Institute full name:

Escola Superior Agrária de Coimbra

Institute acronym:

Institute profile:

The Escola Superior Agrária de Coimbra is a high education public school in the domains of Agriculture, Forestry, Food and Environmental engineering. It has more than 180 staff members. It is one of the best-equipped schools in its field in Portugal, and has always played an important role, since its foundation in 1887 in the support to the society of the centre Portuguese region. Being an import centre of applied science and technology, it has also an important role on scientific front with its members of staff being involved in research projects, both from the Portuguese Government and from European Commission concerning environment, agriculture, forestry, and food. The school is also known for their relations with inter-tropical countries maintaining strong ties with other education institutions in Brazil, Angola Cape Verde and Mozambique.

Website

www.esac.pt

Address

Escola Superior Agrária de Coimbra
Bencanta
P-3040-316 Coimbra
Portugal

Institute logo

Institute image

Involved personnel

Name	Contact details	Key qualifications	Photo
Dr. António Dinis Ferreira	Tel: +351 239802969 E-mail: aferreira@esac.pt	Expert in soil and water conservation, environmental management and sustainable development
Ing. Manuela Carreiras	Tel: +351 239802940 E-mail: mcarreiras@esac.pt	Environmental Engineer, Specialist in environmental management
Ing. Tanya Esteves	Tel: +351 239802940 E-mail: tanya@esac.pt	Environmental Engineer, Specialist in GIS and environmental modeling
Ing. Carla Ferreira	Tel: +351 239802940 E-mail: cferreira@esac.pt	Environmental Engineer, Specialist in water and wastewater engineering

Institute full name:

University of Wales Swansea

Institute acronym:

UWS

Institute profile:

The Department of Geography, University of Wales Swansea is one of the largest in the UK.  The Land Surface Processes and Management Group in the Department has an excellent international reputation in the fields of land degradation, wildfire impacts, soil hydrology, soil water repellency and erosion risk, and the development of novel methods of assessing soil degradation indicators.  The Group has experience of desertification and land degradation in Europe, Africa, SE-Asia and Australia.   There is particular expertise in the links between wildfire and land degradation (soil water repellency and soil erosion).  The Group has attracted funding from various sources (EU, NERC, Royal Society, NATO, British Council and Industry) and has been/is involved in a number of EU-funded projects concerned with aspects of land degradation (e.g. IBERLIM, MEDAFOR, WATER REUSE).  It has excellent state-of-the-art laboratory facilities for the analysis of many soil chemical and physical parameters.

Website

www.swan.ac.uk

Address

Department of Geography
School of the Environment and Society
University of Wales Swansea
Singleton Park
Swansea SA2 8PP, UK

Institute logo

Institute image

Involved personnel

Name	Contact details	Key qualifications	Photo
Dr. Rick Shakesby	Tel: +44 1792 295236 E-mail: r.a.shakesby@swan.ac.uk	Physical geographer with expertise in land degradation, soil erosion and soil water repellency after wildfire; principal or co-investigator on several major projects concerning land degradation.
Dr. Stefan Doerr	Tel: +44 1792 295147 E-mail: s.doerr@swan.ac.uk	Soil scientist and geomorphologist, with expertise in the links between fire, soil water repellency and soil properties; principal investigator on several major grants concerning land degradation.
Professor Rory Walsh	Tel: +44 1792 295231 E-mail: r.p.d.walsh@swan.ac.uk	Head of Geography Department; long-standing expertise in land degradation related to forestry practices in the Mediterranean and the tropics.
Dr. Emilia Urbanek	Tel: +44 1792 295228 E-mail: e.urbanek@swan.ac.uk	Environmental protection engineer and agricultural scientist with expertise in soil structure, organic matter properties and water repellency.

{mosgmap mapid=33|height=350px|zoomtype=small|showmaptype=true}

The Góis study site was used to specifically study the effects of wild fires which, over the medium and long term, lead to enhanced soil erosion and loss of soil fertility, over the Biodiversity also decreases sharply after several consecutive fires.

More details ... read the full study site description and an overview all study sites
	Read the full study site description
»Comparative overview of all study sites

Area and people
Forest zones.

Added value of DESIRE for stakeholders
The dialogue between actor's types which are not habit to speaking together. The exchange of point of view between various type of actors (in that case the municipality and the technicians allowed to find more complete solutions in their problem). The exchange of experiences between two study sites and two different types of stakeholders.

