Revisiting wildfire resilience from a territorial perspective: insights from Mediterranean Spain

Abstract

Wildfires are increasingly recognized as a complex socioecological phenomenon, yet their linkages with territorial development are not clearly spelled out. This article seeks to unveil the sociopolitical and sociospatial ramifications of wildfires by framing them as a territorial issue, and understanding fire-prone territories as dynamic entities that emerge in essentially political processes, defined by socioecological relations that unfold across different spatial and temporal scales. Against this backdrop, building resilience is considered a territorially embedded and continuous process, driven by mechanisms operating “behind the flames.” By operationalizing this framework in the region of Valencia (Spain), it is shown how social innovation can help overcome lock-ins and enhance resilience. This research showcases the importance of building a trusting, collaborative culture across sectors and actors, and brings to the forefront the importance of considering rural–urban relationships for reducing territorial inequalities and building more resilient futures in Mediterranean, fire-prone territories.

Keywords:

• wildfire
• fire-prone territory
• socioecological resilience
• framing
• Mediterranean

Acknowledgements

We thank all interviewees for their essential contribution to this study, which in some cases even included an invitation into their homes. We are particularly grateful to Nelia de Andrés and family, Xavier García and Raúl Quílez for their generosity and support in the field.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplemental data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Notes

1 We are aware that the term “territory” is not an exact equivalent to the French “territoire” or Spanish “territorio.” However, a detailed differentiation and description of each term and their academic traditions is outside the scope of this paper. Here, the word “territory” refers to the way critical geography traditions, (largely non-Anglo-Saxon) have conceptualized the term.

2 For a more detailed review of how these two concepts reinforce one another, see (Barreteau et al. 2016).

3 (over 2000 inhabitants).

4 ICONA is the Nature Conservation Institute constituted during Franco’s dictatorship and dismantled in 1995; it was strongly dominated by forest and civil engineers (Ruiz 1994). It held the competences of nature conservation until these were decentralized and transferred to the different autonomous communities and is, therefore, associated with strong centralized approaches.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Pyrolife project, funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program MSCA-ITN- 2019 – Innovative Training Networks, under grant agreement No. 860787.