Wildfires and societies have co-evolved during millenia, with fire being a cost-effective management tool. However, in recent decades, unprecedented wildfire seasons have disrupted the coupled human and natural system due both to climate conditions and inadequate policies, mostly targeting fire exclusion and emergency suppression rather than proactive mitigation measures. Policy development can be influenced by different factors, including the salience of an issue, the policy system as well as the domestic capacities. Hence, the aim of this study is to analyze how the development status, issue importance, and policy system influence the resulting wildfire policies in selected countries of Europe and South America. In order to identify the fire policy issues a bottom-up document and media content analysis was conducted in the selected countries. Data was obtained from nationally distributed newspapers as well as professional journals, regulations, programs, and parliamentary interventions within a specified time period. Simultaneously, actors, policy goals, and instruments were tagged to obtain a baseline sample. Actors and policy instruments were identyfied and characterized according to a proposed classification system. Data was analysed using social network analysis in order to identify actors and its power. Countries were compared with issue salience, policy system and the countries´ capabilities as explanatory conditions. Our results showed that the socio-economic as well as socio-political conditions identified, influence the resulting wildfires policies.

For more than 15 years, Fondo Mexicano para la Conservación de la Naturaleza (FMCN), through its Fire Management and Restoration Fund, has financed and supported projects aimed at strengthening the capacities civil society organizations (CSO) and rural and indigenous communities in the prevention and protection against forest fires, fire management and restoration of areas affected by fire in priority federal Natural Protected Areas (NPA) and zones of influence.

Through open calls for proposals directed to CSOs, FMCN selects the best projects with participation of independent experts. Many of these projects have enabled the establishment of medium and long-term processes that are fulfilling a crucial role by acting as a bridge between scientific, technical and traditional knowledge, as well as a facilitator in the communication, coordination, and organization processes among local groups, government agencies, academic institutions, civil society, NPA management teams, and community volunteers to improve local preparedness to prevent and manage wildfires.

This article will discuss the strategic advances in governance models that have resulted from the implementation of some projects financed by FMCN, the main lessons learned and the key success factors for the construction of improvement processes regarding the participation and commitment of local groups, CSOs, academic institutions and government agencies to achieve the professionalized community brigades; the management of incidents at the local level; the establishment of infrastructure; the development and implementation of fire management planning; and the generation, recovery and transfer of traditional and new knowledge on the behavior and effects of fire in Mexico.

Fire monitoring aimed at early detection is a crucial measure for forest fire management and minimizing hazardous consequences. Video monitoring and surveillance is considered a prominent technical solution for detecting fire in early stage. The focus of the person operating the video system (operator) and responding to fires is, however, vital to prevent danger. In the course of long operations, the attention and meditation of the operators interchange.
In order to incorporate efficient response it is necessary to identify the operator's state of meditation to expand their attention span. In this paper, two objectives are stated. The first is to ascertain the subject's level of concentration and mental condition over long periods of operating video system. The second is to determine the amount of time that passes between fire occurrence, fire recognition by the operator and the reaction.
In order to achieve that, real-time EEG signals were recorded using the Macrotellect BrainLink Lite V2.0. Research involves several experiments conducted with individuals watching video footage of forest fires on one or several monitors. From the experiments we collected a data set of EEG signal and experiment details.
Exploratory data analysis of the collected data shows how the attention and meditation interchange during the period of monitoring. Algorithms to identify fire recognition from raw EEG signal are developed. Average elapsed time for fire confirmation is measured longer in case the subject is in meditation phase. Future work will aim to incorporate external attention triggers in high fire risk periods.

Purpose and Aims
Our overarching goal was to develop and study a easy to use, comprehensive, feasible, cost effective safety, health and well-being program for wildland firefighters.

Relevance
Fire seasons are longer, with more and larger fires, placing increased demands and risks on all those fighting wildland fires. Those fighting wildfires in the U.S. alone include 15,000 Federal full-time and seasonal employees; 400,000 career firefighters involved in wildland urban (WUI) interface fires and deployed to fire camps; and the 800,000 volunteer firefighters, who comprise the majority of those protecting smaller, rural communities. This program addressed this high priority and improved the safety, health and well-being of those fighting wildland fires.

