The Social Construction of Vulnerability to Forest Fires in Portugal

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The Social Construction of Vulnerability to
Forest Fires in Portugal

• Fantina PEDROSA, Faculty of Arts, University of
  Porto
• Ricardo GOMES, Faculty of Arts, University of
  Porto
• António PORTOCARRERO, Faculty of Arts, University
  of Porto
• Salete CARVALHO, Faculty of Arts, University of
  Porto

The Third International Population Geographies
Conference Liverpool, 2006
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Objectives

• This paper intends to point out
• ? the necessity to consider forest fires as an
  human event.

? the importance of the role played by population
geography in contributing to the definition of
measures to decrease the number of fire ignitions
and reduce burnt area.
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Contents
Portuguese Forests some statistical data Forest
profitability Forest fires Dimension of the
disaster Population in Forest fire Risk maps
Case-study preliminary results
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Portuguese Forest Some statistical data

• ? Forest covers about 38 of the territory (3.4
  million ha).

? 93.4 of forest land is private property. It
comprises 400 000 land owners. 7.8 is
managed by a land-owner association
(AFOCELCA) 85.6 is dispersed by small
land-owners.
? 6,4 of forest land is owned by the Portuguese
State
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Forestry profitability

• ? Forestry Sector creates 160 000 direct jobs
  (3,3 of active population) and 300 000 indirect
  jobs.
• ? Forestry products assure the activity of over
  7.000 companies
• ? 4 of Portugal's GDP
• ? 11 of Portugals exports
• ? In Portugal wealth extraction from forest
  amounts to 344 Euros/ha
• Spain 90 Euros/ha and France 292 Euros/ha
• Mendes, A et al.. 2004. The Portuguese
  Forests. Country level report delivered
• to the EFFE Project, Evaluating Financing of
  Forestry in Europe. Porto
• Portuguese catholic university, Porto Regional
  Center, Faculty of Economics and
• Management.

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Forest Fires Dimension of the Disaster
? Over the last 25 years, 2.7 million ha of
forest were destroyed by fires. In the period of
2000-2005 about 1.1 million ha of forest were
destroyed. ? In the 1960s on average 10 000 ha
of forest burnt every year. Over the last 5
years burnt area amounted on average to 190 000
ha/year. ? In the period of 2000-2005, forest
fires caused 38 deaths, many injured, destroyed
hundreds of dwellings and agricultural lands. ?
In Portugal the probability of a forest area to
burn is 4 to 5 times higher than in other
Southern European countries.
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Causes/District 2001/2005
Source Forest Fire Final Report 2005
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Population in Forest Fire Risk Maps

• ? Structural approach
• (E.g. Maps of Portuguese Geographical Institute)
• ? Variables
• Land Cover
• Slopes
• Road System/Network
• Slope Exposure
• Population Density
• Visibility from observation stations
• ? Useful to define risk areas to manage
  interventions
• ? Useful to define distribution and localisation
  of water points and technical fire-fighting
  equipment.

• ? Conjunctural approach
• (E.g. by the Portuguese Meteorological Institute
  using Fire Weather Index)
• ? Estimates using meteorological indicators (FWI)
  and calibrated data by district using the
  history of occurrences among others.
• ? Useful in the daily assessment of
  meteorological conditions favourable to the
  breaking of fires of large intensity.
• ? Useful to assess the needs of the means on
  alert

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Case- study Municipality of Baião(North of
Portugal)
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Preliminary Survey Results 1- Has forest fire
severity increased over the last few years? ? The
perception that the severity of forest fires has
increased is consensual (94,1) ? The perception
that the duration of forest fire season has
increased is consensual This perception is not
entirely explained by the fact that the surveyed
population has suffered losses caused by forest
fires. This perception does not lead the
population to adopt prevention measures and
change behaviour risks. Of the surveyed
population, only 48 of those who consider that
the severity of forest fires has increased has
adopted prevention measures.
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2 What is the degree of responsibility of the
different agents in the management of forest
fires? ? The government is the agent with the
major responsibility in the management of forest
fires (78). ? The citizens also have great
responsibility (68) The citizens who are
fire-fighters attribute to the citizens a minor
importance (56) ? Fire-fighters(49) ? The
municipalities Less educated people tend to
attribute a minor importance to the capacity of
citizens and municipalities in the management
of forest fires. The citizens aged between 35
and 50 years old attribute to the population a
minor responsibility in the management of
forest fires.
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3 What are causes of forest fires? ? Arson
(83) ? Negligence of citizens (33) ?
Agricultural burning (to burn agricultural waste)
(20) ? Prescribed burning (20) Explained by
? Existence of biomass (lack of cleaning of
flammable vegetation and debris) ?
Abandonment of agricultural areas ? Decrease
of pasture lands It is consensual that the
population considers forest fires as
inevitable since they are criminal acts. There
is no significant difference between the way
men and women face forest fire causes,
although men attribute greater importance to
the negligence of citizens than women.
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4 How effective are the actions of forest fire
prevention? ? Prohibitive measures- considered
little effective, except the prohibition of
lighting fires in the forest (measure considered
effective by 90 of the surveyed population) ?
Preventive measures considered by the
population with different degrees of efficacy,
among the most effective are cleaning of
forest (90) creating reduced fuel zones
(60) pescribed fire (58).
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5 What are the most effective information means
in conveying forest fire prevention
measures? Local Schools (79) TV (77) Contact
with representative of municipality (47) Priest
(43)
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• Conclusion
• The statistical data on forest fires (detection
  time, hour of first intervention, duration of
  forest fires, teams employed in combat, rescue
  organisation, delimitation of area,) includes
  some errors, whose extension is important to
  assess.
• The prevention of forest fires should be carried
  out taking into consideration the local
  characteristics, thus vulnerability cartography
  and forest fire risk should be dynamic and
  operational this is why the employment of GIS
  technology is an important tool for a more
  effective management of the resources.
• To elaborate a dynamic cartography of the
  interests of forest fires at the local level
  would allow a better rationalisation of the
  resources and a greater efficacy.
• The local population should be involved in the
  entire process related with forest fires
• In the prevention of forest fires
• How to act in case of fire
• Rehabilitation of burnt areas.