Taming wildfires in the context of climate change: The case of Portugal

The combination of Portugal’s climate and land cover makes the country one of the most wildfire-prone in Europe (APA, 2017[1]) (Ganteaume et al., 2021[2]). Mainland Portugal is characterised by a Mediterranean climate, with moist winters followed by hot and dry summers (Maynard, Smith and Gonzalez, 2013[3]) (Government of Portugal, 2021[4]). Rural areas1 take up more than 90% of the mainland territory, with forests representing the dominant land cover type2 (Government of Portugal, 2021[4]) (APA, 2017[1]). This makes the near totality of Portugal’s mainland territory exposed to wildfire risk3 to some extent. The most wildfire-prone areas of the country are concentrated in the northern and central regions, which combine abundant flammable vegetation with a large wildland-urban interface (WUI)4 (De Rigo et al., 2017[5]).