Abstract
There is a widespread perception that every year wildfires are intensifying on a global scale, something that is often used as an indicator of the adverse impacts of global warming. However, from the analysis of wildfires that have occurred in the US, Canada, and Mediterranean countries, a trend that justifies this perception could not be identified. Arguably, instead of blaming climate change, research on the mitigation of wildfires should be re-directed to forest management policy and practices. Forests are admirable and complex natural ecosystems, and fires, albeit devastating, can be attributed to both human activity and to natural processes that contribute to their rebirth, with the latter constituting an intrinsic and perpetual process of the forest ecosystem. Other than their important ecological value, forests are, in the 21st century, also a capital resource, for many people’s livelihoods depend on them. In this study, we proposed a method for taking mitigation measures against wildfires based on the partitioning of forests, considering both the protection of the ecosystem and the inhabitants and aiming to utilize their co-dependent nature for the general protection and preservation of forests. As a case study, we analyzed the current devastating fire in Euboea (occurred in August 2021), initially in terms of the spatio-temporal progression of the actual wildfire that lasted several days and then by examining how an implementation of the proposed method in the study area could contribute to both the recovery of the ecosystem and the enhancement of the quality of life of the inhabitants as well as their long-term protection.
Highlights
Fire is not an unexpected phenomenon that can be solely attributed to human activity [1] but a process that occurs naturally since, in many cases, it is considered a necessary mechanism for the rebirth of forests [2]
As we observe a systematic weakness of the mitigation methods to control the fire, we focus on related studies which propose a different approach based on precaution, with measures focusing on land uses [5–7] and alternative forest management
Our proposal for the protection of forests is the sustainable partitioning of forests through the design and creation of SCFZs
Summary
Fire is not an unexpected phenomenon that can be solely attributed to human activity [1] but a process that occurs naturally since, in many cases, it is considered a necessary mechanism for the rebirth of forests [2]. Several large wildfires have occurred worldwide in recent years and have been given international publicity. These fires are often used as an indicator of climate change [3]. Are we defenseless against future natural hazards that are beyond mitigation, or is there room for improvement in forest management policy and practice?. A common perception is that in recent years, fires and their impact have increased.
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