Extreme Fire Events in Wildland–Urban Interface Areas: A Review of the Literature Concerning Determinants for Risk Governance

Jacqueline Montoya Alvis (), Gina Lía Orozco Mendoza and Jhon Wilder Zartha Sossa ()
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Jacqueline Montoya Alvis: Master’s Program in Sustainability, Faculty of Agro-Industrial Engineering, Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, Medellin 050031, Colombia
Gina Lía Orozco Mendoza: Faculty of Agro-Industrial Engineering, School of Engineering, Pontificia Bolivarian University, Medellin 050031, Colombia
Jhon Wilder Zartha Sossa: Faculty of Agro-Industrial Engineering, School of Engineering, Pontificia Bolivarian University, Medellin 050031, Colombia

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 10, 1-35

Abstract: Governance plays a critical role at the intersection of disaster risk management (DRM) and climate change (CC). As CC increases the frequency and intensity of disasters, so DRM policies must consider the potential impacts of CC and integrate climate resilience measures. Over the past decade, extreme wildfires in wildland–urban interface (WUI) areas have left devastating effects for local economies, local development, environmental protection, and the continuity of government operations worldwide, prompting all actors to work in the same direction to face its changing context. This systematic review of the literature aims to analyze the research trends on wildfire risk governance in WUI areas during 2021–2024 and to identify the key risk governance determinants, thereby offering a robust foundation to guide technical discussions and support decision-making processes in local development planning, land use regulation, and DRM. The study is based on the application of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) declaration to allow the identification, selection, analysis, and systematization of 68 articles from the Scopus database through three bibliographic search equations, which were then categorized using the software of text mining and natural language processing NLP software (VantagePoint 15.2) to identify four key pillars that structure extreme wildfire risk governance: political management, development planning, disaster risk management, and resilience management. Within this framework, ten governance determinants are highlighted, encompassing aspects such as regulatory frameworks, institutional coordination, information systems, technical capacities, community engagement, risk perception, financial resources, accountability mechanisms, adaptive planning, and cross-sectoral integration. These findings provide a conceptual basis for strengthening governance approaches in the face of increasing wildfire risk.

Keywords: extreme events; wildfires; wildland–urban interface; governance; risk management; climate change (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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