Periodic Reporting for period 1 - FIRELOGUE (Cross-sector dialogue for Wildfire Risk Management)
Período documentado: 2021-11-01 hasta 2023-04-30
Wildfires are a growing problem across the world, as unprecedented wildfires have raged with an intensity and across geographical regions never seen before while climate change further increases their frequency and severity. Furthermore, the multitude of stakeholders – ranging from forestry and agriculture to infrastructure operators, insurance, civil society, civil protection authorities and first responders – constitutes a challenge in designing integrated wildfire risk management (WFMR) policies. In line with demands for more public participation, transparency and fairness in risk management institutions and procedures, Firelogue aims to coordinate and support the Innovation Actions (IAs) funded under Green Deal Call "LC-GD-1-1-2020 - Preventing and fighting extreme wildfires with the integration and demonstration of innovative means". It does so by integrating their findings across stakeholder groups and fire management phases.
Conceptually, one of the main aspects addressed by Firelogue is the integration of justice and equity aspects into multi-stakeholder processes in designing integrated wildfire risk management approaches. The concept is applied to different discussion formats that Firelogue implements by the means of five thematic working groups (environment/ecology, citizens, civil protection, insurance and infrastructures). Its overall aim is the reduction of wildfire risk while taking justice aspects into consideration and making synergies and conflicts between different stakeholders and measures explicit and hence actionable.
Conceptually, one of the main aspects addressed by Firelogue is the integration of justice and equity aspects into multi-stakeholder processes in designing integrated wildfire risk management approaches. The concept is applied to different discussion formats that Firelogue implements by the means of five thematic working groups (environment/ecology, citizens, civil protection, insurance and infrastructures). Its overall aim is the reduction of wildfire risk while taking justice aspects into consideration and making synergies and conflicts between different stakeholders and measures explicit and hence actionable.
Firelogue is organised along three dimensions:
1. The overall coordination and networking between the EU Fire Projects (Support Dimension). This encompasses the organisation of Wildfire Project Clustering Events with the first event being implemented digitally in April 2022. In addition, discussions around the development of a Joint Impact Assessment towards the Green Deal targets are facilitated and all events organised by the individual projects such as webinars or case study events were cross-promoted via email and the use of social media.
2. The development of an overview of project results and facilitation of collaboration (Coordination dimension). The coordinating dimension in Firelogue builds on the elaboration of equity and justice aspects in wildfire risk management as an important dimension for developing effective strategies in a complex multi-stakeholder environment. Under this dimension, the Just Transition concept and its applicability to the WFRM context were explored and even translated into a Nature Climate Change publication. In addition, five thematic working groups (environment/ecology, citizen engagement, infrastructure, insurance and civil protection) were established which will discuss the results from the IAs and offer a forum for developing policy recommendations.
3. The Connecting Dimension relates to the integration of knowledge. Firelogue therefore developed a knowledge platform building in the Lessons on Fire platform by the Pau Costa Foundation. It includes the Technology Mall which will allow the creation of short portraits for the technological solutions developed. For the non-technological solutions, a dedicated section for “WFRM measures” has been created. In addition, a case study map containing the location of all IA and FirEUrisk case studies as well as a summary of their activities was created. There is also a library of fire-related articles and scientific research papers, to which the users can upload their work and become part of the WFRM community as well as an online calendar of fire-related events where a registered user can upload and promote event/workshop/conference etc. Moreover, the Firelogue Thematic Strands contributing to the creation of a knowledge base or further processing in the Working Groups (see above) have taken up their work. Finally, a roadmap detailing the collaboration between the Innovation Actions was developed and several conferences were attended collaboratively such as the IX International Conference on Forest Fire Research (ICFFR) in Coimbra in November 2022, the International Wildland Fire Conference (IWFC) in Porto in May 2023 or the RISE SD Event in Rhodes in May 2023.
1. The overall coordination and networking between the EU Fire Projects (Support Dimension). This encompasses the organisation of Wildfire Project Clustering Events with the first event being implemented digitally in April 2022. In addition, discussions around the development of a Joint Impact Assessment towards the Green Deal targets are facilitated and all events organised by the individual projects such as webinars or case study events were cross-promoted via email and the use of social media.
2. The development of an overview of project results and facilitation of collaboration (Coordination dimension). The coordinating dimension in Firelogue builds on the elaboration of equity and justice aspects in wildfire risk management as an important dimension for developing effective strategies in a complex multi-stakeholder environment. Under this dimension, the Just Transition concept and its applicability to the WFRM context were explored and even translated into a Nature Climate Change publication. In addition, five thematic working groups (environment/ecology, citizen engagement, infrastructure, insurance and civil protection) were established which will discuss the results from the IAs and offer a forum for developing policy recommendations.
