Ana Margarida Silva – researcher at the Center for Intercultural Studies (CEI) at ISCAP-P. PORTO, alumni of the Master’s in Intercultural Studies for Business and FCT doctoral student – has just contributed a chapter to the book An Interdisciplinary Approach to Climate Change: Perspectives from the Social Sciences and Humanities, edited by Andrea Catellani, Louise-Amélie Cougnon, Øyvind Gjerstad, and Armelle Nugier and published by the prestigious Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group. The book is now available for pre-order here.
Based on a wide selection of case studies, the book highlights the central role of the Social Sciences and Humanities in understanding and responding to climate change. Ana Margarida Silva’s chapter, entitled “Building Wildfire Resilient Communities,” proposes a reflection on the concept of communities resilient to forest fires, emphasizing the importance of involving citizens, local authorities, and different actors in defining integrated prevention and response strategies. Every year, forest fires devastate territories in various regions of the world, taking on a particularly critical dimension in Portugal. The chapter focuses on three mountain ranges—Serra da Estrela, Serra do Açor, and Serra da Lousã—where climate change, combined with changes in land use and land cover, has contributed to an increased risk of severe forest fires. The chapter analyzes two case studies: the documentary Fire Resistant, screened at the CineEco festival in 2023 and awarded the Regional Panorama Prize, and the pilot project FireProtect – Protection Systems for People and Critical Elements Exposed to Forest Fires. In both cases, community mobilization proves to be fundamental in strengthening local risk management, raising collective awareness, and cultivating resilience and recovery capacity in the wake of such disasters.
The CEI congratulates its researcher Ana Margarida Silva on yet another international success.