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Fire
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Nature-Based Solutions to Extreme Wildfires
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Nature-Based Solutions to Extreme Wildfires

A special issue of Fire (ISSN 2571-6255). This special issue belongs to the section "Fire Research at the Science–Policy–Practitioner Interface".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 June 2025 | Viewed by 16022

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Adrián Regos

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Forest Science and Technology Center of Catalonia, Crta. Antiga St Llorenç de Morunys km 2, 25280 Solsona, Catalonia, Spain
Interests: landscape ecology; fire ecology; environmental management; conservation biology; remote sensing; geographic information science
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

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

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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.

Keywords

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

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Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

Jump to: Review

19 pages, 3301 KiB  
Article
Optimizing Wildfire Prevention through the Integration of Prescribed Burning into ‘Fire-Smart’ Land-Use Policies
by Silvana Pais, Núria Aquilué, João P. Honrado, Paulo M. Fernandes and Adrián Regos
Fire 2023, 6(12), 457; https://doi.org/10.3390/fire6120457 - 1 Dec 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3278
Abstract
Integrating fire into land management is crucial in fire-prone regions. To evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of prescribed fire (PF), we employed the REMAINS model in NW Iberia’s Transboundary Biosphere Reserve Gerês-Xurés. We tested three levels of prescribed fire treatment effort for shrubland [...] Read more.
Integrating fire into land management is crucial in fire-prone regions. To evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of prescribed fire (PF), we employed the REMAINS model in NW Iberia’s Transboundary Biosphere Reserve Gerês-Xurés. We tested three levels of prescribed fire treatment effort for shrubland and grassland, employing three spatial allocation strategies: random distribution, prioritization in high-wildfire-risk zones, and creating fuel breaks by utilizing the existing road network. These approaches were assessed in isolation and in combination with three land-use scenarios: Business-as-usual (representing rural abandonment trends), High Nature Value farmland (reversing farmland abandonment), and Fire-Smart forest management (promoting fire-resistant landscapes). Our results confirm that PF is effective in reducing future wildfires (reductions up to 36%), with leverage values ranging from 0.07 to 0.45. Strategic spatial allocation, targeting wildfire-risk areas and existing road networks, is essential for maximizing prescribed fire’s efficiency (leverage effort of 0.32 and 0.45; i.e., approximately 3 ha of PF decrease subsequent wildfire by 1 ha). However, the PF treatments yield the best efficiency when integrated into land-use policies promoting ‘fire-smart’ landscapes (reaching leverage values of up to 1.78 under policies promoting ‘HNVf and ‘fire-smart’ forest conversion). These recommendations strengthen wildfire prevention and enhance landscape resilience in fire-prone regions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nature-Based Solutions to Extreme Wildfires)
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18 pages, 3165 KiB  
Article
Harnessing Natural Disturbances: A Nature-Based Solution for Restoring and Adapting Dry Forests in the Western USA to Climate Change
by William L. Baker, Chad T. Hanson and Dominick A. DellaSala
Fire 2023, 6(11), 428; https://doi.org/10.3390/fire6110428 - 9 Nov 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2630
Abstract
Natural disturbances (wildfires, droughts, beetle outbreaks) shaped temperate forests for millennia, including dry forests of the western USA. Could they now best restore and adapt dry forests to climate change while protecting nearby communities? Mechanical fuel-reduction treatments (e.g., thinning) reduce landscape heterogeneity and [...] Read more.
Natural disturbances (wildfires, droughts, beetle outbreaks) shaped temperate forests for millennia, including dry forests of the western USA. Could they now best restore and adapt dry forests to climate change while protecting nearby communities? Mechanical fuel-reduction treatments (e.g., thinning) reduce landscape heterogeneity and appear ineffective since <1% of the treated area encounters fire each year and fires are still increasing. We propose and analyze a nature-based solution (NbS), using natural disturbances, to see whether it is feasible, how long it might take, and whether it could more effectively restore and adapt dry forests to climate change. We compared 2010–2019 disturbance rates on ~16 million ha of federal dry forests with historical data. We evaluated how much adaptation is achieved by comparing how trees are selected by treatments and disturbances. We found an NbS, which works with natural disturbances and prioritizes community protection, is feasible in western USA dry forests since disturbances are occurring mostly within historical rates. Natural disturbances, unlike mechanical treatments, select survivors that are more likely to be genetically adapted to survive future disturbances and climate change, while perpetuating ecosystem services. Natural disturbances also could ecologically restore forest heterogeneity, better maintain carbon storage, and reduce management needs. A fully developed disturbance-based NbS could more effectively adapt dry forests to climate change within ~30–40 years if active management is reprioritized to protect the built environment and communities near public forests. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nature-Based Solutions to Extreme Wildfires)
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23 pages, 4102 KiB  
Article
Estimating the Trade-Offs between Wildfires and Carbon Stocks across Landscape Types to Inform Nature-Based Solutions in Mediterranean Regions
by Rui Serôdio Simões, Paulo Flores Ribeiro and José Lima Santos
Fire 2023, 6(10), 397; https://doi.org/10.3390/fire6100397 - 14 Oct 2023
Viewed by 2211
Abstract
Climate and land-use changes have been contributing to the increase in the occurrence of extreme wildfires, shifting fire regimes and driving desertification, particularly in Mediterranean-climate regions. However, few studies have researched the influence of land use/cover on fire regimes and carbon storage at [...] Read more.
