Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
surface fires and this would contribute to fewer crown fires and greater conser-
vation of these mountain forests (Vega
2000
).
A very different story is occurring in the lowlands (garrigues, heathlands,
maquis, and other chaparral-like vegetation), where vegetation is able to success-
fully regenerate quickly after repeated fires, and thus fires do not normally pose a
threat to biodiversity, except where extremely high fire frequencies stress the
tolerance of some species. The major fire problem in the coastal regions is the
large human population density that is expanding into highly flammable water-
sheds and putting people and associated infrastructures at risk to fire. Current
mediterranean societies have failed to adapt to living in the midst of such flam-
mable ecosystems, and most current urban planning does not adequately consider
the fire risks in planning decisions. Given the increasing population density in
coastal areas, the most critical issue for fire management is acting at the wildland-
urban interface (WUI) to protect properties and lives. Specific regulations for
living in fire-prone landscapes such as regulations for building, urban planning,
gardening, etc. are lacking in many Mediterranean Basin countries or seldom
followed. In fact, many settlements in the WUI are illegal or have been legalized
after building (i.e. without adequate planning, and without following appropriate
regulations). In this sense, currently, the most advanced country is France, where
there are specific regulations and recommendation guides for living in forested
areas. The limited consideration of recurrent fires when planning homes at the
WUIs may have catastrophic consequences when the inevitable fires occur. This
has been seen during recent European heat waves with large fires reaching exten-
sive WUI areas. For instance, the wildfires in Greece during summer 2007 des-
troyed 2850 homes and caused 78 fatalities (Xanthopoulos
2007
).
The current and most widespread fire management strategy in the Mediterra-
nean Basin combines fire prevention through fuel treatments with fire suppres-
sion. The objective is to minimize the area burned, especially near urban and
suburban areas. Typical fuel treatments consist of fuel break networks of different
widths, maintained mechanically or more rarely by grazing/browsing. Fuel breaks
require frequent maintenance, otherwise early successional and highly flammable
grasses and small shrubs invade and diminish their value as barriers to fire spread.
There is evidence that under certain extreme weather conditions fuel breaks,
including major highways, are ineffective, while in other cases they have success-
fully protected properties. However, a detailed cost-effectiveness analysis remains
to be done (Rigolot
et al.
1999
). On complex landscapes (e.g.
Fig. 4.2
), cultivation
of less flammable crops such as vineyards and olive groves may act as fuel breaks,
although under severe fire weather, such as the 2007 Greek fires (Xanthopoulos
2007
), even these landscapes will burn.
Prescribed burning is only used locally or sporadically in France, Portugal and
Spain, but it is not even allowed in Greece, Turkey and most of Italy. The
technique is well established only in France, where it is used for fuel reduction
and for reducing shrubland colonization of open pastures in order to improve