Study site stakeholder workshops
The local stakeholders invited to the workshop were:

• members from the municipality council and parishes;
• technicians from the Forest Technical Office (GTF);
• technicians from the Municipal Civil Protection Agencies;
• Civil Security Authority (GNR-SEPNA)
• farmers;
• forest associations;
• local development associations.

The external stakeholders invited to the workshop were:

• technicians from the AFN – Autoridade Florestal Nacional (National Authority to Forest);
• technicians from the CCDR-C – Comissão de Coordenação de Desenvolvimento Regional da Região Centro (Commission for the Coordination of Regional Development in Central Portugal);
• technicians from DRAP-C – Direcção Regional da Agricultura e Pescas do Centro (Regional Directorate of Agriculture and Fisheries in Central Portugal);
• national representative of the Convention to Combat Desertification;
• researcher.

Limitations for spontaneous implementation of soil and water conservation practices
Problems of ageing of the population in this zone, there is little active person so little means for the municipality.

Stakeholder groups

• AFN - Autoridade Florestal Nacional (National Authority to Forest): This body is part of the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries. Its main aims are to define a national forest policy and manage the forestry sector. It is actively involved in DESIRE with local representation, mainly with respect to the prescribed fire activity in Góis municipality and the promotion of Forest Intervention Areas (ZIF). (http://www.afn.min-agricultura.pt/portal (link expired))
• UNCCD National Focal point: The NAP (National Action Programme) to Combat Desertification has been applied since 1999, with 5 Pilot Areas. Mação municipality is one of these Pilot Areas. A close working relation has been established during past years between members of the Portuguese participants in DESIRE and the Portuguese UNCCD focal point.
• Instituto da Água (Water Institute): This body is responsible for the implementation of the national water policy. (http://www.inag.pt/ (link expired))
• Autoridade Nacional de Protecção Civil (National Authority for Civil Protection): Civil protection is organized at municipal, regional and national levels. In the DESIRE project, civil protection is represented at the local level, where it is incorporated into local government authorities. (www.proteccaocivil.pt/)
• DRAP-C - Direcção Regional de Agricultura e Pescas (Regional Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for the Central Region): This regional body is a branch of the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries and supports the agriculture and fisheries sectors at the regional and local level. (http://www.drapc.min-agricultura.pt/)
• CCDR-C - Commission de Coordenação de Desenvolvimento Regional do Centro (Commission for the Coordination of Regional Development in Central Portugal): is the regional government board with responsibilities for the environment and planning, and with responsibilities for the management of EU and government investment in the region. (http://www.ccdrc.pt/)
• Mação local government and municipal services: Mação municipality has ultimate responsibility for the management of the district and its resources, with an active role in the planning and management of the municipality territory. Mação local government has developed remarkable efforts in forest fire prevention, detection and fire-fighting through its Forest Technical Office and Municipal Civil Protection Services. This body has been collaborating on UAVR and ESAC research projects since the 1990s and is actively involved in the DESIRE project. (http://cm-macao.pt)

• Góis local government and municipal services: As with Mação municipality, Góis is responsibility for the management of its territory and resources, with a crucial duty for planning and management activities. It also represents the local interests at higher levels of associations and governmental bodies. Due to the characteristics of the territory, forest municipality services are a majorly important body in the organization and has developed year-round activities to prevent forest fires and to maintain safety of the population and infrastructure. Góis territory and the surrounding areas are being use to test different types of means to prevent forest fires and for a long time they have served as an experimental  environment for research teams. On the behalf of the DESIRE Project, Góis municipality has been collaborating with UAVR and ESAC on the different activities to the achieve the goals of the project.

• Aflomação – Associação Florestal do Concelho de Mação (Forest Association of Mação Municipality): This body was created in 2004 to promote the association between forest owners and to create so-called Forest Intervention Areas.   The involvement of this association in the DESIRE project is very important since it establishes interaction between the municipality and landowners. (http://www.aflomacao.pt/)
• University of Aveiro (UAVR) & ESAC: the relationship between these institutions and the local authorities has been established for more than fifteen years and it has been built on and reinforced since 1992 through several previous common research and development projects. (http://www.ua.pt & http://www.esac.pt)

Sustainability goals

The goals can be used as a starting point for a community to develop their own vision and goals for sustainable forestry. The list of sustainable forest management goals that were developed by other communities and organizations has been useful for this work package.

