Additional Info:
Sources:
https://www.record.pt/record-running/detalhe/louzanskyrace-regressa-este-fim-de-semana
https://cm-lousa.pt/louzanskyrace-toma-conta-da-serra-da-lousa/
Other Links about this event:
https://www.skyrunnerworldseries.com/
https://www.skyrunnerworldseries.com/races-2020-official-2/2022-skyrunner-world-series-calendar/
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IUCN 2022 Red
List Update
Wed, 24 Aug at 14:06
Today the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species released it’s first update for 2022 and with it 2,437 new tree species assessments were published. This brings the number of tree assessment available on the IUCN Red List to 37,411 assessments.
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Wildfires are unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable. Here's what you need to know.
Wildfires have occurred on our planet ever since terrestrial plants started appearing over 400 million years ago, in the period of Earth’s history known as the Silurian.
While certain regions
are well known for them, such as Australia, Greece, the Amazon and the western
USA, they actually take place on most areas of land around the globe. Wildfires
can even occur in some of the most unexpected places, such as the Arctic
Circle, where so-called ‘zombie fires’ can burn peat and permafrost under the
ice, persisting throughout the cold seasons.
The more well-known
events, such as the devastating fires in Turkey last summer, are generally
associated with the fast burning of large areas of forests. These can be
clearly seen as smoke plumes from a distance, and are even visible from space.
Wildfires can wreak
havoc on everything in their path, be it humans, animals or buildings. In some
parts of the world, the loss in biodiversity can be catastrophic. But in other
cases, the natural occurrence of wildfires is so ingrained that some species
have evolved to work with it. For example, some plants’ seeds require exposure
to fire in order to sprout.
What are the
conditions for a wildfire to start?
Wildfires start when
the vegetation is ignited, with drier vegetation making this process much
easier. The ignition can be either human-caused (from barbecues, arson, or
discarded cigarettes) or natural (from lightning strikes or volcanic eruptions,
for example). A lot of fires are caused by humans, which is why many countries
have laws on what months people are allowed to have a barbecue, even on their
own property.
These things on their
own are not normally enough to allow the fire to spread. The moisture
accumulation over the preceding months, especially in soils, can help prevent
spread. Likewise, the current humidity, or whether or not it is raining, is
also critical. In some countries where wildfires spread rapidly, it is the wind
that is doing the real damage – fuelling the fire with replenished oxygen,
pushing the flames to adjacent vegetation, and spreading burning embers far and
wide.
Forest fires can
sometimes reach speeds of up to 11km/h, with smoke being particularly
disorientating for anything in the vicinity of the fire.
Is climate change the
biggest factor to changes in wildfires?
Despite climate change
leading to an increased risk of wildfires, satellite data from the 1990s
onwards has actually shown that the global area burnt from wildfires has gone
down. A large part of this decrease is due to forested areas being converted to
farmland. It is therefore known that societal interventions are at least as
important for wildfires as climate change is, but for many regions around the
world, the interplay between each factor is not clear.
For some particularly
well-studied hotspots, such as western North America, there is strong evidence
that supports climate change as the dominant driver of the increases in burnt
land. But for most other regions around the globe, this is not the case, and it
is believed that natural climate cycles, deforestation, fire suppression and
agricultural burning can play a more dominant role.
The human
interventions here can be particularly important if the right policies are in
place, and the more that climate change leads to increases in wildfires, the
more we will need these societal interventions to combat that.
Are fires changing due
to climate change?
Given the different
weather types that influence fire risk, the links with climate change are
complex. For many active wildfire regions around the world, fire risk is
projected to increase, mainly driven by elevated temperatures, but also from
decreasing humidity. This combination is ideal for drying out vegetation,
creating the perfect fuel for the fires.
Wildfires tend to
occur in summer, where temperatures are highest, but what goes on in the
earlier seasons can also be important. The amount of vegetation, or fuel, is
also critical, and we expect this to increase for many parts of the world, as
atmospheric carbon dioxide makes plant photosynthesis (and therefore growth)
more efficient.
Even today, and all
else being equal, it is believed that climate change could be doubling the land
that is being burned from wildfires. On around a quarter of vegetated land, the
wildfire season has also increased, due to a combination of increasing droughts
and raised temperatures.
When trees burn, they
release their stored carbon into the atmosphere, and this can cause up to a
third of ecosystem carbon emissions. This is a vicious negative feedback cycle,
whereby climate change is causing more wildfires, which in turn leads to more
climate change.
Source:
https://www.sciencefocus.com/planet-earth/wildfires/
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Alert Situation Declared.
The declaration
of the Alert Situation was extended due to the risk of rural
fire until 23:59 on 17 July 2022 for the entire continental territory.
Link:
https://cm-lousa.pt/prorrogacao-da-declaracao-da-situacao-contingencia-17-julho-2022/
Know what agricultural work you can do by July 15
July 7, 2022
The Ministers of National
Defence, Internal Affairs, Health, Environment and Climate Action and
Agriculture and Food, in view of the weather forecasts for the coming days,
which point to a significant worsening of the risk of rural fire, today, 7
July, the Declaration of the Alert Situation throughout the territory of the
continent.
