Teresa M. Deubelli, IIASA, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
Joanne Linnerooth-Bayer, IIASA, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
Eva Preinfalk, IIASA, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis

As the risk of wildfires in wildlands and the Wildland Urban Interface mounts across Europe due to socioeconomic developments, degenerating ecosystems and climate change, so does the financial burden on public and private forest owners, forest infrastructure managers and other wildland stakeholders, possibly reaching beyond their means. Liability issues related to controlled and uncontrolled burns and lack of equitable access to resources add to the equity issues of wildfires. As emphasized by the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, risk financing and risk transfer, including insurance, offer opportunities for increasing resilience to wildfire risks, for incentivizing measures to reduce risk and address equity concerns. However, evidence suggests unused potential for integrating incentives for risk reduction in risk-sharing mechanisms and a need for equity provisions to make risk-sharing mechanisms more accessible across diverse wildland stakeholder groups. In view of this, this roundtable offers an opportunity to exchange and reflect on options for equitable risk-sharing mechanisms for increasing wildfire risks in Europe. The discussion will focus on introducing equity thinking in the context of wildfire risk management from a financing perspective, and share evidence from applications of different insurance mechanisms for wildfire risks, and discuss incentives for reducing risks and building resilience.

Sean Parks, USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station
Jonathan Coop, Western Colorado University
Camille Stevens-Rumann, Colorado State University
Ellen Whitman, Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service

Increasing wildfire activity across portions of the planet poses profound risks for human communities and ecological systems. Recent fire years in Australia, Europe, North America, and Siberia are characterized not only by expanding area burned but also explosive fire growth. In the western US, for example, several fires grew by >40,000 hectares within a 24-hour period during the 2020 fire season. Extreme fire spread events such as these are poorly understood but disproportionately responsible for wildfire impacts: just the largest 1% of single-day fire spread events account for 20% of annual area burned (in the western US). As extreme fire spread events are linked to warmer and drier conditions, we expect that their frequency will increase under future climate.

In this roundtable discussion, we will lead a discussion on the causes and consequences of extreme fire spread.

We will engage the global fire community in this discussion and will examine extreme fire spread considering both social and ecological factors. Our ultimate goals are to 1) gain insights about how the causes consequences of extreme fire spread vary across ecosystems, fire regimes, and social systems and 2) increase collaboration among fire scientists across globe interested in extreme fire spread.

Eva Preinfalk, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
John Handmer, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)

Devastating fire seasons around the world have shown the far-reaching consequences of wildfires, threatening lives, assets, economic production and ecosystem health. With climate change bringing more droughts and higher temperatures, fires are increasing in frequency and severity. In addition to climatic drivers, settlement patterns, agricultural land-use, forestry practices and implemented risk management strategies are fundamental to determining future wildfire risk. Yet, comprehensive assessments of these socio-economic determinants in the context of wildfires remain scarce.

We identify relevant impact chains affecting three major dimensions of human well-being: economy/livelihoods, health & ecosystems. By accounting for range of possible socio-economic developments and different adaptation policy scenarios, we develop alternative pathways for wildfire vulnerability and adaptation across Europe. We then contrast traditional coping or incremental adaptation actions with more transformative approaches, investigating their effectiveness in reducing wildfire risk across a range of societal and economic futures. Guiding questions for the roundtable discussion include:

• What are socio-economic drivers of future wildfire risk?
• How effective is a conventional approach of wildfire management in mitigating the growing risk?
• What is the scope for more transformative approaches in wildfire risk management?

Carolyn Baldwin, Great Plains Fire Science Exchange and Kansas State University
John Weir, Oklahoma State University
Morgan Treadwell, Texas A&M University

What are the challenges you face in prescribed burning? What can we learn from each other to overcome these challenges? By comparing and contrasting our experiences, we can find solutions through shared knowledge and collaborative problem-solving. The session will begin with brief presentations from 4-6 prescribed burners outlining how they burn in their country, including typical equipment and procedures as well as the social, community, and regulatory aspects of prescribed burning including outreach communication and prescribed burn associations. After the presentations, participants will gather in small groups to discuss how they would approach conducting a prescribed burn on a sample burn unit. How would it be burned? Would it be possible to burn it in your regulatory or social context? What resources would be available? What challenges would be involved? The remainder of the time will be spent in small groups coalesced around self-determined topics of mutual interest.

