Forest fires in continental PortugalResult of profound alterations in society and territorial consequences

Abstract

EnglishThe socioeconomic transformations that occurred in Portuguese society during the second half of the last century have led to a profound change in its age structure, with important repercussions in terms of sectors of activity. This in turn has led to a drastic reduction of workers in the primary sector, due to the rural exodus, a consequence of which was the abandonment of many agricultural areas and their transformation into forested areas. In turn, the abandonment of the agricultural-forestry-pastoral activity led to an accumulation of large amounts of fuel in the forest which, when weather conditions are favorable, feed forest fires. With the accelerated abandonment of farming activities-conditions conducive to the development of natural areas-, and with disinvestment in forests, forest fires have been growing increasingly bigger and there seems to have been little success in countering this terrible scourge that is wiping out greater space suitable for forestry. francaisLes transformations socio-economiques dans la societe portugaise au cours de la seconde moitie du siecle dernier ont conduit a un profond changement de sa structure d'âge, avec des repercussions importantes sur l'activite, a savoir la reduction drastique du secteur primaire, en raison de l'exode rural, qui a eu pour consequence l'abandon de nombreuses zones agricoles et le developpement accelere de forets. A son tour, l'abandon de l'agriculture, des forets et des pâturages a permis l'accumulation de quantites elevees de combustibles dans la foret qui, lorsque les conditions meteorologiques sont favorables, alimentent les incendies de foret. L'accentuation de la deprise rurale – condition propice au developpement d’espaces naturels -, contribue au developpement de feux de foret de plus en plus importants et rien ne semble pour l’instant contrarier le developpement de ce terrible fleau qui detruit de plus en plus d’espaces forestiers.