Firepol ERC

As part of the FIREPOL project, this past Monday July 27 our Post Doctoral Researcher Luisa Escobar presented a seminar at our partner's institution, the Okavango Research Institute (University of Botswana) in Maun. She introduced the FIREPOL project and shared findings from our previous research in Angola on the relationships between war and fire.
She also presented her current research, which explores how fire use provides a lens for understanding the territorial dynamics in the Okavango, highlighting the interactions between local livelihoods, conservation, and governance.
The seminar was a valuable opportunity to exchange ideas with researchers and students, receive insightful feedback, and discuss the social, political, and ecological dimensions of fire and natural resource management in the region.

On Tuesday, July 7, the FIREPOL team had the pleasure of contributing to the TOAfrica Summer School School with a lecture delivered by our Principal Investigator Lorenza Belinda Fontana and our Postdoctoral Researcher Luisa Escobar.

Entitled "When War Preserves Ecosystems: Conflict and Fire Regimes in Angola", the lecture explored how the Angolan civil war reshaped access to land, fire regimes, and natural resource use in former UNITA-controlled areas. The session examined the paradox of “accidental conservation”, showing how conflict simultaneously limited ecological exploitation and disrupted beneficial disturbance practices, producing both landscape integrity and long-term social marginalization. It explored, through the lens of fire regimes, how war can have unexpected impacts on livelihoods and landscapes.

A heartfelt thank you to the TOAfrica Summer School for the invitation and to all the participants for the engaging discussion.

We recently attended the POLLEN (Political Ecology Network) Conference, where we presented our research as the FIREPOL team.

Our Post Doctoral Researcher Luisa Escobar presented her current research, which explores how fire use can serve as a lens for understanding the territorial dynamics of concession systems in the Okavango.

Our Post Doctoral Researcher Alessandro Tinti’s presentation shed light on the underlying dynamics of Northern Thailand's seasonal haze crisis. It showed how satellite-based fire governance fuels disproportionate urban resentment toward traditional highland agriculture, forcing local communities to adopt "performative compliance" by timing controlled burns around satellite pass schedules to safeguard their ancestral forest stewardship.

Our PhD Candidate Greta Mazzocchi’s presentation explored wildfire through the lens of feminist political ecology, drawing on research with ecofeminist brigades in Brazil to rethink fire, care, and earthothers relations.

The conference was a valuable opportunity to showcase our work, strengthen FIREPOL's presence in current fire research, and connect with researchers and students working on fire-related issues in different parts of the world. It also provided a rich space to exchange ideas on the relationships between politics, territory, land, natural resources, and fire, and to learn from different perspectives on environmental and social challenges.

We are pleased to share that our Principal Investigator Lorenza Belinda Fontana is co-author of a new publication exploring wildfire governance through a process-oriented perspective.

This perspective examines the wildfire challenge through the lens of governance, focusing on how different actors and institutions make decisions about wildfire management. The authors argue that evaluating governance only through its outcomes - such as policies, targets, or response measures - is not enough. Instead, they highlight the importance of governance processes: the ongoing interactions and collaboration between people, institutions, and landscapes that shape how wildfires are managed over time. To support future research, they propose four different wildfire governance configurations and illustrate them with examples from Brazil, the United States, Northern Australia, Spain, and Canada, showing that effective wildfire governance depends not only on achieving specific goals but also on fostering long-term cooperation and adaptation.

More info at the following link: https://www.firepol.eu/new-publication-a-typology-of-wildfire-governance-configurations-relating-outcomes-and-processes/

On June 30, the FIREPOL team had the pleasure of being invited by the GRICS (Interaction and Social Change Research Group) at the University of Barcelona to present our work as part of one of their seminar sessions.

During the seminar, our Principal Investigator Lorenza Belinda Fontana, our Post Doctoral Researcher Luisa Escobar, and our PhD candidate Greta Mazzocchi introduced the FIREPOL project, with a particular focus on our fieldwork and the participatory methods we are using to explore fire governance, local knowledge, and community engagement in wildfire management.

GRICS, based within the Social Psychology Section of the University of Barcelona, investigates how social interactions and environments shape processes of social change. Their research spans socio-spatial dynamics, collective action, and the relationships between identity, power, and social transformation, making it an inspiring context in which to discuss the interdisciplinary dimensions of FIREPOL.

A sincere thank you to the GRICS team for the kind invitation and for the engaging discussion that followed our presentation. Exchanges like these are invaluable opportunities to share expertise, receive constructive feedback, and build connections across disciplines and institutions. We look forward to future opportunities to continue this dialogue and collaborate together.

From 23 to 26 June, our PhD candidate Greta Mazzocchi participated in the Environmental and Climate Mobilities Network (ECMN) Conference, Mobilities and Climate Change: Bridging Transdisciplinary, Spatiotemporal and Political Divides, held at Wageningen University.