The Alert Situation
covers the period between 00:00 hours on July 8th and 11:59 pm on July 15th.
Burns and burning, the execution of work in forest spaces using any type of machinery
and work in other rural spaces using motorizers of blades or metal discs,
cross-cuts, destroyers and machines with blades or front shovels are thus
prohibited.
The Declaration follows the
elevation of the Special Alert State of the Integrated System of Protection and
Relief Operations (SIOPS) to the Special Rural Fire Fighting Device (DECIR) in
all districts of the continental territory, the ANEPC - National Emergency and
Civil Protection Authority in a statement.
And explains that this
Declaration "stems from the need to adopt preventive and special measures
to react to the high, very high and maximum fire risk provided by the IPMA in
all districts of the continent in the coming days".
In the context of the Declaration
of Alert Situation, provided for in the Basic Law of Civil Protection, the
following exceptional measures will be implemented:
Prohibition of
access, circulation and permanence within forest spaces previously defined in
the Municipal Plans for The Defense of the Forest Against Fires, as well as in
forest paths, rural paths and other roads that cross them;
Prohibition of burning and
burning of exploitation leftovers;
prohibition of
carrying out work in forest spaces using any type of machinery, with the
exception of those associated with rural fire fighting situations;
Prohibition of
carrying out work in other rural spaces using motorizers of blades or metal
discs, cross-bushes, breakers and machines with blades or front shovel
Total
prohibition of the use of fireworks or other pyrotechnic devices, irradiation
of combustion, as well as the suspension of authorisations which have been
issued.
WARNING TO THE POPULATION - DANGER OF RURAL FIRE - PREVENTIVE MEASURES YELLOW ALERT LEVEL UP TO 14th june
published on 9 June 2022
SITUATION
According to the information provided by the
Portuguese Institute of Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA), it is expected that hot and
dry weather is expected to continue for the coming days, expected to last
until June 18, highlighting:
2. EXPECTED
EFFECTS
3. PREVENTIVE
MEASURES
4. OPERATIONAL
DETERMINATIONS
Source:
https://cm-lousa.pt/aviso-populacao-perigo-incendio-rural-medidas-preventivas-2/
Notice
23/2022 - AIGP Serra da Lousã
|
Document 1 Jun 2022
https://cm-lousa.pt/autarquia/executivo-municipal/editais/
_EDITAL%20CM%20Lous%C3%A3%2023-2022_page-0003_%20-%20C%C3%B3pia.jpg)
The Municipality of Lousã (CM Lousã) made public, through an Edict, that the Integrated Landscape Management Area Serra da Lousã, - AIGP Serra da Lousã, is constituted pursuant to Order No. 70109-A/2021 published in the Diário da República on July 16, 2021.
The municipality is the promoter of the Serra da Lousã AIGP.
According to the Notice the calendars are:
By September
2022, the municipality should boost all actions with the
constitution of the future Management Entity.
until September 2023 work will take
place to identify the
land structure, its
owners and other ownership
rights holders.
The following is the preparation ofthe proposal for a OIGP...
OIGP - Integrated Operations of Landscape
Management
A "Guide" was published on the website of the Directorate-General for the
Territory on 11 April 2022:
Advisory Document for the
preparation of Integrated Operations of Landscape Management (OIGP): OIGP -
Reference Framework for Support to the Preparation of Proposals (27 pages).
This Reference Framework for
Supporting the Preparation of Proposals has, as the name implies, all technical
information, as well as the applicable legislative framework, in a logic of
active collaboration of the Directorate General of the Territory with all
partners involved in the implementation of Integrated Landscape Management
Operations.
The "Guide" is intended
to support the managing entities of the Integrated Landscape Management Areas
(PGA) in the development of their OIGP proposals, identifying the 5 key
components to be presented in the framework of an Integrated Landscape Management
Operation:
- Design of the transformation
and enhancement of the landscape, its transformation matrix, and the
fundamentals that underpin the options, including the characterization of the
fire regime, its causality and risk analysis, before and after future landscape
proposal;
- Programming of execution, including operating model;
- Investment and financing, including sources of
available support;
- Models of management of the OIGP and contractualization
of the actions to be carried out with the owners;
- Program for monitoring the implementation of actions
and evaluation of results;
THE GPA and PGOs are territorial
management instruments, integrated into the Landscape Transformation Program,
with an integrated approach focused on responses to landscape planning and management
and increased forest area managed on a scale that promotes resilience to fires,
the valorization of natural capital and the promotion of rural encomia.
Sources:
https://www.dgterritorio.gov.pt/Operacoes-Integradas-de-Gestao-da-Paisagem-OIGP
***
Fontes/Links: https://www.slingshot.space/news/state-of-satellite-deployments-and-orbital-operations-2023 https://www.sciencefocus.com/spa...
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