Agricultural policy can reduce wildfires

A local resident battles wildfire in Portugal.
PHOTO: GLOBAL MEDIA GROUP/SIPA USA/NEWSCOM

Last year, once again, forest fires took their toll in southern Europe. In Portugal alone, at least 500,000 ha were burned, 100 people were killed, and 500 houses were lost (1, 2). As in most Mediterranean countries, wildfires raged mainly through abandoned farmland that has turned into forests and shrublands.

Agriculture is an important driver of European wildfires. It is a major source of fire ignitions (3, 4). Additionally, farmland abandonment and policies promoting forestry increase fire hazard, as they lead to vegetation growth and fuel build-up in the landscape (5). However, agriculture is also part of the solution. Agricultural areas, such as crops, orchards, and grasslands, are much less fire-prone, particularly if they include irrigated crops (5, 6). The European Union's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is a powerful financial instrument that can contribute to sustainable environmental management and climate change adaptation. The vision for CAP, recently proposed by the European Commission (7), addresses natural hazards from climate change, including fire, but focuses on farmers and their crops.

The CAP should assume a larger role in reducing fire hazard by addressing four priorities. First, CAP should foster the maintenance or reintroduction of extensive livestock grazing in areas prone to abandonment. Second, CAP should promote agricultural use in the wildland-urban interface, mainly around villages in remote areas where the historical surrounding agricultural area has been lost, resulting in vegetation succession and an increased risk of economic damage and loss of human lives, as fires enter villages. These agricultural belts can passively protect urban areas and valuable infrastructures, in addition to facilitating both firefighting operations and the suppression of fire ignitions. Third, CAP should decrease fire ignitions by regulating the burning of crop residues, the use of fire by shepherds in mountain ranges, and the use of agricultural machinery during the dry season. Fourth, CAP should promote adequate forest management in high–fire risk areas, including protecting and restoring open woodland vegetation (such as wood pastures), giving preference to agro-forestry over dense tree plantations, restoring the use of understory biomass as bio-energy to avoid accumulation of flammable material, and selecting native, less fire-prone, tree species in forestry [such as native oak species instead of pine or eucalyptus (5, 8)].

Megafires are mostly driven by weather conditions (9), and with climate change we should anticipate an increase in their frequency and impact, especially in southern Europe (10). The current strong investment in fire suppression, in a context of farmland abandonment, results in increased fuel loads and potential for larger future fires (11). The European agricultural policy should instead balance fire suppression with nature-based solutions. Multifunctional, fire-resilient, mosaic landscapes can maintain both natural and cultural assets and serve to reduce fire intensity and damage when burned.

References

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European Commission, “The future of food and farming: Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament” (European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, 2017).
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