Presentation short abstract

Research in Catalonia examines how social learning and collective action shape resistance to large wildfires, linking ecological risk with governance, inequality, and adaptation in Mediterranean socio-ecological systems under climate change.

Presentation long abstract

Large wildfires (GIFs) in Mediterranean regions are intensifying under climate change, reshaping ecosystems, livelihoods, and governance structures. This proposal, based on research by the GRAM group at the University of Barcelona, situates wildfire not only as an ecological disturbance but as a political and social force that exposes inequalities in risk, recovery, and land relations.

Drawing on case studies in Catalonia, the research examines how communities, administrations, and forest owners negotiate wildfire risk through collective organization, territorial planning, and adaptive governance. Using participatory methods—interviews, focus groups, and multi-actor dialogues—the research explores how social learning processes enable communities to identify structural drivers of fire regimes (intensity, recurrence, and de-seasonalization), confront the psychosocial dimensions of loss and displacement, and co-produce strategies for resistance.

By foregrounding wildfire as both catastrophe and cultural element, the paper engages political ecology debates on disaster, extractivism, and socio-environmental transformation. It highlights how rural depopulation, landscape homogenization, and climate-driven drought intersect with governance gaps to exacerbate vulnerability, while collective responses can reconfigure relations between humans, non-humans, and fire.

Ultimately, the paper argues that resistance to wildfire is inseparable from questions of environmental justice, social organization, and the politics of land. It contributes to the panel’s aim of critically situating wildfire within broader frameworks of disaster and inequality, offering insights into how Mediterranean communities transform risk into learning and adaptation in an era of fire.