3. The Connecting Dimension relates to the integration of knowledge. Firelogue therefore developed a knowledge platform building in the Lessons on Fire platform by the Pau Costa Foundation. It includes the Technology Mall which will allow the creation of short portraits for the technological solutions developed. For the non-technological solutions, a dedicated section for “WFRM measures” has been created. In addition, a case study map containing the location of all IA and FirEUrisk case studies as well as a summary of their activities was created. There is also a library of fire-related articles and scientific research papers, to which the users can upload their work and become part of the WFRM community as well as an online calendar of fire-related events where a registered user can upload and promote event/workshop/conference etc. Moreover, the Firelogue Thematic Strands contributing to the creation of a knowledge base or further processing in the Working Groups (see above) have taken up their work. Finally, a roadmap detailing the collaboration between the Innovation Actions was developed and several conferences were attended collaboratively such as the IX International Conference on Forest Fire Research (ICFFR) in Coimbra in November 2022, the International Wildland Fire Conference (IWFC) in Porto in May 2023 or the RISE SD Event in Rhodes in May 2023.
From a scientific point of view, the main achievement development so far is the conceptual basis for integrating equity and justice aspects into multi-stakeholder processes in managing wildfire risk. More specifically, Firelogue applied aspects of Just Transition and environmental justice to the wildfire risk context and proposes that the “justice lense” will allow for the identification of synergies and conflicts across different stakeholder groups. We presuppose that an understanding of these synergies and conflicts with respect to overall WFRM interests but also with respect to specific measures is important to design integrated multi-stakeholder WFRM strategies. Tying this approach to workshop concepts will allow to make synergies and conflicts explicit and hence actionable. This conceptual grounding is an entirely novel approach to engaging stakeholders in WFRM. It was presented in a joint paper among several partners (IIASA, FhG, CTFC) that has just been accepted for publication by Nature Climate Change (NCC).
The concept will be applied via workshop formats by the means of five thematic working groups (environment/ecology, society, insurance, infrastructure and civil protection. The working groups are led by Firelogue partners CTFC, VOST, IIASA, KEMEA and TIEMS. They are composed of experts from the Green Deal IAs as well as additional experts from the Firelogue Associated Partners and the wider Firelogue network.
This conceptual grounding and “discussion infrastructure” serves as a blue print for the practical design of integrated WFRM strategies at different scales. At the same time, the working groups are a forum for the IAs to connect and integrate their findings along thematic fields as well as to further embed them into integrated approaches through cross-Working Group exchanges. As such, this will not only allow for the integration of results but also for the formulation of policy recommendations.
Furthermore, Firelogue has established its digital platform. Building on the Lessons on Fire platform by Firelogue partner Pau Costa Foundation (PCF), is has hence set-up a central infrastructure for the IAs to make their publications, technologies, and suggested measures available at a central place while also promoting WFRM events and connecting stakeholders. Since PCF will be able to run the platform after the project lifetime, it can serve as a central place for knowledge sharing among different types of WFRM stakeholders and hence facilitate wildfire risk reduction more broadly.
Finally, Firelogue facilitates the collaboration across the Green Deal projects (and additional Fire projects) very practically by sharing information about events, trials, publications but also by designing and implementing joint conference sessions and Clustering Events. With these activities, Firelogue aims to strengthen the Wildfire Risk Community in Europe and to better connect different types of stakeholders form science, policy and practice. Better networking and knowledge sharing will thereby contribute to a more integrated management of wildfire risk in the long run.
The concept will be applied via workshop formats by the means of five thematic working groups (environment/ecology, society, insurance, infrastructure and civil protection. The working groups are led by Firelogue partners CTFC, VOST, IIASA, KEMEA and TIEMS. They are composed of experts from the Green Deal IAs as well as additional experts from the Firelogue Associated Partners and the wider Firelogue network.
This conceptual grounding and “discussion infrastructure” serves as a blue print for the practical design of integrated WFRM strategies at different scales. At the same time, the working groups are a forum for the IAs to connect and integrate their findings along thematic fields as well as to further embed them into integrated approaches through cross-Working Group exchanges. As such, this will not only allow for the integration of results but also for the formulation of policy recommendations.
Furthermore, Firelogue has established its digital platform. Building on the Lessons on Fire platform by Firelogue partner Pau Costa Foundation (PCF), is has hence set-up a central infrastructure for the IAs to make their publications, technologies, and suggested measures available at a central place while also promoting WFRM events and connecting stakeholders. Since PCF will be able to run the platform after the project lifetime, it can serve as a central place for knowledge sharing among different types of WFRM stakeholders and hence facilitate wildfire risk reduction more broadly.
Finally, Firelogue facilitates the collaboration across the Green Deal projects (and additional Fire projects) very practically by sharing information about events, trials, publications but also by designing and implementing joint conference sessions and Clustering Events. With these activities, Firelogue aims to strengthen the Wildfire Risk Community in Europe and to better connect different types of stakeholders form science, policy and practice. Better networking and knowledge sharing will thereby contribute to a more integrated management of wildfire risk in the long run.