Spatial MultiCriteria Decision Analysis and Ecosystem services in the Vesuvius National Park (southern Italy) as a tool for post-fire landscape restoration planning

In the Mediterranean basin wildfires are becoming increasingly important in scientific and operative context, due to the extent of the burned areas in the last decades, and to the resulting large ecological and socio-economic impacts. Damages assessment, interventions planning to restore burned areas and future fire risks prevention, are some of the implications that affect post-fire landscape management. Vesuvius is known all around the world for its volcanic nature, cultural geological and landscape heritage. In summer 2017, a large wildfire burned about 3.200 ha of forest stands along the volcano slopes. Very-high and high fires severity effects were observed on 374 and 2147 ha, respectively; in both cases tree mortality exceeded 80%. The present work provides results of wildfire impacts assessment, in order to support landscape restoration planning. The framework entails the identification of intervention priority areas with respect to fire severity, safety, and ecosystem services. Moreover, an assessment of environmental damages during the early post-fire stages was conducted in terms of Ecosystem services (ESs) loss. Spatial MultiCriteria Decision Analysis (ILWIS module) with support of panel of experts allowed the identification of priority restoration. These areas were overlapped with the fire severity map in order to identify the most critical areas i.e., land surfaces with high degree of change between pre- and post-fire conditions. Intervention priority areas have been identified by overlapping fire severity map with ESs map. Finally, the ESs monetary value loss was assessed by means of GIS-based approach. About 400 ha, 5% of Vesuvius National Park total area, have been classified as priority intervention areas. For all these areas, the loss of about 50% of the ecosystem services monetary value has been calculated. This work, carried out in cooperation with agro-forestry landscape planners, foresters, agronomists, botanists and ecologists, highlights the importance of an interdisciplinary approach in landscape management and restoration. Indeed, the definition of priority intervention areas becomes strategic in allocating monetary resources to restore burned areas.