Potential for CO2 emissions mitigation in Europe through prescribed burning in the context of the Kyoto Protocol

The current paper analyses the potential for prescribed burning techniques for mitigating carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from forest fires and attempts to show quantitatively that it can be a means of achieving a net reduction of carbon emissions in the context of the Kyoto Protocol. The limited number of available studies suggests that significant reductions in CO2 emissions can be obtained and that prescribed burning can be a viable option for mitigating emissions in fire-prone countries. The present analysis shows that the potential reduction attained by prescribed burning as a percentage of the reduction in emissions required by the Kyoto Protocol varies from country to country. Out of the 33 European countries investigated, only in one the requirements of the Kyoto Protocol could potentially be achieved by applying prescribed burning, while three other nations showed a potential net CO2 emissions reduction of about 4–8% of the Kyoto requirements and the majority showed a reduction of less than 2%. This implies that prescribed burning can only make a significant contribution in those countries with high wildland fire occurrence. Over a 5-year period the emissions from wildfires in the European region were estimated to be approximately 11 million tonnes of CO2 per year, while with prescribed burning application this was estimated to be 6 million tonnes, a potential reduction of almost 50%. This means that for countries in the Mediterranean region it may be worthwhile to account for the reduction in emissions obtained when such techniques are applied.