Three decades of forest fires in Portugal: regional incidence and main driving forces

Authors

  • Adélia Nunes Departamento de Geografia e Centro de Estudos em Geografia e Ordenamento do Território (CEGOT). Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Coimbra
  • Luciano Lourenço Departamento de Geografia e Centro de Estudos em Geografia e Ordenamento do Território (CEGOT). Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Coimbra
  • António Bento-Gonçalves Departamento de Geografia e Centro de Estudos em Geografia e Ordenamento do Território (CEGOT). Universidade do Minho
  • António Vieira Departamento de Geografia e Centro de Estudos em Geografia e Ordenamento do Território (CEGOT). Universidade do Minho

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14195/0871-1623_32_12

Keywords:

Ignitions, Burnt area, Regional variability, Main driving forces, Portugal

Abstract

Forest fires constitute, in Portugal mainland, the most relevant environmental problem and have been frequently explained by the climatic and meteorological characteristics of our territory, affecting both the availability and flammability of fuels. However, the Mediterranean profile of the Portuguese climate does not justify, per se, neither the high number of ignition nor the large burnt area over the last three decades. The purpose of this paper was to analyze the evolution and tendencies in regional distribution of both forest fire ignitions and burnt areas in mainland Portugal, since 1981 until 2010, and to identify the relationship between biophysical variables and socio-demographic trajectories and the incidence of forest fires at the district level.

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Published

2013-09-01

Issue

No. 32 (2013): Cadernos de Geografia n. 32

Section

Outros

License

Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows sharing the work with recognition of authorship and initial publication in Antropologia Portuguesa journal.