Plan de contingencia agroforestal para la reducción de incendios forestales en el cantón Chilla

Abstract

The progressive increase in forest fires has caused social, economic, cultural and environmental changes due to natural and anthropogenic components. In the Chilla canton, several zones have been identified with different levels of susceptibility to fires, most of which are conditioned by climatic, meteorological, topographic, biological and social factors, the latter influenced by socioeconomic activities such as agriculture, livestock and forestry. For this reason, the present work analyzed the levels of physical susceptibility to forest fires in relation to land use and land cover by means of the application of Geographic Information Systems. In Chapter I, the susceptibility zones of the study area were identified by downloading fire susceptibility and land use coverages from the geo portal of the National Risk and Emergency Management Service and the Ministry of Environment, Water and Ecological Transition, respectively, Finally, each conditioning factor was analyzed to determine the causes for the occurrence of these events in each area using the ArcGIS cartographic tool for the respective data processing. In Chapter II, the proposal for the present investigation is developed, which is based on a contingency plan directed to the agroforestry field, said plan is based on 4 specific measures which detail the adequate procedures that must be carried out to manage sustainably and technically each productive activity, since these influence the appearance and propagation of forest fires. As a first measure, a reforestation design focused on the use of timber species is proposed, also as a second proposal, a firebreak area is added, as well as the implementation of windbreaks, these first methods focus on the use of fireproof species since these are resistant to events such as forest fires and finally a thematic plan for the execution of training and environmental education. Finally, in Chapter III, the feasibility of the proposal is detailed in the technical, social, economic and environmental fields, allowing to know if it is feasible to implement these measures in the considered area, for which tools and methodologies were applied in each phase according to the criteria of other authors. It is essential to mention that since there are natural and anthropic factors that affect the incidence of fires, it is complex to develop proposals or measures directed to wind, relief, slope or solar radiation, since being natural elements they are not easy to control by man, in contrast to anthropic factors, which can be studied and intervened technically. This research is an important basis for the relevant management authorities who have the direct responsibility to support and solve this type of proposals, which will guarantee a change at a social and economic level and, of course, will guarantee environmental management from a sustainable and ecological perspective.