FP0701 - Post-Fire Forest Management in Southern Europe

Every year about 45000 forest fires occur in Europe, burning half a million hectares of land. Post-fire forest management deals with the restoration of burned areas and with the opportunity for establishing more resilient forests and landscapes.
The main objective of this Action is the development and dissemination of scientifically based decision criteria for post-fire forest management, from stand to landscape level planning, by gathering and evaluating the results of previous and ongoing research. Secondly, it aims at transferring this scientific knowledge into management practices. Thirdly, it aims at making the connection between scientists and stakeholders by communicating these practices to the end-users. The main outcomes will be: i) a book gathering the state-of-the-art of scientific knowledge on post-fire management, ii) an electronic handbook on post-fire restoration, iii) a major conference, and iv) the organization of three Training Schools for knowledge transfer. Although focused on Southern Europe, the outcomes of this Action will be crucial for central and northern European countries as well, as climate change and an increased area of forests are already increasing fire hazard in these regions.

Keywords: fire hazard, Post-fire forest management, post-fire restoration and rehabilitation, forest and landscape resilience, knowledge transfer