Towards smart territories tackling forest fires

Abstract

To face the growing impact of large wildfires in the last few decades, a conceptual framework and an operational tool for participative territorial planning allowing risk mitigation are presented. We advocate for a preventive (rather than reactive) approach relying of land uses that reduce fuel load in a cost-effective way (wood harvesting, livestock husbandry, intercropping and agroforestry). "Productive fuel breaks" are proposed as preventive infrastructures aimed at avoiding fire spread in strategic locations. In addition, these infrastructures may trigger entrepreneurship in the scarcely populated areas where large fires occur.