Methods
The three year project was a mixed methodology process at baseline and post intervention starting at year 1 with baseline survey and focus group interviews of 210 wildland firefighters across all regions of the U.S. In year two, we studied the 12 week intervention (sleep, nutrition for performance and chronic disease, supplements, stress, cancer, heart disease, respiratory issues, fitness, injury prevention and treatment, mental health for acute and chronic, fatigue, substance and tobacco use) in all settings of wildland fire suppression. Year 3 included post assessment with survey and focus group for outcome analyses.

Results and Conclusion
This program was feasible, relevant, and improved the safety, health and well-being of those involved in fighting wildland fires. A strategy for dissemination of this program is awaiting funding.

Women make up more than half of Brazil’s population and account for 47 million (~50%) of the labor market. Despite these numbers, women are still underrepresented in many sectors including in Integrated Fire Management (IFM). Historically, women participate less in courses and training related to IFM. They also occupy fewer leadership and field-based positions as wildland fire brigade coordination. Although gender equity in IFM is recognized, in Brazil this debate is still informal and poorly documented. Gender equity means that women and men are treated fairly according to their respective needs. Our study aimed to present the current situation of the role, participation, and empowerment of women in Brazil’s IFM scenario. We used 17 semi-structured interviews (11 women, 6 men), 17 on-line surveys (298 respondents) and documental analysis to generate data analyzed using classical content analysis. Findings suggest that there is consensus among the people interviewed that women bring different perspectives and knowledge to IFM approaches and strategies. However, social norms; gender-based discrimination; representativeness and institutional and organizational factors impede or undermine empowerment and the increase in the number of women in IFM. We recommend three areas of intervention that bring together key themes and actions for diversity, inclusion and gender equity: Increase visibility and empowerment of women; Promote training and continuing education; and Strengthen networks of dialogue and exchanges of experiences. However, these efforts can only be implemented and expanded with cooperation among institutions, in partnership with government, organized civil society, and traditional communities.

The First Meeting of Best Practices in Volunteering in Protected Areas, was held virtually on October 20 and 21, 2021 in Brazil, by IPÊ - Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas, in partnership with the United States Forest Service and GIZ, the German development agency. The event brought together an unprecedented working group dedicated to discussing the experiences of Volunteer and Community Brigades. Among the 42 experiences submitted to the event, six on this topic were selected. The objective of this work is to present the results of the discussions promoted by the working group, as well as the consequences of the event. From the presentations and reflections carried out, some needs were highlighted, such as: the incorporation of the concept of integrated fire management (IFM), guarantee of security and minimum structure for its performance, provision of training, establishment of partnership networks and expansion of the recognition and appreciation of these groups. In 2022, as a result of the reflections of the meeting, was published the book: Conservation Dialogues: Good Practices in Volunteering in Conservation Units. In addition, a workshop was held with key actors who have an interface with the theme, to establish priorities for action, which resulted in the construction of a Project aimed at the elaboration of a federal strategy for volunteering in the IFM in Brazil, in partnership with public institutions that manage forest fires in protected areas, and supporting partners.

Objectives
Wildfire is increasing in frequency, extent, and severity in many parts of the United States. Considering the unequal burden of natural hazards on socially vulnerable populations, we use Census data to look at how characteristics of social vulnerability are associated with wildfire occurrence, nationwide and regionally, 1984-2018. We then consider additional data to further examine facets or types of social vulnerability.

Methods
To answer the question about social vulnerability and wildfire occurrence, we first identified all non-urban census tracts in the United States that have experienced a wildfire since 1984. Using 26 different measures of vulnerability, we compared these tracts to non-urban census tracts that have not experienced a wildfire.

Results
We find notable social vulnerabilities in areas that have experienced wildfire, including higher unemployment and economic considerations, as well as higher proportion of people living in mobile homes. These associations are robust across regions, and throughout areas that experience wildfires, from rural to wildland-urban interface settings. Some traditional markers of vulnerability—i.e., not owning a car, renting a home—were less prevalent in wildfire affected areas. We therefore considered additional variables on housing and wildfire-related infrastructure, generating vulnerability typologies specific to wildfire.

Conclusions
Whereas previous studies about social vulnerability to wildfire focus on associations with wildfire hazard potential or concentrate on a single region, this study fills a knowledge gap by examining the relationship between social vulnerability and wildfire occurrence nationwide, and then further considering types of social vulnerability, which can be linked to management actions.

