Forest fires: from economic assessment to governance

Forest fires have been defined by the European Environmental Agency the most serious problem of governance of the forest environment in Europe. The problem is complex and challenging for a number of reasons, including the high number and diversity of involved stakeholders as well as of roots causes, and the unclear trade-off among investments in fire prevention and fighting. Weak governance of these issues is a key driver of failures in forest fires management, with the related risks of social conflicts, economic losses and environmental damages. These topics are explored with reference to governance key-issues at national level, in Italy, focusing on the problems related to the economic assessment of the costs of forest fires damages and the potentials to carry out a stakeholders analysis based on the Advocacy Coalition Framework approach. The forest fires sector in Italy, as in other European countries, is characterized by groups of stakeholders with different attributes and utility functions. The expected coalitions and/or conflicts that might arise among these groups are briefly described and commented, as starting point for future research. On the other side, the analysis of fire damages costs methodologies developed so far is suggesting that the most uncertain and debatable forest-related services to be evaluated in economic terms are biodiversity, soil protection and water regulation. These ecosystem functions are perceived to be among the most relevant and politically-sensitive ones in Mediterranean areas.