Publication
Wildfires in Portugal: where and why?
| dc.contributor.author | Nunes, Adélia | |
| dc.contributor.author | Meira Castro, Ana C. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Lourenço, Luciano | |
| dc.contributor.author | Martins, Bruno | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2019-04-12T09:47:31Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2019-04-12T09:47:31Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2018 | |
| dc.description.abstract | Fire has been a key tool used by humans for several thousands of years and a vital component in ecosystem dynamics. Uncontrolled fires cause, however, large environmental and economic damages, especially in the Mediterranean region. Nowadays, wildfires rank top of all European forest problems, affecting landscape, wildlife, vegetation, soils, water and air quality, as well as the human wellbeing Portugal has the highest relative burnt area of all southern European countries, between 1980 and 2017. Therefore, several studies have been addressed to the drivers behind wildfires in Portuguese territory, linking them mainly with climate/weather conditions and changes in the landscape mosaic, as a consequence of agricultural abandonment and a marked increase in land covered by shrubs, grass and other light vegetation that is very prone to fire. The association between social and economic vulnerability and wildfire incidence, particularly in terms of burnt area, has received less attention. Based on the assumption that the association between burnt area incidence and socio-economic vulnerability varied geographically, the main goals of this study are: to analyse the spatial patterns of burnt area on a municipal level; to identify the most critical social and economic variables associated with spatial incidence and recurrence of wildfires, by comparing the performance of classical linear regression and geographically weighted regression (GWR) modelling; to map spatial variation in the relationships between social and economic vulnerability and wildfire incidence in order to identify spatial clusters. The results obtained clearly show a strong spatial association between the incidence of burnt areas and some socio-economic variables that contribute to wildfire vulnerability in mainland Portugal. In general, the results demonstrated that the municipalities with high burnt areas displayed high social and economic vulnerability as a result of the higher ageing index and unemployment rates. Conversely, higher income populations and the prevalence of higher livestock densities, namely sheep and goats, influence negatively on the burnt extension. The overlap between socio-economic vulnerability, in terms of low socio-economic status of residents, and wildfire incidence in Portuguese territory suggests a need to evaluate wildfire management policies with regard to social and economic conditions. | pt_PT |
| dc.description.version | N/A | pt_PT |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10400.22/13533 | |
| dc.language.iso | eng | pt_PT |
| dc.subject | Wildfires | pt_PT |
| dc.subject | Socio-economic vulnerability | pt_PT |
| dc.subject | Geographically Weighted Regression | pt_PT |
| dc.subject | Municipal regression coefficients | pt_PT |
| dc.subject | Portugal | pt_PT |
| dc.title | Wildfires in Portugal: where and why? | pt_PT |
| dc.type | conference object | |
| dspace.entity.type | Publication | |
| oaire.citation.conferencePlace | November 14-16, 2018 - Lisbon, Portugal | pt_PT |
| oaire.citation.title | 8th International Conference on Building Resilience (ICBR'2018) | pt_PT |
| person.familyName | Meira Castro | |
| person.givenName | Ana C. | |
| person.identifier.ciencia-id | 4114-8077-FF55 | |
| person.identifier.orcid | 0000-0001-5579-6550 | |
| person.identifier.rid | A-3027-2012 | |
| person.identifier.scopus-author-id | 37070861900 | |
| rcaap.rights | openAccess | pt_PT |
| rcaap.type | conferenceObject | pt_PT |
| relation.isAuthorOfPublication | 270998d3-93af-4186-a5cc-9045b6958d3b | |
| relation.isAuthorOfPublication.latestForDiscovery | 270998d3-93af-4186-a5cc-9045b6958d3b |