart forestry, natural-fire regime restoration or fire-resilient landscapes, as well as conservation and re-wilding, as different options for NBS policy. Theoretical, empirical, and policy aspects are considered, delivering lessons learned (also from other natural hazards) and best practices, along with technical, financial (e.g., the role of insurance) and governance options to frame different perspectives of NbS into integrated and equitable wildfire- and disaster risk reduction.