Wildfire Risk Management

Code:

GEOGR090

Acronym:

GRIR

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Geography

Instance: 2025/2026 - 2S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Department of Geography
Course/CS Responsible:	Bachelor in Geography

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
GEOGR	40	study plan	2	-	6	41	162
			3

Teaching language

Portuguese
Obs.: This course can be attended by no Portuguese speakers

Objectives

Understanding the main concepts of the rural fires field.

Explaining the socio-ecological dimensions of rural fires.

Analyzing indicators related to rural fires.

Exploring rural fires databases.

Interpreting different rural fires' management models.

Learning outcomes and competences

The learning objectives are:

1.Understand the object of study of pyrogeography and the place of fire on Earth;

2.Interpret the basic concepts of wildfires;

3.Explain trends and patterns of fires at different geographical scales;

4.Analyze the socio- ecological complexity of fires in different cultural and territorial contexts;

5.Evaluate theories, paradigms, conceptual schemes and measures;

6.Justify decisions based on scientific arguments.

Skills and competences to be developed are:

1.Critical thinking, questioning theories and policies to develop scientific literacy;

2.Creativity and innovation to produce new knowledge and evaluate potential applications of scientific data;

3.Management of information to apply scientific knowledge to solving problems;

4.Sharing of ideas to different target audiences;

5.Flexibility and adaptability to work in groups, share ideas, and accept differences.

Working method

Presencial

Pre-requirements (prior knowledge) and co-requirements (common knowledge)

Not applicable.

Program

1.         Wildfire: a global problem 1.1.  Origin and object of study of Pyrogeography 1.2.  Wildfires at global scale: Trends and patterns 1.3.  Wildfire disasters 2.      Wildfires: main concepts 2.1.  The fire triangle 2.2.  Wildfire characteristics 2.3.  Wildfire behaviour characteristics 2.4.  Wildfires threats to the population 3.      Ecological and social dimensions of wildfires 3.1.  Fire as an ecological process 3.2.  Wildfires as a social-ecological process 3.2.1.        Landscape changes and spatial planning 3.2.2.         Wildfire causes and motives 3.2.3.         Wildfire management policies 4.      Wildfire risk reduction 4.1.  Prevention and mitigation 4.2.  Preparedness 4.3.  Communication 4.4.  Engagement of population 5.      Wildfire resilience 6.      Wildfire culture and governance in Portugal

Mandatory literature

Archibald, S. ; Managing the human component of fire regimes: Lessons from Africa., Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond., B, Biol. Sci, 371(1696). , 2016
Bowman, D. M. J. S., Balch, J., Artaxo, P., Bond, W. J., Cochrane, M. A., D’Antonio, C. M., … Swetnam, T. W. ; The human dimension of fire regimes on Earth, J. Biogeogr. J. Biogeogr., 38(12), 2223–2236. , 2011
Calkin, D. E., Cohen, J. D., Finney, M. A., & Thompson, M. P. ; How risk management can prevent future wildfire disasters in the wildland-urban interface, PNAS, 111(2), 746–751, 2014
Doerr, S. H., & Santín, C. ; Global trends in wildfire and its impacts: perceptions versus realities in a changing world., Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond., B, Biol. Sci, 371(1696), 10., 2016
Fischer, A. P., et al. ; Wildfire risk as a socioecological pathology. , Front Ecol Environ, 14(5), 276–284. , 2016
Paton, D., Buergelt, P. T., McCaffrey, S., & Tedim, F.; Wildfire Hazards, Risks, and Disasters, Elsevier., 2015
Paton, D., & Tedim, F. (2012); Wildfire Community: Facilitating Preparedness and Resilience, Charles C Thomas., 2012
Roos, C. I. et al. ; Living on a flammable planet: interdisciplinary, cross-scalar and varied cultural lessons, prospects and challenges., Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond., B, Biol. Sci, 371(1696), 20150469. , 2016
Tedim, F., Leone, V., & McGee, T.; Extreme Wildfire Events and Disasters: Root Causes and New Management Strategies., Elsevier., 2020
Tedim, F., & Paton, D.; A dimensão social dos incêndios florestais. Para uma gestão integrada e sustentável, Estratégias Criativas., 2012

Teaching methods and learning activities

It is adopted a student-centered approach with students assuming a more active role in the learning process. Constructive alignment is used to optimise the chances of the students achieving the learning outcomes, and to design assessment tasks to measure attainment of the learning outcomes.

A high-tech approach is used to connect students with information from around the world, to support learning by doing activities, to prepare material informative, and to assess learning (e.g. formative quizzes, concept maps).

Field work to facilitate observation and primary data acquisition is considered.

The traditional face-to-face educational program is supplemented with other models to address the exact needs and goals of the students.

The assessment is distributed without final examination. The assessment components are: 2 tests (50% of the mark),1 research project (40%) and fieldwork (10%)..

keywords

Social sciences
Natural sciences

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation without final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Teste	50,00
Trabalho de campo	10,00
Trabalho prático ou de projeto	40,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Estudo autónomo	81,00
Frequência das aulas	41,00
Trabalho de campo	10,00
Trabalho de investigação	30,00
Total:	162,00

Eligibility for exams

Present in at least 75% of the classes.

A minimum of 7.5 in the theoretical component.

Calculation formula of final grade

((T1+T2)/2)*0,6+ research work*0,4

Examinations or Special Assignments

Not applicable.

Internship work/project

Not applicable.

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

Student workers who are unable to participate in the fieldwork will have a substitute activity.

Classification improvement

Theoretical test in the appeal season