Transboundary Collaborations to Enhance Wildfire Suppression in Protected Areas of the Black Sea Region

• Main Authors: G. N. Zaimes, M. Tufekcioglu, A. Tufekcioglu, S. Zibtsev, R. Corobov, D. Emmanouloudis, R. Uratu, A. Ghulijanyan, A. Borsuk, I. Trombitsky
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Institute of Technology 2016-05-01
• Series: Journal of Engineering Science and Technology Review
• Subjects: climate change; wildfire risk; hydrologic resources; multi-criteria decision analysis; transnational network
• Online Access: http://www.jestr.org/downloads/Volume9Issue2/fulltext18922016.pdf
• ISSN: 1791-2377; 1791-2377

For the most effective and efficient management of certain natural resources (e.g. protected areas) and disasters (e.g. wildfires) transboundary approaches are needed. In addition in the management of protected areas, the role of wildfire should be incorporated, something that was ignored in the past and led to catastrophic wildfires. The Black Sea is a region that wildfires in the protected areas are expected to increase. This has to do with the abandonment of rural areas and the higher temperatures, especially during summer, due to climate change. Interesting is also the fact that some countries of the region have extensive experience while other do not have neither the experience nor the necessary infrastructures to face large wildfires. A transboundary collaboration would be very beneficial to the countries with limited experiences and capacities to suppress wildfires. The objective of this study is to be proactive by developing innovative tools to help suppress wildfires and enhancing the knowledge on wildfires and protected areas. The innovative tools included 4 different research activities and products. Firstly, an online Digital Geodatabase for the six pilot areas was developed. Next forest fire fuels and maps were developed while a forest fire behavior model was run to create the overall fire risk maps for the pilot areas. To estimate water resources and watershed streamflows the hydrologic model SWAT was validated and calibrated for the pilot areas. The final activities included a multi-criteria decision analysis to select the optimal location of the water reservoirs and the use of spatial analyst to provide the optimal routes to reach reservoirs by the fire vehicles. To enhance the responsible agency personnel along with stakeholders knowledge of the region, a Neighborhood Network with regular quarterly meetings was established. Participants for all six project countries were present in the meetings. Overall, new tool that will enhance wildfire suppression in protected area were developed while the awareness of wildfire danger and the importance of protected areas increased.