Summary:
Wildfire risk across the Northern Mediterranean is rising as climate change, land abandonment and fuel accumulation contribute to more frequent and intense fires. An international research team assessed whether integrated landscape approaches could support longer-term wildfire risk mitigation by connecting ecological management with social and economic priorities.
The study examined ten initiatives in four Mediterranean countries, including livestock grazing to reduce combustible vegetation, controlled burning and cooperation among agriculture, forestry, conservation, research and fire services. Initiatives were more successful when they combined different land uses, involved multiple stakeholder groups and adapted their management over time. Strong leadership, institutional support and participatory governance also helped create more coherent approaches.
Weaknesses remained in monitoring trade-offs between competing objectives and coordinating strategies across sectors and geographic scales. Published in iScience, the study concludes that expanding landscape-based wildfire mitigation will require sustained collaboration, long-term governance capacity, funding and shared learning. The approach could help address wildfire risk while also supporting biodiversity conservation, sustainable land use and rural development.
— Press Release —
Working together to combat wildfires: Building resilient landscapes
Wildfires in the Mediterranean region are becoming drastically more intense. The recent major fires in France, Spain and Greece show that firefighting efforts are reaching their limits. An international research team led by the Universities of Göttingen and Kassel is therefore calling for a fundamentally new approach to landscape design: in the journal iScience, the researchers demonstrate that wildfire prevention should be conceived and planned in conjunction with nature conservation, agriculture and rural development.
Using ten landscape planning initiatives in the Mediterranean region as a basis, the team investigated how these affected the risk of wildfires. The models ranged from extensive grazing with cattle, sheep and goats (to reduce combustible biomass) through to controlled burning and collaboration between the agricultural and forestry sectors, nature conservation organisations, the scientific community and the fire services.
The result: initiatives that combined different forms of land use, actively involved various social groups and continuously refined their measures proved to be particularly successful. The researchers are therefore advocating a shift in wildfire management from a predominantly reactive approach to firefighting towards a long-term, preventive approach to shaping resilient landscapes.
Read also: Climate change squeezes global firefighting efforts as wildfire seasons collide
“Wildfires are not just a problem for the forestry sector, but the result of complex interactions between climate, land use and societal developments. Our findings show that successful wildfire prevention combines ecological, economic and social objectives and brings relevant stakeholders together,” explains lead author Dr Elsa Varela from the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), who coordinated the study as a Humboldt Fellow at the Chair of Socio-Ecological Interactions in Agricultural Systems at the Universities of Göttingen and Kassel.
“A new landscape-based approach offers the opportunity to combine wildfire prevention with biodiversity conservation and sustainable land use. This leads to solutions that are ecologically effective and socially viable,” emphasises Professor Tobias Plieninger from the same chair. “This requires stable partnerships, long-term funding and joint learning processes between science, policy and practice.”
Journal Reference:
Varela, E. et al., ‘Capitalizing on integrated landscape approaches for wildfire risk mitigation in the Mediterranean region’, iScience (2026). DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2026.116741. Also available on ScienceDirect.
Article Source:
Press Release/Material by University of Göttingen
Featured image: The ‘Mosaico Extremadura’ initiative in northern Extremadura (Spain) aims to restore a diverse mosaic landscape characterized by agriculture and forestry in order to reduce the risk of wildfires. Credit: Fernando J. Pulido
