To reduce the wildfire risk, the maintenance of current agricultural plots amidst forests represents a productive firebreak. However, the agricultural producers are decreasing in Western Europe: there is a shortage of labor and in many cases retiring farm managers are not replaced. Besides, limited accessibility to steep or isolated parcels hinders their mechanical management, and consequently the profitability of mountain agriculture. In addition, increasing pressure from wild fauna leads to (sometimes significant) losses that do not favor the maintenance either. Therefore, there is a need for innovative proposals, linking public and private interests, to regain a positive dynamic favoring the maintenance of a fire-smart, resilient landscape, mixing crops, forestry and extensive livestock farming.

Agricultural parcels amidst the forested landscape constitute a key fuel discontinuity, which is a crucial infrastructure for the fire responders to attack with security, and/or to modify the wildfire spread behavior. Maintaining those fields active constitutes a security service to the landscape (particularly to houses, assets, forests). In this context, wine growing parcels have been identified as key production to keep a fuel discontinuity in Mediterranean rural areas. The wine sector offers great opportunities, as per their linkage to the territory, their potent value chain and their potential added value.

With the aim of channeling this potential into concrete mechanisms, the European project FIRE-RES unfolds the Innovation Action Fire Wine. The Fire Wine Innovation Action promotes mechanisms of synergies and transversal collaborations between the administration and private actors, across the fire management, forest and wine sectors. The first objective of this seminar is to analyze the existing situation and to present examples of territories that have been developing such collaborations in view of the frequency and effects of forest fires. Secondly, it constitutes the first step of the creation of a European network to bridge the divide between agricultural land production & wildfire risk management, to share good practices, to establish recognition mechanisms, and to support initiatives benefiting the landscape resilience. FireWine is developing a label which for the wine sector to pioneer the recognition of the ecosystem services as production externality -yet other agricultural productions are being considered. Thirdly, the seminar permits to open a debate that will feed in the Fire Wine Innovation Action and its roadmap, creating new synergies with other projects, enterprises, and administrations.

See the event agenda.

Logistics and registration

This seminar will take place on 17 October 2023 from 09:00 to 18:00 at VINSEUM (Wine Museum – sala d’actes) in Vilafranca del Penedès (Barcelona, Spain).
Interpertration will be available in English, Spanish and Catalan.

To register, please fill the registration form in your language: English form | Spanish form | Catalan form | French form.