Science and innovation spur research on climate change and fires in Spain

The Minister of Science and Innovation, Diana Morant, stated that scientific evidence should be the basis for decision-making against climate change and insisted on the need to transform environmental policies into government policies.

Under the research promoted by the department, the Institute of Environmental Diagnostic and Water Studies’ (IDAEA-CSIC) Fire-Res project aims to innovate in processes, methods and tools for fire management and support the transition to more resilient landscapes and communities.

For its part, the Joint Institute for Biodiversity Research (IMIB) – a center of CSIC, the University of Oviedo and the Government of the Principality of Asturias – is engaged in five lines of research, the results of which will contribute to the development of tools for assessing natural risks associated with climate change.

In addition, these investigations are aligned with several objectives National Climate Change Adaptation Plan 2021-2030such as improving observational models and quantifying climatic factors.

Similarly, the results of the IMIB projects will support the European Union’s 2030 Soil Protection Strategy and the European Forest Strategy, announced in the context of European Green Dealwhich plans to reforest and conserve sustainable forests, taking into account the risks and associated impacts of wildfires.

CSIC also participates, through IMIB, in a International Study which demonstrate that the climate risks of wildfires are increasing worldwide due to global warming and suggest that human actions and policies can play an essential role in regulating regional impacts.

The Center for Desertification Research (CIDE) – a joint center of CSIC, Generalitat Valenciana and the University of Valencia – has launched four lines of research, including the Remas project to manage the risks of greenhouse gas emissions in wildfires.

For its part, the CIDE FirEUrisk project, funded by the European Union’s H2020 programme, aims to improve forest fire management across Europe.

Similarly, CIDE is co-leading a study published in the scientific journal Frontiers in ecology and the environmentwhich reveals the components that cause large wildfires – ignition, fuel, drought and specific weather conditions – and which argues that climate change increases the conditions for these fires.

CSIC is also collaborating with Generalitat Valenciana through an agreement, with the participation of CIDE, to increase fire resilience in Valencia’s ecosystems.

Finally, the National Institute of Agricultural, Food and Technology Research and Technology (INIA-CSIC) is implementing six scientific projects aimed at improving the risk management of greenhouse gas emissions in fires and enhancing the environmental, social and economic resilience of Mediterranean forest systems, among other goals.