The region
Contact
About the Living Lab
Andalucia’s Living Lab will look at how digitalisation can help to reduce the risk of forest fires, by involving public administrations, local civil protection agency, fires fighters and technological enterprises working on fire prevention and suppression. Based on the experience of forest fire actors, the Living Lab will explore new digitalisation systems, technologies and techniques. For each, different possibilities will be identified and the potential risks associated will be assessed to develop different narratives for future possible scenarios.
Forest fires are an increasingly recurrent phenomenon impacting the environment, economy and the local population. The frequency, intensity, and geographical scope of forest fires are expected to increase, mainly caused by the effects of climate change.
The current technical and human resources are limited to fight against wildfires yet new technologies can have a very important role to address it. There is need for effective, low cost, and rapid and proper conditions for digitisation systems and technologies (DSTs) options to prevent, monitor and fight forest fires, and to supervise the social and environmental changes.
Living Lab coordinator: University of Córdoba
Domain: Forestry
Focal question
Objectives
- Identify the main technologies and digital game changers existing in the context of forest fire prevention and preparedness, but also during and after the fire.
- Identify new ICT methods, protocols, standards, and terminologies that provide a common ground for better and more efficient collaboration, coherence, information collection, management and exchange, harmonisation, and cooperation among the varied and diverse set of stakeholders involved in forest fires prevention, detection, suppression, and forest regeneration.
- Identify methods to increase awareness and preparedness according to the degree of vulnerability and probability of the different scenarios.
Main stakeholders
Public authorities: Regional Government of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Sustainable Development of Andalucia; Forest Fire suppression device (INFOCA), Government of Andalucia; Emergency Systems Unit at the Andalusian Environment and Water Agency (Government of Andalucia). Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (Government of Spain).
Digital technology operators: Firefighting companies (Babcock Mission Critical Services – España).
Forestry organisation: Association of owners of properties in the natural environment (Forest defence associations of Puebla de Don Fabrique – Granada, APROFIN).
Stakeholder organisations: Small technology companies working on digitisation and management of forest resources (IDAF – Forestry innovation and development, Symbia Solutions); Entities of natural parks and other protected areas (Sierra Morena).
Citizens: Communities of neighbours of urbanizations in risk zones (Urbanisations in Sierra Morena, Córdoba City Council – urban planning, fire fighters).
Non-government organisations: LEADER Local Action Groups
Education institutions: Central University of Applied Sciences, KPEDU (Federation of Education in Central Ostrobothnia)
State authorities: ELY Center
Key documents
Policy brief: Digitalisation in wildfires management
National Policy Analysis: Spain
Practice Abstract: The future of forest firefighting in Andalucia