With an eye on fire: Can neo-rural settlers create fire resilience in portugal?

This paper explores the contributions of neo-rural settlers to fire resilience in central Portugal, an area that has suffered from population decline and land abandonment for decades. An analysis of qualitative data from interviews with neo-rural settlers shows that they could be valuable partners in attempts to bolster several priorities of fire management in Portugal, including strengthening the property regime, creating a diversified rural landscape, and fostering collaborative networks in fire-affected areas. This article also presents some of the constraints that the settlers face in establishing themselves as agents of local landscape change and fire mitigation.