Eduard Mauri, European Forest Institute
Celia García Feced, Wildfire Management Service of the Spanish Ministry for the Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge

Mediterranean countries are a worldwide hotspot for wildfires. Lessons learnt there can be applied to other areas under the same climate. In 2011, FAO published the Position Paper on Wildfire Prevention in the Mediterranean; since then, there has been much progress. In March 2022, at the 7th Mediterranean Forest Week, the European Forest Institute and the Spanish Ministry for the Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge announced an update of the Position Paper and since then, an editorial team has made a first draft with contributions from a group of experts from several Mediterranean countries.

We do not want to miss any recommendation; therefore, we are using this roundtable to expand the group. We wish to collect more input from wildfire experts and forest managers from Mediterranean basin countries, and from other Mediterranean regions worldwide to address the topic with a broader scope.

Participants to this roundtable will receive the current draft of the Position Paper in advance, to assist in preparing their feedback and intervention. During the roundtable, recommendations and proposed actions will be presented and reviewed for update. Participants with a significant contribution will be invited to become co-authors of the updated Position Paper.

2011 Position Paper editon: https://www.fao.org/forestry/49223-06791969d1427714a896b8faeee2aa501.pdf

Robin Verble, Missouri University of Science and Technology
Rachel Granberg, United States Forest Service
Seth Pearson, United States Forest Service
Miranda Ragland, Missouri University of Science and Technology
Jennifer Harrell, Missouri University of Science and Technology

Wildland firefighters have physically and psychologically demanding jobs that can result in social, economic, and health-related stress. Previous studies have examined the physiological and physical effects of a career in wildland fire, but fewer studies have directly analyzed the experiences of wildland firefighters. We surveyed the attitudes, experiences and morale of wildland firefighters, explore factors that can improve recruitment and retention, and summarized broad patterns in their experiences. Our data found that working conditions exacerbated mental health conditions, caused familial and financial strain, and were physically unsafe off the fire line. Respondents reported dissatisfaction with recruitment and hiring processes, insufficient base salaries, poor mental health outcomes, and elevated risks to health and safety. Respondents also reported high importance of training, performance feedback, and work environment. Compounded with other former work on wildland firefighter families and the strains on their lives, this survey yields important results that can inform future policies surrounding federal firefighting workplaces.

The goal of this roundtable discussion is to highlight these results and spur a conversation about current and aspirational working conditions and culture in the wildland firefighting community, specifically addressing how both fire and political leaders can shape the future of the field. Given current efforts to redefine federal policies and job status in the United States for wildland firefighters, this is a timely and relevant topic.

Judith A. Kirschner, European University Cyprus
Davide Ascoli, University of Turin
Julian Clark, University of Birmingham
Silvia Calvani, University of Florence
George Boustras, European University Cyprus
Peter Moore, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Anthropogenic wildfires in the Mediterranean are a fundamental ecological process, but intensifying fire regimes and a growing exposure result in a high risk to the coupled human and natural system. To manage the resulting disaster risk, a paradigm shift is needed from the current emphasis on short-term emergency response, towards a proactive approach focused on long-term prevention through integrated risk management. Here, we empirically investigate the case of Italy as an example of a Mediterranean country with a high wildfire risk, and a long tradition of wildfire occurrence and management. Our case is particularly relevant as a recently adopted law (155/2021) appears to be creating a strongly unbalanced focus on the emergency response approach. We use a semi-structured email-survey to illustrate the governance arrangement driving current fire management approaches. Focusing on the national level and regional level (represented through seven selected regions across Italy), we examine (dis)satisfaction with the status quo in wildfire management as perceived by diverse stakeholder groups. We then focus on five governance dimensions more closely: i) formal institutions, ii) actor participation, iii) collaboration and coproduction across multiple levels, scales, and networks, iv) path dependencies and local place-based dynamics, and v) management strategies fostering adaptation to and anticipation of changing wildfire regimes. Results indicate provide insights where interests, power, responsibility, and accountability for decisions on wildfire risk management are shared between stakeholders and across levels. We conclude with practical suggestions for policymakers and fire practitioners, with the goal to diversify and integrate management strategies for wildfire risk in a warming world.