Economic estimation of forest fire damage in NE Italy 1

Proceedings 4th …, 2007

In Italy, about 45,000 ha of forest areas are burned each year. The ignitions are mainly human-caused (over 90 percent) and about 50 percent are arsons. The recent Italian National Law n. 353/2000 therefore prescribes that costs of human-caused fires must be refunded by the person responsible (when discovered). Two main components of the costs are identified: those paid for the active fire-fighting operations and the costs due to forest ecosystem disturbance. This study proposes a methodological framework for estimating the total costs of forest fires and applies the method to a specific area (Veneto region) of the north-eastern Italy. The costs of active fire-fighting were calculated taking into account all Regional forest fire-fighting organizations. Data on volunteers and regional operators, forest fire statistics, equipment and machinery types and use were studied and unit costs (€ h -1 ) calculated at both provincial and regional level. Environmental costs are estimated accounting for different forest benefits: -wood production; -climate change mitigation (CO 2 stocks); -nature and biodiversity conservation; -hydrogeological protection; -tourism activity. Environmental cost complies with the Veneto region forest situation. It is computed by local prices and considering the 2003 Forest Inventory. This method is designed to require very few input data to be measured in the burnt area namely the percentage of dead trees, stand age, distance from the main road and the length of it that could be damaged by falling rocks. A GIS-ACCESS application allows cost computation to be automated and to integrate all the results. These results will be used in legal proceedings when the person responsible for a fire is caught.

iForest - Biogeosciences and Forestry

The Tuscan Region (Central Italy) spends about 12 million euros every year in the prevention and suppression of forest fires. In this context, this study aims to analyse the economic and environmental benefits derived from fire suppression activities. Starting from a case study of a real fire event in Tuscany, we simulated three hypothetical scenarios (with different fire durations) without fire extinction activities planned by using the open source software FAR-SITE. Benefits derived from fire extinction activities can be quantified as the avoided damage, which has been calculated through the estimation of the total economic value of forests not destroyed by fire thanks to the extinction action. The avoided damage is represented by the difference between values of forest areas burned by the real fire event and those burned by simulated fire. By providing an economic estimation of avoided damages, our results confirm that forest fire services and forest management have a high impact on both the economy and the environment.

WSEAS TRANSACTIONS ON ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT, 2021

A defined forested area performs various functions such as economic, protective and social. Regardless of the level of civilization development and human knowledge, it cannot be stated that humans have full control over the phenomena occurring in forests or their surroundings. Forest hazards, including fire hazards, constitute a direct or indirect factor of human activity that has an effect on nature. Forest fires cause specific losses and generate costs, thus affecting a financial result. The research area of the study is forest fires and losses caused by them, i.e. determining the financial and non-financial effects of fires. The main aim of the study is to present the problem of forest fires in selected European countries, including Poland, and to determine the level of losses caused by them. The research hypothesis is: "Forest fires occurring in European countries, including Poland, cause significant losses in the natural and social environment, which forces organizations t...

2018

The risk of forest fire in Portugal ranks among the highest in Europe. In recent times, fears have risen over the incidence of major forest fires with a scale and dimension that generate extremely high economic, environmental and social costs. Combatting this type of fire represents a particularly difficult and expensive objective and, in some cases, with a far from desirable level of efficiency. Particularly due to the national context characterised by severe budgetary restrictions, guaranteeing greater effectiveness and efficiency in forest fire prevention and fighting represents core objectives. One of the ways of improving the decision making process involves the monetary estimation of the total costs caused by fires and their respective risk levels, thus the cost of the risk of fire (in the sense of the economic cost calculated from the perspective of society in contrast to the concept of economic cost calculated according to the private ownership perspective) and that includes the probability of the incidence of fire and its propagation and the total cost of the damage that incorporates both the specific social costs, the economic cost and the environmental cost. This working paper holds the objective of contributing towards the conceptual and methodological discussion around this theme.

