Bridging wine and forestry sectors to reduce wildfires: Wine actors’ perceptions, their role in risk reduction and externality labelling

Abstract

To mitigate wildfire risk, fire-smart landscapes present a promising strategy, integrating fuel discontinuities through a mosaic of agricultural and forested areas. However, the role of farmers in enhancing wildfire resilience within this mosaic remains underexplored. This exploratory study in four European Mediterranean countries aims at unveiling the factors modulating wine growers’ wildfire risk perception, their related agency and demand for recognition.

Our survey sample consisted of mainly rustic land managers (78 %), which often had also roles of wine producers (48 %), PDO (7.5 %) or winery (18 %) representatives, or wine experts (23 %). Portuguese respondents lead in ownership rates, with Spanish ones exhibiting larger average holdings. Our findings show the interlinkage between wine sector and wildfire risk management: wine growers influence the interface between woodlands and farmlands. Sixty-five percent of land managers were also forest owners, but only 25 % had a forest management plan. Catalan respondents rank higher in association membership, Spanish and Italian respondents tend to have more plans, and Italians are more likely to have sold wood. Approximately 24 % of respondents reported past wildfires within their property, and 32 % in their vicinity. Land managers reported a high wildfire concern (7.5/10), with Spanish respondents scoring higher (8.4) than Portuguese (6.5), French (6.1) and Italians (5.1). The closer experience of wildfires and owning also forests correlated with higher concern levels. Only one-quarter of land managers are aware of a fire prevention plan for their property, and among those pre-suppression measures dominate.

Forty-five percent of respondents declared interest in financial support for implementing wildfire risk reduction measures, followed by technical support (39 %). French respondents were less keen to support. Over one-third-of the sample indicated interest in a fire-smart label in the marketable products to recognise the externality effect of fire risk reduction. Most respondents did not believe that would improve their sales, and 23 % reported excess of brands. These results call for: i) targeted information and financial mechanisms to vineyard managers to align with fire risk reduction measures and engage in forest management, and ii) co-design of any fire-smart produce label to ensure effectiveness and acceptance.