Wildfire risk and its perception in Kabylia (Algeria)

doi:10.3832/ifor2546-011

Wildfire risk and its perception in Kabylia (Algeria)

Ouahiba Sahar⁽¹⁾ , Vittorio Leone⁽²⁾, Hanane Limani^(1-3), Naima Rabia⁽¹⁾, Rachid Meddour⁽¹⁾

iForest - Biogeosciences and Forestry, Volume 11, Issue 3, Pages 367-373 (2018)
doi: https://doi.org/10.3832/ifor2546-011
Published: May 04, 2018 - Copyright © 2018 SISEF

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This research aims to study wildfire perception by residents living in Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) in Kabylia (Algeria). We conducted an exploratory qualitative survey contacting 254 randomly selected individuals in eight hamlets of the Mizrana forest. Face-to-face questionnaires were administered to understand the fire risk problem. Respondents think that their homes are not exposed to fire risk and perceive their hamlets are protected against wildfires; on the contrary, they perceive their property (fields, livestock, olive trees, etc.) as exposed to fire risk. The vast majority of respondents declare to know how to defend themselves in the case of a fire event, using water and hand tools. Residents mainly use fire for stubble burning and disposal of domestic waste. Their skill in using fire as a land management tool respectively comes from their fathers, grandfathers and mothers. Results show the necessity of making resident more aware of the risks that wildfires pose to them. A culture of risk needs to be developed within the territory to limit vulnerability and the likelihood of destructive fires.

Keywords

Algeria, Fire Use, Mizrana Forest, Risk Perception, TEK, Wildland Urban Interface, Wildfire

Authors’ address

(1)

Department of Agricultural Sciences. University of Mouloud Mammeri, Box 17 RP, Tizi Ouzou 15000 (Algeria)

(2)

formerly at Department of Crop Systems, Forestry and Environmental Sciences, University of Basilicata, v.le dell’ Ateneo Lucano 10, 85100 Potenza (Italy)

(3)

Biodiversity Ecology Evolution, University of Montpellier (France)

Corresponding author

Ouahiba Sahar
o.sahar@yahoo.fr

Citation

Sahar O, Leone V, Limani H, Rabia N, Meddour R (2018). Wildfire risk and its perception in Kabylia (Algeria). iForest 11: 367-373. - doi: 10.3832/ifor2546-011

Academic Editor

Matteo Garbarino

Paper history

Received: Jul 02, 2017
Accepted: Feb 12, 2018

First online: May 04, 2018
Publication Date: Jun 30, 2018
Publication Time: 2.70 months

Open Access

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

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