R&D program for the prevention and fighting of forest fires

Through Council of Ministers Resolution No. 159/2017, of October 21, the creation of an R&D Program for the prevention and fighting of forest fires was determined, with the aim of strengthening the development of R&D activities designed to encourage and strengthen scientific and technological skills and capabilities, as well as ensuring the appropriation and incorporation of scientific knowledge in support of decision-making in operational systems and facilitating the production of new knowledge geared towards solving concrete and real problems.

The R&D Program includes three annual Calls, starting at the end of 2017.

Through this Call supported scientific research and technological development projects in the field of forest fire prevention and control, focusing on the development of research activities in the following areas:

1. Forest resource governance;
2. Fire management and extreme fire behavior;
3. Attitudes and behaviors regarding fire prevention and control and land management, including their collaborative aspects;
4. Models of land use planning and preventive forestry;
5. Meteorology, forecasting, and risk management, including fire detection and optimization of early warnings, and development of intelligent observation and decision support systems, including advanced remote sensing and artificial intelligence technologies;
6. Sensor, information, and emergency communication systems and their integration into decision-making processes;
7. Management and valorization of biomass in rural areas;
8. Models for the organization and management of forest areas, in terms of protection, conservation, silvopastoralism, recreation, leisure, and production;
9. Occupational health and safety of firefighting technicians;
10. Post-fire restoration and forest management, at different temporal and spatial scales.

Results

• 1st Edition
• 2nd Edition
• 3rd Edition

The FCT has published a brochure presenting the 56selected projects, which is available in digital format.

The analysis of the results produced and the impact assessment of the research projects developed under this Program are available in the report "Path to Impact: Mobilizing R&D Program for Forest Fire Prevention and Control, "prepared by CoLAB ForestWISE.

The webinar "Path to impact: Benefits of scientific research for rural fire management," organized by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and CoLAB ForestWISE, took place on September 18 and can be viewed here: