The bio-economy as an opportunity to tackle wildfires in Mediterranean forest ecosystems

Wildfires represent a threat to forests and society and the risk of wildfires is expected to increase with global change. How should wildfires be tackled in the future? A paradigm shift is needed from the current focus on fire suppression to the management of forests, accompanied by the improved und...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Forest policy and economics 2018-01, Vol.86, p.1-3
Main Authors: Verkerk, P.J., Martinez de Arano, I., Palahí, M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bio-economy
Chemicals
Ecosystems
Environmental changes
Fire prevention
Forest & brush fires
Forest ecosystems
Forest fires
Forest management
Forests
Incentives
Mediterranean
Risk
Wildfire
Wildfires
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Summary:Wildfires represent a threat to forests and society and the risk of wildfires is expected to increase with global change. How should wildfires be tackled in the future? A paradigm shift is needed from the current focus on fire suppression to the management of forests, accompanied by the improved understanding that forests are a valuable resource and provide many benefits to society. Through the development of high value-added products, materials, fuels and chemicals, a forest-based bio-economy could provide the necessary investments and incentives to ensure sustainable, integrated forest and fire management strategies and thereby reduce fuel loads and fuel continuity, while at the same time revealing that forests are a valuable resource and provide many benefits to society. •Catastrophic wildfires represent a threat to forests and society.•A paradigm shift is needed from fire suppression to management at landscape level.•New forest value chains could activate forest management and reduce wildfire risk.•The bio-economy is an opportunity to develop Mediterranean forest value chains.
ISSN:1389-9341
1872-7050
DOI:10.1016/j.forpol.2017.10.016