1997

Technical abstract. The papers reviews the main inadequacies of the Italian current System of National Accounting for the forestry sector. In recent years research and applications have been developed in Italy to overcome some of these inadequacies. The paper presents two case studies of environmental accounting of forestry resources at regional/national level: the first one is an economic estimate of the role of the forestry sector in the Liguria Region (north-west Italy). The proposed satellite system of forest resources account is based on a Geographical Information System (GIS) comprising an extremely diversified set of physical data, associated with economic information collected through the use of various evaluation methods (Travel Cost Method, Contingent Valuation, reconstruction costs, opportunity costs, etc.). Production of wood and nonwood forest products, soil erosion control, landscape protection, carbon fixing, provision of outdoor recreational areas are taken into account in the proposed System of Regional Accounting for the forestry sector. The second case study consists of a tentative estimate of damage costs from forest fires occurring in Italy over the past eleven year. Official statistical data related to financial costs deriving from forest fires are compared with the results of a tentative estimate of some social costs. Results from the two case studies could be used to evaluate the real contribution of forest activities to national economy and to better orientate public funding and defensive expenditures in the forestry sector.

2013

fires under climate, social and economic changes in Europe, the Mediterranean and other fire-affected areas of the world): www.fumeproject.eu Additionally, we thank the

Forests, 2016

One of the most important environmental issues in Europe is the expansion of wildland-urban interfaces (WUIs) and how this trend may affect the occurrence of wildfires. Land use changes, the abandonment of farmland, and reduced grazing has led to an increase in forested areas with an accumulation and continuity of surface fuels available for combustion. Policies based exclusively on extensive fire suppression have become ineffective in different parts of Europe. To reduce the threat of damaging and costly wildfires, European countries must develop integrated fuel management programs. This approach has proven to be one of the most cost-effective for preventing wildfires and reducing economic loss. To this end, we have conducted a cost-effectiveness analysis to estimate how much fuel must be treated to determine fuel load removals with the lowest cost per hectare of unaffected WUIs threatened by wildfires in southern Italy (Apulia region). The analysis was carried out in three stages: (i) simulation of fire behavior in different fuel load reduction and wind direction scenarios; (ii) estimation of WUIs affected by wildfires within the study landscape; and (iii) the application of a cost-effectiveness ratio. Our results highlight the need to provide a method to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of fuel removal given the increasing number and extent of WUIs in the Mediterranean landscape of Europe. Optimizing the cost-effectiveness analysis of fuel removals offers the basis for appropriately assessing wildfire prevention and budgeting financial resources. Further, this method may be readily applied toward allocating any type of intervention in landscape management.

2008

The aim of this paper is to take stock of the situation regarding the main types of damage to forests and their respective economic consequences, with reference to a case study in the Italian Alps (Trentino province). Each kind of damage (wind and snow, defoliation, fire and tillage) has been analysed in terms of its impact on four forest functions (production, protection, tourism-recreation and carbon sequestration) and evaluated in monetary terms. Market value was used to estimate the production and carbon sequestration functions, replacement cost method for protection, and contingent valuation for tourism-recreation. Applying desk research on damage caused by the main biotic and abiotic factors to this particular case study led to estimate a annual damage of about € 1,633,595 equal to € 4.73 per hectar. This can be considered a lower bound estimate of possibly greater damage.

Radovi Šumarskog fakulteta Univerziteta u Sarajevu, 2013

UDK 630*6:630*43(497.6 Prozor-Rama) 630*43:630*6(497.6 Prozor-Rama Despite of the significant activities on the forest fires prevention, number of forest fires is constantly growing worldwide causing tremendous direct and indirect damages. Direct damages are referring to the losses on timber and other forest products, fire fighting and remediation costs as well as costs of fire sites restoration. Indirect damages are referring to the negative impacts of forest fires on various ecosystem services and overall conditions of environment. Despite of the fact that indirect damages could be far greater than direct ones, in most of the cases in Bosnia- Herzegovina, they are not included in the assessment of the damages and methodology for their calculation is not developed yet. The goal of this paper is to conduct the economic valorisation of direct and indirect damages from forest fires at the territory of Prozor-Rama municipality in 10-years period in which the scope and frequenc...

2013

It is widely acknowledged that the fires have caused severe impact in the world, and their frequency and intensity tend to increase as a result of ongoing climate changes which have occurred over the past decades. It should be also noted that the urban-rural interface has attracted the attention of governments by the concentration of the number of fire occurrences and their specificities. The study aimed at determining economic indicators from the determination of the profile of forest fires in the study area during the period 1965 to 2009. Statistical analysis related to the number of fires, the burned areas, the spatial distribution of the occurrence, the distribution through the months of the year, and the identification their main causes have been done. Costs associated with the incidence of fire were calculated as well the benefit-cost ratio related to the actions that have been taken into account for the prevention and control of fires in the area of the study. The results obt...