Characterising wildfire impacts on ecosystem services: A triangulation of scientific findings, governmental reports, and expert perceptions in Portugal

Abstract

Fire has major impacts on forest ecosystems, with heightened relevance in a Mediterranean country such as Portugal, which within Europe features the highest number of wildfires and the second larger burnt area. After each significant wildfire, the Portuguese Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF) assesses the main environmental impacts and proposes emergency stabilisation measures following specific regulations. This study seeks to improve such assessments by using a data triangulation approach to characterise the impacts of wildfires on ecosystem services in the country. First, a systematic literature review is performed to identify the scientific studies that address the issue. Next, a document analysis of all the emergency stabilisation reports and technical reports available on ICNF’s website is performed. Finally, a survey of experts’ perceptions on the topic completes the analysis. The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity definitions of ecosystem services were employed to compare the different findings. The results indicate that the experts perceive wildfires to significantly impact all ecosystem services, even though the literature has so far only focused on 12 of them, and ICNF has so far only focused on 7 in its reports. The potential underlying motives are discussed. In particular, some important impacts identified in the literature, as is the case of Climate regulation, a topic of the highest priority in the European environmental agenda, have not so far been a topic of focus in ICNF’s reports, which suggests relevant opportunities for enhancing its reporting process in the future.