Collaborative agroforestry to mitigate wildfires in Extremadura, Spain: land manager motivations and perceptions of outcomes, benefits, and policy needs

Franziska Wolpert; Cristina Quintas-Soriano; Fernando Pulido; Lynn Huntsinger; Tobias Plieninger

doi:10.1007/s10457-022-00771-6

Collaborative agroforestry to mitigate wildfires in Extremadura, Spain: land manager motivations and perceptions of outcomes, benefits, and policy needs

Agrofor Syst. 2022;96(8):1135-1149. doi: 10.1007/s10457-022-00771-6. Epub 2022 Oct 10.

Authors

Franziska Wolpert¹, Cristina Quintas-Soriano², Fernando Pulido³, Lynn Huntsinger⁴, Tobias Plieninger^{1

5}

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Organic Agricultural Sciences, University of Kassel, Steinstraße 19, 37213 Witzenhausen, Germany.
² Biology and Geology Department, Andalusian Center for the Assessment and Monitoring of Global Change (CAESCG), University of Almeria, Almería, Spain.
³ Institute for Dehesa Research (INDEHESA), University of Extremadura, Plasencia, Spain.
⁴ Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management (ESPM), University of California, Berkeley, USA.
⁵ Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, University of Göttingen, 37073 Göttingen, Germany.

Abstract

Wildfires are increasing in severity, and magnitude in the Mediterranean Basin in recent years, reaching a yearly average of 450 000 ha over the last decade. Drivers include climate change, land-use change, and land abandonment. Wildfire mitigation requires landscape-level action as impact to each parcel is affected by the conditions of the others. We conducted a case study of a regional-level initiative that develops community efforts to mitigate wildfires through silvo-pastoral agroforestry systems, using an integrated landscape management approach. This approach involves collaboration among stakeholders to achieve multiple objectives. In order to derive insights into its potential, we asked participating land managers: (1) What motivates their participation?, (2) How do they perceive initiative outcomes?, and as urban outmigrants with non-traditional goals are increasing in rural areas, (3) Do responses differ between rural and neo-rural participants? Our results show that managers feel highly affected by wildfires and are strongly motivated to reduce wildfire risk. Land abandonment and inappropriate policy were major concerns. The initiative was seen to have positive outcomes for individual participants as well as the region, and to stimulate community connectedness. We conclude that fit to local contexts, integrated landscape management can be a well-received approach to reducing wildfire risk. Agroforestry systems in Extremadura can act as "productive fuelbreaks" that reduce fire risk over extensive areas, while restoring traditional landscapes. We suggest that programs to reduce wildfire risk can also be used as a leverage point for financing rural revival and provision of multiple ecosystem services.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10457-022-00771-6.

Keywords: Agroforestry; Integrated landscape management; Land abandonment; Mediterranean; Productive fuelbreaks; Silvopastoralism; Wildfire mitigation.