Deliverable D4.4-3 of the Integrated Project Fire Paradox, Project no. FP6-018505, European Commission

MAVSAR, ROBERT; FARRERAS, VERÓNICA

2007-02-01/2008-01-09

Socio-económica

Desarrollo socioeconomico y servicios

Database on perception indicators. One of the objectives of this work package is to identify the perception of general public on forest fires related issues, as well as on the use of different fire management measures. To measure these public attitudes, we use some perception indicators coming from opinion polls among a representative random sample of population of the region in question, covering economic, social and environmental issues. The development of perception indicators may allow policy makers, planners and land managers to address policy issues. Thus, these indicators have some policy implications and may serve to support decision-making on strategies and specific programmes. For instance, if faced with a fixed budget to be devoted to a fire prevention programme that reduces the risk of forest fires, land managers may want to design a programme in which fire management measures mirror the opinion expressed by general public. Likewise, these indicators may allow policy makers to monitor progress/regress and identify in greater detail priority-attention areas. In the present study, perception indicators and their implications on forest fires related issues have been obtained indirectly from other studies and those related to the use of different fire management measures are directly obtained from a valuation exercise in which we consider two fire prevention programmes, namely: (i) prescribed burning, and (ii) mechanical fire fuel reduction. In this latter case, we use the contingent choice method for eliciting preferences of alternative fire management measures. This method seeks to mimic people behaviour in a hypothetical market by making use of questionnaires. From the questionnaire, we gather information about the respondents’ attitudes towards each forest fire management programme, paying particular attention to the relation between their estimated welfare measures and the respondents’ socio-demographic characteristics. These characteristics constitute the perception indicators in which we then base our analysis. Especial attention is put in gender differences, as well as in other variables such as income, education, age, and recreational activity, among others.