During the conference, Greta presented her ongoing research on fire (im)mobilities, drawing on preliminary findings from her fieldwork in Campinas, Brazil.

Through the concept of fire (im)mobilities, her research explores a topic that remains largely underexamined in the literature: the relationships between wildfires and human and non-human (Earth Others) mobilities and immobilities. Her work shows how wildfires are connected to processes of real estate speculation that contribute to increasing human inhabitation along the city’s urban frontier, while simultaneously reducing forest fragments and ecological corridors, limiting the mobility of Earth Others and contributing to the replacement of native plant species.

On June 17, we had the pleasure of hosting a seminar featuring Dr. Brian Ferrero and Dr. Fernando Laprovitta. We would like to sincerely thank them for joining us and for the inspiring discussions we shared. It was a real pleasure to welcome them to Turin, and we hope to meet again soon, whether here in Italy or in Argentina!

The seminar explored the social, cultural, and political dimensions of fire use in rural Argentina. Drawing on ethnographic research from the Iberá wetlands, Apipé Grande Island, and the Paraná River islands, the speakers highlighted how local and Indigenous knowledge has shaped the use of fire as a tool for managing landscapes and sustaining rural livelihoods. Their presentations also examined the tensions between these long-standing practices and contemporary environmental governance, showing how fire management reflects broader questions of power, territory, and the right to make decisions about the landscape.

FIREPOL will convene a panel at the 2026 POLLEN Conference in collaboration with Michel Valette (Imperial College London) and Kapil Yadav (Royal Holloway, University of London).

Power, Land, and Fire: Crisis Narratives and Burning Practices

🗓️Date: July 1st, 2026
📍Location: Universitat de Barcelona, UB-222 Facultat de Geografia i Història
🕒Time: 9:00-10:30, 11:00-12:30

More information about the contributions of our team members (Luisa F. Escobar Alvarado, Alessandro Tinti, Greta Mazzocchi), as well as the full panel programme, is available at the following link: https://pollenpoliticalecology.network/pollen-2026/programme/ #17467

A (slightly overdue) thank you to Peter Moore for delivering an excellent presentation on his long-standing work and reflections on fire management governance. We were delighted to host him online and hope to welcome him to Turin in person next time!

Drawing on decades of research and practice, the talk traced the key steps - and occasional missteps - that shaped his journey from early work on expert systems and artificial intelligence to community-based and integrated approaches to fire management. The presentation highlighted the evolution of concepts such as Community-Based Fire Management (CBFiM) and Integrated Fire Management (IFM), emphasizing the importance of participation, empowerment, and the integration of multiple perspectives and actors in fire governance. Moore also shared insights into recent international initiatives, including the development of the forthcoming Guide to IFM Governance Assessment.

We would also like to thank the Fire-Adapt group for hosting this workshop within their Study Hub and for the stimulating discussions that followed. Bringing together researchers and practitioners from the fire management sector created a valuable space for exchange, reflection, and dialogue across disciplines and experiences.
Thank you again to everyone who contributed to such an engaging event.

Join us for our next seminar on Wednesday June 17 at 4.30PM.
The seminar will be in Spanish and it will take place in person at the Castello del Valentino in Turin.
It will also be accessible online: https://meet.google.com/jmj-mzbq-xzs

Speakers:
🔥Fernando Laprovitta - CIT Rafaela/Universidad Nacional del Nordeste
Postales de agua y fuego: la gente, el fuego y los humedales de los Esteros del Iberá y la Isla Apipé Grande (Corrientes, Argentina).
La presentación aborda las dinámicas socioambientales de los humedales correntinos a partir de la figura del "mencho correntino", el campesino-ganadero que produce cotidianamente naturaleza y cultura mediante el fuego. Se propondrán reflexiones sobre la ontología campesina-ganadera, su emergencia histórica y sus saberes sobre el uso del fuego en la reproducción y el control del paisaje, así como sobre su ecología política del fuego frente a otros modelos de producción agraria y de naturaleza.

🔥BRIAN G. Ferrero - CONICET-CIT Rafaela / Universidad Nacional de Rafaela
Fuegos como herramienta de gestión territorial. Los usos del fuego en un área rural de Argentina.
El fuego es una herramienta central de gestión territorial en las áreas rurales de América Latina, arraigada en los saberes locales e indígenas y hoy en tensión con el Estado moderno, la gobernanza ambiental tecnocrática y los movimientos ambientalistas. A partir de un trabajo etnográfico en las islas del río Paraná, la presentación analiza los múltiples sentidos y usos del fuego – productivos, domésticos y políticos – mostrando cómo "sin fuego no hay islas" y cómo los regímenes de fuego expresan proyectos políticos que definen quién decide sobre el territorio.