Climate and land-use changes have been contributing to the increase in the occurrence of extreme wildfires, shifting fire regimes and driving desertification, particularly in Mediterranean-climate regions. However, few studies have researched the influence of land use/cover 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. This typology was then combined with carbon stock data and different landscapes to explore relationships between landscape types and two important ecosystem services: wildfire reduction and carbon stock. Multivariate analyses were performed on these data and the results revealed a strong relationship between landscapes dominated by maritime pine and eucalypt plantations and highly hazardous fire regimes, which in turn hold the highest carbon stocks. Shrubland and mixed landscapes were associated with low carbon stocks and less hazardous fire regimes. Specialized agricultural landscapes, as well as mixed native forests and mixed agroforestry landscapes, were the least associated with wildfires. In the case of agricultural landscapes, however, this good wildfire performance is achieved at the cost of the poorest carbon stock, whereas native forests and agroforestry landscapes strike 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. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nature-Based Solutions to Extreme Wildfires)
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28 pages, 7014 KiB  
Article
Exploring Land System Options to Enhance Fire Resilience under Different Land Morphologies
by João Ferreira Silva, Selma B. Pena, Natália S. Cunha, Paulo Flores Ribeiro, Francisco Moreira and José Lima Santos
Fire 2023, 6(10), 382; https://doi.org/10.3390/fire6100382 - 7 Oct 2023
Viewed by 1456
Abstract
Fire is the origin of serious environmental and social impacts in Mediterranean-like landscapes, such as those in California, Australia, and southern Europe. Portugal is one of the southern European countries most affected by fire, which has increased in intensity and extent in the [...] Read more.
Fire is the origin of serious environmental and social impacts in Mediterranean-like landscapes, such as those in California, Australia, and southern Europe. Portugal is one of the southern European countries most affected by fire, which has increased in intensity and extent in the recent decades in response to variations in climate, but mostly due to changes in land systems (LSs), characterized by land use and land cover and also by factors such as management intensity, livestock composition, land ownership structure, and demography. Agricultural activities, which contributed to the management of fuel in the overall landscape, were allocated to the most productive areas, while the steepest areas were occupied by extensive areas of shrubland and monospecific forests, creating landscapes of high fire-proneness. These challenging circumstances call for landscape transformation actions focusing on reducing the burned area, but the spatial distribution of LS is highly conditioned by land morphology (LM), which limits the actions (e.g., farming operations) that can be taken. Considering the constraints posed by the LM, this study investigates whether there is a possibility of transforming the landscape by single modifying the LS from more to less fire prone. To better understand landscape–fire relationships, the individual and interactive effects of the LS and LM on burned areas were also analyzed. Even in the more fire-prone LM types, a 40% proportion of agricultural uses in the landscape results in an effective reduction in the burned area. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nature-Based Solutions to Extreme Wildfires)
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21 pages, 6785 KiB  
Article
Wildfires in the Larch Range within Permafrost, Siberia
by Viacheslav I. Kharuk, Evgeny G. Shvetsov, Ludmila V. Buryak, Alexei S. Golyukov, Maria L. Dvinskaya and Il’ya A. Petrov
Fire 2023, 6(8), 301; https://doi.org/10.3390/fire6080301 - 4 Aug 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1559
Abstract
Throughout the larch range, warming leads to frequent fires and an increase in burned areas. We test the hypothesis that fires are an essential natural factor that reset larch regeneration and support the existence of larch forests. The study area included Larix sibirica [...] Read more.
Throughout the larch range, warming leads to frequent fires and an increase in burned areas. We test the hypothesis that fires are an essential natural factor that reset larch regeneration and support the existence of larch forests. The study area included Larix sibirica and L. gmelinii ranges within the permafrost zone. We used satellite-derived and field data, dendrochronology, and climate variables analysis. We found that warming led to an increase in fire frequency and intensity, mean, and extreme (>10,000 ha) burned areas. The burned area is increasing in the northward direction, while fire frequency is decreasing. The fire rate exponentially increases with decreasing soil moisture and increasing air temperature and air drought. We found a contrasting effect of wildfire on regeneration within continuous permafrost and within the southern lowland boundary of the larch range. In the first case, burnt areas regenerated via abounded larch seedlings (up to 500,000+ per ha), whereas the south burns regenerated mostly via broadleaf species or turned into grass communities. After the fire, vegetation GPP was restored to pre-fire levels within 3–15 years, which may indicate that larch forests continue to serve as carbon stock. At the southern edge of the larch range, an amplified fire rate led to the transformation of larch forests into grass and shrub communities. We suggested that the thawing of continuous permafrost would lead to shrinking larch-dominance in the south. Data obtained indicated that recurrent fires are a prerequisite for larch forests’ successful regeneration and resilience within continuous permafrost. It is therefore not necessary to suppress all fires within the zone of larch dominance. Instead, we must focus fire suppression on areas of high natural, social, and economic importance, permitting fires to burn in vast, larch-dominant permafrost landscapes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nature-Based Solutions to Extreme Wildfires)
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14 pages, 8882 KiB  
Article
A Dijkstra-Based Approach to Fuelbreak Planning
by Assaf Shmuel and Eyal Heifetz
Fire 2023, 6(8), 295; https://doi.org/10.3390/fire6080295 - 31 Jul 2023
Viewed by 1199
Abstract
One of the most effective methods of preventing large-scale wildfires is creating fuelbreaks, buffer zones whose purpose is to stop or delay the spread of the fire, providing firefighters an opportunity to control the fire. Fuelbreaks are already applied in several countries and [...] Read more.
One of the most effective methods of preventing large-scale wildfires is creating fuelbreaks, buffer zones whose purpose is to stop or delay the spread of the fire, providing firefighters an opportunity to control the fire. Fuelbreaks are already applied in several countries and have proven their effectiveness. However, creating fuelbreaks involves deforestation, so the length of the fuelbreaks should be minimized as much as possible. In this paper, we propose the implementation of a greedy Dijkstra-based fuelbreak planning algorithm which identifies locations in which fuelbreaks could significantly reduce the risk of large wildfires, at a relatively low deforestation cost. We demonstrate the stages and output of the algorithm both on artificial forests and on actual forests in Israel. We discuss the factors which determine the cost effectiveness of fuelbreaks from a tree-economy perspective and demonstrate how fuelbreaks’ effectiveness increases as large wildfires become more frequent. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nature-Based Solutions to Extreme Wildfires)
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Review

