Meira Castro, Ana C.Meixido, João Paulo2017-11-132017http://hdl.handle.net/10400.22/10400Prescribed fires in forest areas are frequently used in most Mediterranean countries as a preventive technique to avoid several wildfires in the summer season. In Portugal this forest management pratice is a common tool used for biota control and for reduction of forest fuel mass availability, and therefore to promote the reduce of wildfire occurrence and a shorter fire suppression effort. Although the use of precribed fire has been shown to be beneficial - as annual statistical reports confirm the the decrease of wildfires accurrence has a direct relationship with the controlled fire practice - serious side effects, in some forest soil properties, were also reported. Taking in consideration the pros and cons, ICNF - the Portuguese Institute of Nature and Forest Conservation - still adopts the use of prescribed fires nowadays as a tool for the maintenance of forest sustainability. In this work, we describe the use of prescribed fire in Portugal under a forest management perspective and we reflect over the evolution of the term forest sustainability in the last decades and how it played an important role on forest management options.engPrescribed fireForest managementForest sustainabilityPortugalbook part