Rural abandonment is one of the greatest challenges for Europe in the upcoming years, with several European areas already facing demographic decline. Rural areas provide multiple services to the community, from food supplies to ecosystem services, that could be at risk with abandonment. Since the twentieth century, rural areas have experienced progressive abandonment mostly due to socioeconomic changes, with direct and indirect effects on forest disturbance regimes. Land abandonment triggers ecological processes at the landscape scale, altering land cover patterns and vegetation communities, which in turn affect disturbance regimes. The main result of land abandonment is commonly an uncontrolled colonization by woody vegetation in the abandoned areas that leads to the establishment of shrublands, woodlands or forests. This uncontrolled colonization leads to a substantial increase in fuel that associated with a dry environment creates the perfect conditions for wildfire.
The regions more affected by population abandonment in Portugal are the interior north and center, regions dominated by maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Aiton), a forest species traditionally used for resin extraction. In the 1970s Portugal was the third world producer of natural resin, but since then production has significantly decreased. Although production decreased, natural resin transformation is an expanding industry, with a net worth of 179,2 million €, 86% of which are exports. The Integrated Project RN21, Innovation in the Natural Resin Sector to Improve Portuguese Bioeconomy, aggregates all the Portuguese natural resin transformation industry in a never-before-seen joint effort to promote the sector. Funded by the Portuguese Recovery and Resilience Plan, RN21 aims to revitalize the Portuguese natural resin sector. The Project is focused on three pillars: Pilar I – Promotion of national natural resin production; Pilar II - Strengthening the sustainability of the transformation industry; and Pilar III - Positive differentiation of natural resin and derived products. By involving all the of the sector key stakeholders in a multidisciplinary approach to natural resin, we aim to boost the sector, to create jobs in rural areas and to increase the human presence in the forest, potentially decreasing fire frequency and intensity, while promoting the resin transformation industry.
Acknowledgments: RN21 is co-financed by Component 12 - Promoting Sustainable Bioeconomy, integrated in the Climate Transition Dimension of the Portuguese Recovery and Resilience Plan under the European Union (EU) Recovery and Resilience Mechanism, framed within the Next Generation EU, for the period 2021 - 2026.

The use of biomass for energy purposes has been increasingly introduced into the public discussion as one of the strategies for reducing fossil fuel use and for decarbonization. In Portugal, after the implementation of the National Plan for the Defense of Forests Against Fires, the debate on the use of biomass extended to the impacts of reducing the fuel load on forests and fire prevention. One of the main concerns surrounding the use of biomass in this context relates to overexploitation and other harmful forest management practices and their impacts on soils and forest biodiversity.
The study “Contextualization and Operationalization of Small Biomass Plants” implemented a methodology that sought to promote the participation of local and regional entities in the analysis of the installation of small biomass plants in municipal buildings and collecting recommendations for future public policy. The study included surveys, visits, semi-structured interviews, work meetings/workshops with experts and different stakeholders, focus groups, and discussion of results with experts focusing on how energy production with biomass should be implemented, believing that this will impact the development of future projects.
We found that contributions by local technicians and specialists tended to focus on operationality, considering their specific context and that interviews and focus groups were central to an adequate characterization of the local forestry, given that local actors know it in detail and do not always correspond to official surveys or databases, as well as learning about the difficulties felt by the reduced municipal teams while carrying out their tasks.

The NASA Wildland Fire Management Program seeks to advance the use of NASA assets for integrated fire management and for living sustainably with fire. The program recognizes that to increase the effectiveness of remote sensing technologies, it is necessary to understand fire management challenges in their social context, including the role of various governance practices in the adoption of information derived from geospatial technologies.

To this end, in July 2022, NASA began a collaborative project with stakeholders in Spain and Portugal. The goal is to identify key governance practices that facilitate or hinder the translation of satellite-based fire science into decision making. Technology governance are the processes and decisions through which government and civil society shape the adoption of technology, and the way that technology shapes societies. Examples include data interoperability standards, rules regarding data security or open data; and also indirect and informal expectations driven by practice or culture.

The initial focus will be the 2022 summer season in southern Europe. Information will be collected from the literature and interviews with stakeholders. It is expected that the findings will increase the effectiveness of geospatial science in wildfire management by 1) providing a more holistic understanding of fire management and how remote sensing science fits into decision making 2) helping to prioritize scientific solutions that meet the needs of stakeholders and citizens in different social contexts, 3) establishing a baseline for the evaluation of future remote sensing projects and interventions, and 4) sharing of best governance practices among collaborators.

