A look at forest fires in Portugal: technical, institutional, and social perceptions

Abstract

Forest fires affect Portugal and other southern European countries to a greater or lesser extent every year, causing severe environmental, social, and economic damage. This research is based upon the analysis of the results of a case study on the technical and social perceptions of multiple dimensions of forest fires in Portugal, which brings together the views and perspectives of different entities with expertise in forest management and in forest protection against fires, forest owners, and members of the public. Assessing perceptions of forest fires has proved to be relevant when it comes to a greater involvement of the local population in forest management. The results show that the opinions of local respondents were consensual in identifying crime as the main cause of the forest fires. Additionally, it is the repeated failure to clean the forest biomass which cause the rapid spread of forest fires. Damage caused to the environment was more of an issue with the local forestry technicians, and economic issues were at the forefront for the local community. Various solutions were put forward to mitigate these problems, but everyone agreed that cleaning the forests biomass and punishing arsonists should be at the top of the list of priorities.