“Our goal is to sustain and expand a renewable resource that will meet future consumer demand at competitive prices while, at the same time, respecting the diverse demands imposed by society, including the rational protection of sanctuary and habitat.” (Source: http://www.communitiescommittee.org/fsitool/index.html)

The table shows the sustainability goals that were identified for the two study sites.

Source: information from regional and national plans and stakeholder workshops.

The reasons for desertification and land degradation occurring can be environmental (for example due to the climate or soil conditions), economic, due to the actions of people or, most often, due to a combination of factors. The resulting degradation may be temporary or permanent.

To help understand this complex picture it can be helpful to think in terms the dominant socio-economic and environmental forces that are driving the process of land degradation. These place pressures on the land which have particular impacts. Human society may have already made responses to those impacts, or may have knowledge about how they could respond. Decisions about which responses to make may also be governed by a range of international, national or local policy regulations and agreements.

In the Góis study site, the same stakeholder workshop and questionnaires that were used to identify existing and potential response strategies (»Identifying strategies: Stakeholder workshop 1) also discussed and identified these driving forces; pressures; impacts; and the policy and regulation environment. This information was then used to inform the choice of »Field experiments and the scenarios used in »Simulated biophysical impact of remediation strategies and their financial viability.

Introduction
Like many Mediterranean countries Portugal suffers from forest fire due to its dry and hot climate. The problem is not only degradation of forest and the emission of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere but it also increases soil losses and pollution of water and air. The Mação Region in Portugal suffered massive fires in 2003 and 2005 affecting more than 70% of the municipality area. To protect the forest from wild fire strip network is constructed. The Vale Torto area near Góis in Portugal was burned by several fires in the 1970s and the early 1980s. Similarly the Camelo catchment near Góis also suffers from forest fire with the recent fire taking place in July 2008. Experiments included strip corridors (Macao) and prescribed burning (Vale Torto).

The area has shallow Cambisols (< 30 cm deep) over metamorphic shists and steep slopes. The main vegetation is pine forest, Eucalypt and shrubs, but fire destroys this and decreases the vegetation cover. The climate shows a strong seasonality despite the overall high precipitation (600-1000 mm per year) with dry summers. The landscape has steep slopes and a deeply incised drainage system.

Desertification indices
The index was calculated for water erosion, overgrazing, water stress and fire risk. The values depend on the selection for intact forest or for a burned area, which affects mainly water erosion and overgrazing. On the next page the result of three calculations are shown: intact forest, heavily burned forest and forest with fire protection measures. The differences between the areas are not sufficient to distinguish them in the desertification index tool.

Oddly enough the desertification index scores highest for overgrazing, and fire risk, for which the area is known, scores only as low risk. The fire risk depends on land use intensity which is difficult to estimate: if tourism is counted (which is one of the causes of forest fire) and the land use intensity is increased from low to high, the fire risk increases also from 1.49 to 1.65.

Water erosion and overgrazing give the highest risk factors, respectively 3.8 and 5.4 for an intact forest with a cover of 0.5-0.75. The fire risk is low: 1.7 and there is no water stress. After a forest fire with a low cover and high percentage of forest fire these values change to 4.5 for water erosion and 4.7 for overgrazing, presumably because there is less vegetation to graze upon.

The fire risk is not affected by the burning. This may indicate a false effect: in reality a forest fire would decrease the fuel load available and greatly decrease the risk. This is in fact the purpose one of prescribed burning, which is one of the control measures tested in the project. Fire protection also hardly affects fire risk, the index decreases from 1.65 to 1.48, both in the low risk zone.

Intact forest (50-75% cover, no burning)	Burned forest (< 10% cover, heavy buring)
Extreme fire protection measures (>75% area protected)

Conclusions
The desertification index gives a correct assessment that it shows water erosion as clear a risk in this area with shallow soils and steep slopes, as is also one of the objectives in the DESIRE project. Howver the erosion risk is also high for the natural situation of intact forest which is less clear. Overgrazing is also a risk in these fragile ecosystems which is not taking place yet because of the low animal density. Forest fire risk is not so well indicated, the index does not sem to e affected by variables that are related to forest fire for unclear reasons.