Participatory construction of wildfire risk scenarios in the Brazilian Amazon and Galicia to advance risk governance

Resumo

This thesis proposes an integration between the technical-scientific and sociological perspective of environmental risks. It focuses on wildfire risk governance in the state of Rondônia (Brazilian Amazon) and in Galicia (Spain). Wildfires affect both areas, on different scales and in different contexts, but they present similar challenges. Wildfires are considered as historic processes, which complexity has been increasing over time because of changes resulting from anthropogenic action, induced by multiple socio-economic processes and political decisions. Wildfires in Rondônia are associated with various challenges stemming from the rapid and massive transformation of land cover as well as the conservation of natural and socio-ecological systems. Rondônia has evolved from a natural and wild state towards a more rural society, mixing traditional features (indigenous and rubber traditional gatherer communities) and more modern features (new building forms, road networks, services, new agricultural and livestock practices but also an unawareness about the local ecological processes), combining old traditional farming practices, such as slash and burn system with industrial agriculture and cattle raising. Wildfires in Galicia are associated with rural flight and urban growth, evolving rapidly from a rural society towards an urban one based on service economy and on the expansion of some industrial sectors; accompanied by the afforestation of both agrarian and forested areas for commercial forestry production. In order to analyze the role of the main actors and their interactions, it starts from actors’ maps. Then, the risk communication is analyzed by examining the role of the local, international and official Medias. By using participative techniques the data collection triggers a social learning process about disaster risk. For that purpose, interviews with key-actors and focus groups were used as a means of balancing risk factors. Via the negotiation and collective learning processes it is possible to tackle the complexity of the problem and construct future wildfire risk scenarios, which allows an interpretation of current and potential conditions in which risk governance is necessary for both studied areas. The social and political actors’ participation in the process encourages the improvement of risk management and participative governance. The analysis methods used respond to necessity and cause the Government to take civil society into account in the decision-making process in order to reduce the wildfire risk more effectively.