Wildland fire risk is increasing due to social and climate change in the Mediterranean. Transdisciplinary strategies that support adaptive and transformational action on the landscape scale are necessary to address arising uncertainties, and to bridge gaps between top down and bottom-up approaches to fire risk reduction.

Objectives: In the semi-rural area of the Montseny massif in Catalonia, Spain, we co-created adaptation pathways to reduce wildland fire risk. We collaborated with agents of change like fire managers, local administrators, sustainable farmers and foresters, researchers, education and tourism sectors, and local knowledge holders. We aimed to leverage local knowledge as a strategic tool for adaptation, and we created space for social learning and amplifying networks between sectors.

Results: Through 3 facilitated workshops, participants created a suite of pathways to address this complex issue. The process considered past changes in the landscape, present challenges and future values in a changing climate. Results demonstrated a high awareness of intersecting climate and social issues, pointed toward “soft” approaches for fire risk reduction as a product of sustainable local development, and amplified social networks between participants.

Conclusions: This method shows promise for making wildland fire prevention actions relevant and beneficial for local communities. Diverse participants could recognize shared agendas and consider feasible changes on local scales despite administrative limits. This process allowed participants to visualize practical short-term actions while considering long term transformation under the context of climate change. Sustained facilitation, participant involvement and funding could help enact elements of these pathways in the future.

This report findings from implementing an inclusive approach to improving fire management in rural Bolivia, in a territory that suffers from a complex political, economic and social scenario. Disputes over access to land and natural resources have agroindustrial and forestry development models at the center of conflicts, and this is reflected in poor responses to forest fire risk reduction. It was considered that only by bringing different authorities and local stakeholders together could generating conditions for wildfire prevention and timely responses when they do occur. To this end, spaces for dialogue between local actors were established, includingthe municipal governments of Ascensión de Guarayos and Urubichá. Technical assistance was also provided for the participatory planning and management tools for use by local government, with increased competencies in risk management; generation and access to information for reflection and action. The implementation of these strategies has resulted in improved response capacity of stakeholders, and the development of Municipal Early Warning Systems. These are managed as operational bodies that include community risk managers, forest fire departments and civil society, the latter being essential in early wildfire response, and thus to the reduction of fire damage. Capacity strengthening of local actors and promotion of social cohesion favour the implementation of actions that contribute to reducing the risk of forest fires. These efforts are being sustained by municipal governments and indigenous communities, though the challenge remains to generate interest with and commitment from livestock producers, migrant farming communities and agroindustrial companies.

Indigenous women belonging to the Mazahuas and Otomí peoples preserve the ancestral knowledge of the use of fire in agroforestry activities in the region of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Mexico. The objective of this study was to document the knowledge of forest fire by indigenous women, how, when and why they use fire in field activities, beyond the knowledge and spiritual meaning that fire has in the worldview of indigenous culture. . Twenty-eight interviews were conducted using the life history method to record the ancestral knowledge of the women. The interviewees have an age range of 15 to 105 years. The results obtained were life histories, with the description and temporality of the use of fire within agroforestry activities, such as the preparation of the land for harvesting, management of forest fuels, arrangement of woody material, to mention some of the activities. They also participate in reforestation and fighting forest fires in their communities.

Wildfire is one of the most frequent disturbances in Ghana’s forest and transition landscape, particularly during the dry season. A large portion of the forest and farm fires were started by human activity, such as careless fires. The objective of the study is, therefore, to map multi-stakeholder roles in fire management. Fourteen actors were identified and interviewed to determine their roles and network with each other. These stakeholders were government agency officials, non-governmental organizations, and community members. Data were collected from twelve villages within the forest and transition landscape. The Social Network Analysis was used to determine the roles and relationships among the various actors. The results from the actors revealed that fires were mainly caused by community activities. The study also revealed that governments lack the logistics to monitor and enforce laws against people who cause forest fires deliberately or unintentionally. The network density was more than 50%. The strength of the relationship was all about the high confidence to reduce fire occurrence among the fourteen actors. A stakeholder like the Ghana National Fire Service should strengthen its authority to enforce public policy and involve all actors to contribute to mitigating fire within the landscape. Authorities within the forest and transition landscape responsible for fire should work closely together to implement a cooperation agreement to reduce forest and farm fires.