Results of the 3rd edition of Call Projects for the Prevention and Combating of Forest Fires

The FCT has announced the results of the third edition of Call Scientific Research and Technological Development Projects in the field of Forest Fire Prevention and Control, launched in December 2019. The evaluation process has been completed, with 19 projects selected for funding from among 81 applications evaluated. The projects to be funded represent a total investment of €5 million.

These projects aim to promote scientific research and innovation, enabling the production of new knowledge and strengthening technical skills in different areas that are important for preventing and combating rural fires, from a multidisciplinary perspective, and incorporating a component for disseminating and applying the results that are obtained.

The 19 selected projects are distributed across the following areas of research:

– Attitudes and behaviors regarding fire prevention and control and land management – 3 projects;

– Forest resource governance – 3 projects;

– Management and valorization of biomass in rural areas – 4 projects;

– Models for the organization and management of forest areas – 1 project;

– Land use planning and preventive forestry models – 2 projects;

– Meteorology, forecasting, and risk management – 3 projects;

– Post-fire restoration and forest management – 1 project;

– Occupational health and safety for firefighters – 2 projects.

This Call the third edition of project funding aimed at preventing and combating forest fires promoted by FCT, with a total budget allocation of €15 million. This program is part of a set of structural, organizational, and operational measures to improve the prevention and fighting of rural fires, established in Council of Ministers Resolution No. 159/2017, of October 30, following the analysis by the Independent Technical Commission (CTI), composed of national and foreign experts, which analyzed the fires that occurred in 2017, in which there was a dramatic loss of human life and extensive destruction of material and environmental assets.

In the first two editions of Call, held in 2017 and 2018, 37 research projects were approved in various scientific areas, for a total amount of €10 million. These first projects were presented at the meeting "Rural Fires: Better management based on scientific evidence," held in November last year, jointly organized by FCT, ForestWISE – Collaborative Laboratory for Integrated Forest and Fire Management, and the Agency for Integrated Management of Rural Fires (AGIF). The titles, principal investigators, participating entities, and project summaries are compiled in a brochure produced by FCT.

More information on the Call page