EFHERA Project - Interreg SUDOE

Project name: EFHERA

Subject: Optimizing Hydrological and Environmental Recovery in Agroforestry Areas Affected by Major Fires

Start date: June 1, 2025

End date: May 31, 2028

Coordinator: University of Zaragoza, Department of Materials and Fluid Science and Technology  

Scientific manager at the SIAME: Volker ROEBER

Type of contract: Interreg FEDER

Official link to the project website: EFHERA

Project description

This project focuses on optimizing the planning of post-fire actions to ensure the recovery of areas affected by major forest fires (MFs) in southwestern Europe in the context of climate change.

Affected areas undergo rapid degradation processes in the months immediately following a fire. In the context of climate change, this degradation process is accelerating. If recovery and management measures are not appropriate or are not implemented immediately, the agroforestry recovery of the area may not occur.
Therefore, the rapid and effective implementation of protection and restoration measures in the first few months following a fire is essential.

Furthermore, the proliferation of large wildfires—which makes it difficult to carry out simultaneous post-fire actions across the entire affected area—means that the recovery of burned areas can only be addressed through comprehensive and orderly planning. It is therefore essential to identify priority areas in order to intervene effectively and implement the most appropriate measures.

This project will provide institutional forest management services with a digital hydro-morphological-ecological model of the fire-affected area, in order to assess which areas require priority post-fire intervention and to design and monitor medium- and long-term agroforestry restoration measures. The actions of the EFHERA project will lead to optimized planning, aimed at reducing the degradation of the natural environment and forest loss in southwestern Europe.