Vulnerability Variables and Their Effect on Wildfires in Galicia (Spain). A Panel Data Analysis

Jaime de Diego, Antonio Rúa and Mercedes Fernández
Additional contact information
Jaime de Diego: Institute of Studies on Migration, Comillas Pontifical University, 28015 Madrid, Spain
Antonio Rúa: Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Comillas Pontifical University, 28105 Madrid, Spain
Mercedes Fernández: Institute of Studies on Migration, Comillas Pontifical University, 28015 Madrid, Spain

Land, 2021, vol. 10, issue 10, 1-17

Abstract: This paper studied the effect of the socio-economic variables related to social vulnerability on wildfire characteristics (ignitions, hectares burned, and ratio hectares burned/ignitions) in Galicia, Spain. The study recognized that wildfires present threats to people and communities, so actions might be taken to address vulnerabilities in ways that mitigate the negative impacts of such fires. Our final aim was to identify those variables that are relevant to the starting and spreading of wildfires that can help improve the prevention and mitigation of wildfires. Panel data collected over 15 years (2001–2015) for the municipalities of Galicia were used in this study. The results show that vulnerability-related socio-economic factors affect the number of wildfires and the extent of the destruction they cause. Indeed, the progressive abandonment of rural areas is one of the most important problems that increases the occurrence of wildfires. This abandonment is connected to population factors such as aging or low density of population, economic factors such as the decrease in income or low cadastral value, and territorial factors such as the decrease in rustic hectares and ranches. We conclude that prevention and mitigation focused on areas prone to wildfires could be enhanced by taking into account these variables.

Keywords: forest fires; wildfires; socio-economic variables; vulnerability; panel data; Galicia; Spain (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/10/1004/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/10/1004/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:10:y:2021:i:10:p:1004-:d:641575

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

More articles in Land from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().