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Forest Fires in Mediterranean Countries: CO2 Emissions and Mitigation Possibilities Through Prescribed Burning

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Abstract

Forest fires are an integral part of the ecology of the Mediterranean Basin; however, fire incidence has increased dramatically during the past decades and fire is expected to become more prevalent in the future due to climate change. Fuel modification by prescribed burning reduces the spread and intensity potential of subsequent wildfires. We used the most recently published data to calculate the average annual wildfire CO2 emissions in France, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain following the IPCC guidelines. The effect of prescribed burning on emissions was calculated for four scenarios of prescribed burning effectiveness based on data from Portugal. Results show that prescribed burning could have a considerable effect on the carbon balance of the land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) sector in Mediterranean countries. However, uncertainty in emission estimates remains large, and more accurate data is needed, especially regarding fuel load and fuel consumption in different vegetation types and fuel layers and the total area protected from wildfire per unit area treated by prescribed burning, i.e. the leverage of prescribed burning.

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Acknowledgments

This study is part of the project ‘FIRE PARADOX—an Innovative Approach to Integrated Wildland Fire Management Regulating the Wildfire Problem by the Wise Use of Fire: Solving the Fire Paradox’, funded by the European Commission (contract FP6-018505). The reviewing process brought significant improvements to this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. European Forest Institute, Torikatu 34, 80100, Joensuu, Finland

    Terhi Vilén

  2. Centro de Investigação e de Tecnologias Agro-Ambientais e Biológicas (CITAB) and Departamento de Ciências Florestais e Arquitectura Paisagista (CIFAP), Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Quinta de Prados, 5001-801, Vila Real, Portugal

    Paulo M. Fernandes

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Correspondence to Terhi Vilén.

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Vilén, T., Fernandes, P.M. Forest Fires in Mediterranean Countries: CO2 Emissions and Mitigation Possibilities Through Prescribed Burning. Environmental Management 48, 558–567 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-011-9681-9

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