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17 pages, 2931 KiB  
Review
A Systematic Approach to Map and Evaluate the Wildfire Behavior at a Territorial Scale in the Northwestern Iberian Peninsula
by Thais Rincón, Laura Alonso, Juan Picos, Domingo M. Molina-Terrén and Julia Armesto
Fire 2024, 7(7), 249; https://doi.org/10.3390/fire7070249 - 13 Jul 2024
Viewed by 947
Abstract
In the current context of extreme wildfires, understanding fire behavior at a territorial level has proven crucial for territory planning. This type of analysis is usually conducted by analyzing past wildfire statistics. In this study, we forego the past information related to wildfires [...] Read more.
In the current context of extreme wildfires, understanding fire behavior at a territorial level has proven crucial for territory planning. This type of analysis is usually conducted by analyzing past wildfire statistics. In this study, we forego the past information related to wildfires and analyze, instead, the behavior of the entire territory in the face of wildfires. This allows for the distribution of ignition points to be systematized and for typical and atypical weather scenarios to be considered. This analysis relies on the use of wildfire simulation software. Ignition points used for the simulations were distributed using a systematic 1 × 1 km grid throughout the whole study area. Wildfires were simulated for each ignition point using eight different weather scenarios representing both typical and atypical weather conditions. The fire behavior on the territory was analyzed using rate of spread and intensity parameters for each simulated wildfire. It was observed that this territory is extremely prone to large wildfires both in typical and atypical weather conditions and that there is a tendency for extreme behaviors to develop. Some features were identified as prevention issues that ought to be addressed. This study develops a strategy to evaluate, in a systematic manner, the response of the territory to the threat of wildfires. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nature-Based Solutions to Extreme Wildfires)
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