Rural Europe on the move English_E_version_all | Page 53

Learning to listen
8. Controlled burn in Craig Rhos y Felin, Brynberian
9. Firebreak cutting in Carn Ingli, Preseli Hills
10. Participants exchange during the workshop in Wales
Talking about
wildfires
These included the Pembrokeshire policies sooner than later,” Steven
Coast National Park team, the fire explains. This is a good example for
brigade and local farmers. Farmers the kind of easy communication and
were trained in controlled burns collective problem-solving enabled
summer on the mountains, generally and were also offered technical by bringing different stakeholders
provoked by farmers,” Steven Bradley support like firebreaks. It enabled around a table.
of the Pembrokeshire Sustainable open communication and education Agriculture Network explains. between all affected parties. The established a long-term relationship
“Because of a lack of information, results are clear: the number of with farmers, authorities and the
farmers sometimes just throw a match. wildfires has significantly fallen. National Park. Steven tells us that
This may seem silly to us now, but it Needless to say, this has saved the “working with farmers is sometimes
was clear that there was a lack of fire services much time and money. a tough nut to crack but we don’t
“We used to have wildfires in
appropriate information about fire
This information was taken to
Over 30 years, PLANED has
patronise them: we bring the
prevention reaching the people who the Welsh government as a case information, sow the seed and give
need it. It became a real problem.” study to encourage them to set them time to build their capacity
dates for permissible burns in the without breaking confidentiality – even
group to identify all actors that uplands. They “looked at this group if some activities are not always legal.
had to be sat around the table to as a citizen pilot and also as a source Some projects take years before
really tackle the wildfire problem. of information to see how to adapt people commit. Patience is essential.”
So PLANED helped set up a
“We bring the information, sow the seed
and give time to build capacity
without breaking confidentiality.”
Steve Bradley
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