A sustainable landSCAPE plannig model for rural FIREs prevention

The overarching goal of this Project is to propose a landscape planning model that contributes to the prevention of rural fires, considering the ecological, economic and social sustainability of the landscape. In fact, some Portuguese landscapes are highly combustible due to the last four decades of inadequate policies. Despite the importance of spatial planning as a core component in the rural fires prevention, mentioned in the media and the political discourse, its definition and implementation are still to be accomplished.
The proposed project is based on the assumption that a paradigm shift in the land use is needed in favor of a lesser "fire-prone" and more sustainable model. Acknowledging the economic importance of the most fire-prone species, the aim is to create a landscape protection structure against rural fires that, without denying the economic importance that some more fuel species may have, ensures soil, water and biodiversity conservation and socio-economic viability. This structure will be adapted to each type of landscape. In addition to the proposal for a new land-use planning model, the economic evaluation of multifunctional agroforestry systems will be carried out.
Therefore, this project aims to integrate the sectoral themes in a land-use plan. Its main innovation lies in the transdisciplinarity that has not been usual, neither in the field of rural fires research, or in public and political discussion. In fact, most approaches focus on sectoral matters such as post-fire rehabilitation, fire behavior, vegetation characteristics, etc., rather than an integrative spatial planning proposal based on available sectoral knowledge.
The methodology elaborates a conceptual framework based on la ndscape ecology and fire behavior. The socio-economic and ecological parameters will be gathered to map landscape typologies and vulnerability to rural fires. These analyses will inform the model and the selection of case studies. For each case study a land-use plan will be developed, articulating the nature conservation (water, soil and biodiversity), commercial and family agriculture, forestry, grazing, rural and nature tourism and other activities that ensure the maintenance of the rural population. In parallel, it is intended to consider various types of land management, such as commercial forest stands, the use of natural regeneration, close to nature forestry, forest-fruit, etc. The range of case studies will include the region, the area of a municipality, a medium-sized holding and a smallholding area.
An economic assessment of agroforestry systems and a critical assessment of available funding modes (PDR 2020) will allow for the development of alternative proposals that will contribute to the transition from the current situation to the implementation of the proposed development model including a proposal for ecosystem services. The planning system as well as the legal framework for forest management will be analyzed. A statement of the ethics of the proposed intervention will contribute to the rationale of the proposal.
The core p roject team consisting of a permanent group of researchers based at LEAF/ISA/ULisbon, where coordination is located.
This team will bring together researchers across several research centers of University of Lisbon and other national institutions, and the Pau Costa Foundation with extensive knowledge on fire ecology and operational fire management at landscape level. The core team has extensive experience in Landscape/Land-Use Planning at various scales, both in urban and rural space. In particular, the last two projects, financed by the FCT PTDC/AUR-URB/102578/2008 - National Ecological Network - a proposal of mapping and policies and PTDC/AUR-URB/119340/2010 - Potential Land-Use Ecological Plan. Application to Portugal, produced data at the national level essential to an ecological-based planning. All this cartography was included in a spatial data infrastructure (http://epic-webgis-portugal.isa.ulisboa.pt/) that will be used as main input data of this project. It is also worth mentioning the participation in the project PTDC/GEO/65344/2006 - The social dimension of forest fires - Contribution to a Sustainable, Integrated Management.
Stakeholder p articipation will be present throughout the Project, through a group of researchers, public entities linked to Land-use planning, at national level (Directorate General of the Territory),and local (Municipalities), but also owners and the Portuguese Federation of Local Development Associations (MINHA TERRA).