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Decreasing Fires in Mediterranean Europe.
Marco Turco1, Joaquín Bedia2, Fabrizio Di Liberto3
1Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC), National Research Council (CNR), Corso Fiume 4, 10133 Torino, Italy.
Plos One
|March 17, 2016
Summary
Forest fire burned area and number of fires decreased significantly in Southern Europe from 1985-2011. This trend is linked to improved fire management and socioeconomic shifts, though warming may increase future risks.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Science
- Ecology
- Climate Change Studies
Background:
- Forest fires pose significant environmental risks in Southern Europe.
- Assessing fire statistics trends is crucial for understanding climate and socioeconomic impacts.
- A homogenized fire database integrating official statistics from multiple agencies was utilized.
Purpose of the Study:
- To quantitatively assess recent trends in forest fire statistics in Southern Europe.
- To analyze shifts in burned area and fire frequency potentially induced by environmental and socioeconomic changes.
- To investigate the influence of climate change and fire management efforts on fire regimes.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of a homogenized fire database covering Portugal, Spain, southern France, Italy, and Greece (1985-2011).
- Quantitative assessment of trends in annual burned area (BA) and annual number of fires (NF).
- Comparison with longer-term data where available to validate recent trends.
Main Results:
- A general decreasing trend in total annual burned area (BA) across Southern Europe, with Portugal showing a heterogeneous signal.
- Global decrease in BA by approximately 3020 km2 (-66% of mean historical value) over the study period.
- Global decrease in annual number of fires (NF) by approximately 12600 (-59%), with an exception of an upward trend in Spain (excluding Mediterranean coast).
Conclusions:
- Negative trends in fire statistics are partly attributed to enhanced fire management and prevention efforts post-1980s.
- Positive trends in some regions may be linked to socioeconomic changes, landscape configurations, and recent warming.
- Data homogenization is essential for accurate analysis of fire statistics due to temporal variations in detection efforts.
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