Calviño-Cancela María, Cañizo-Novelle Nuria
Department of Ecology and Animal Biology, University of Vigo, Vigo, Spain.
PeerJ. 2018 Sep 26;6:e5657. doi: 10.7717/peerj.5657. eCollection 2018.
Exploring the human dimensions of forest fires is a crucial, although often overlooked, aspect of wildfire research, since wildfires often have important socio-economic impacts and humans are nowadays the main cause of wildfires in many areas of the world. We carried out a telephone survey ( = 345 interviews) in one of the most fire-prone areas in Europe (NW Spain) in order to assess citizens' awareness about wildfire causes and risks, their perception of the value of the vegetation and of administrative measures to fight against fires. Perceptions of respondents about fire causes were in general realistic although fires caused by pyromaniacs and for profit were overestimated, while vegetation management was comparatively underestimated. Citizens were broadly aware of the fire risk associated with different vegetation types, rightly considering native oak forests and agricultural fields as less risky than shrublands and pine and eucalypt plantations. Tree-dominated vegetation was more valued than treeless formations, and native forests more than tree plantations, which seems related to a preference for ecological value over utilitarian considerations. In addition, the value of eucalypt plantations was clearly affected by the education level of respondents, being less valued as the education level increased. Most citizens considered that the administration was not doing enough to fight against fires. The law that compels landowners to reduce fuels in wildland-urban interfaces was considered effective by most respondents (72%), but 50% considered it difficult to implement by landowners. This may explain the poor degree of compliance of this law.
探究森林火灾中的人文因素是野火研究中一个至关重要但常被忽视的方面，因为野火往往会产生重要的社会经济影响，而且如今在世界许多地区，人类是野火的主要成因。我们在欧洲火灾最频发的地区之一（西班牙西北部）开展了一项电话调查（共345次访谈），以评估公民对野火成因和风险的认知、他们对植被价值以及火灾防治行政措施的看法。受访者对火灾成因的认知总体较为现实，不过对纵火狂和出于牟利目的引发的火灾估计过高，而对植被管理的估计则相对偏低。公民普遍意识到与不同植被类型相关的火灾风险，正确地认为原生橡树林和农田的火灾风险低于灌木丛以及松树和桉树林种植园。以树木为主的植被比无树地貌更受重视，原生森林比人工林更受重视，这似乎与对生态价值的偏好高于功利性考量有关。此外，桉树林种植园的价值明显受到受访者教育水平的影响，随着教育水平的提高，其价值被看得更低。大多数公民认为政府在火灾防治方面做得不够。大多数受访者（72%）认为强制土地所有者减少城乡结合部荒地燃料的法律是有效的，但50%的受访者认为土地所有者难以实施该法律。这或许可以解释这项法律的遵守程度较低的原因。
