A Planning Model for Fire-Resilient Landscapes in Portugal Is Riddled with Fallacies: A Critical Review of “FIRELAN” by Magalhães et al., 2021-Reference-Cited by-同舟云学术

A Planning Model for Fire-Resilient Landscapes in Portugal Is Riddled with Fallacies: A Critical Review of “FIRELAN” by Magalhães et al., 2021

Published:2023-10-18 Issue:10 Volume:6 Page:398
ISSN:2571-6255
Container-title:Fire
language:en
Short-container-title:Fire

Author:

Guiomar Nuno G.¹²³^ORCID,Pereira José M. C.⁴^ORCID,Fernandes Paulo M.⁵^ORCID

Affiliation:

1. MED—Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development & CHANGE—Global Change and Sustainability, University of Évora-PM, Apartado 94, 7006-554 Évora, Portugal

2. EaRSLab—Earth Remote Sensing Laboratory, University of Évora-CLV, Rua Romão Ramalho, 59, 7000-671 Évora, Portugal

3. IIFA—Institute for Advanced Studies and Research, University of Évora-PV, Largo Marquês de Marialva, Apartado 94, 7002-554 Évora, Portugal

4. Forest Research Centre, Associate Laboratory TERRA, School of Agriculture, University of Lisbon, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017 Lisboa, Portugal

5. CITAB—Centro de Investigação e de Tecnologias Agro-Ambientais e Biológicas, Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, 5001-801 Vila Real, Portugal

Abstract

FIRELAN was developed as a model expected to foster the resilience to fire and sustainability of a landscape that is based on a number of premises about fire behaviour. We critically review FIRELAN and find that flawed ecological concepts and terminology are used, and that six fallacies are pervasive throughout the paper, namely begging the question regarding the effectiveness of land cover changes; the appeal to nature on the preference of native species over non-native species; confirmation bias on the flammability of native vs. non-native species; the oversimplification of fire behaviour drivers; questionable causation regarding the effect of land cover on fire hazard; and non-sequitur in respect to the flammability–resilience relationship. We conclude that FIRELAN overall lacks supporting scientific evidence, both theoretical and empirical, and would be unable to deliver adequate wildfire mitigation. Recommendations are given to guide the landscape-level process of planning and implementing wildfire impacts mitigation.

Funder

European Union

National Funds

Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology

Publisher

MDPI AG

Subject

Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous),Safety Research,Environmental Science (miscellaneous),Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality,Building and Construction,Forestry

Link

https://www.mdpi.com/2571-6255/6/10/398/pdf

Reference105 articles.

1. Magalhães, M.R., Cunha, N.S., Pena, S.B., and Müller, A. (2021). FIRELAN—An Ecologically Based Planning Model towards a Fire Resilient and Sustainable Landscape. A Case Study in Center Region of Portugal. Sustainability, 13.

2. Forman, R.T.T. (1995). Land Mosaics: The Ecology of Landscapes and Regions, Cambridge University Press.

3. The Land Morphology Concept and Mapping Method and Its Application to Mainland Portugal;Cunha;Geoderma,2018

4. Damer, T.E. (2009). Attacking Faulty Reasoning: A Practical Guide to Fallacy-Free Arguments, Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. [6th ed.].

5. Hansen, H.V., and Pinto, R.C. (1995). Fallacies—Classical and Contemporary Readings, The Pennsylvania State University Press.