Wildfires in a Changing Climate: Impacts, Adaptation, and Policy

Éditeurs invités

• Sarah Meier, ETH Zurich
• Eric Strobl, University of Bern
• Robert J. R. Elliott, University of Birmingham

Synthèse

Wildfires are becoming increasingly frequent and intense in many regions due to climate change, land-use shifts, and expanding human settlements in fire-prone areas. Their economic impacts extend far beyond direct suppression costs, affecting labour productivity, supply chains, tourism, housing markets, and public health through smoke exposure. Rising public expenditures on prevention and recovery, combined with evolving policy debates around insurance and risk financing, underscore the need for rigorous economic analysis.

This special issue seeks empirical research that quantifies the welfare consequences of wildfires and smoke, particularly in regions facing emerging risks and in developing economies. The call welcomes interdisciplinary work grounded in environmental and resource economics that evaluates adaptation and management strategies, leveraging new data sources and innovative methodologies including remote sensing and AI-based technologies.

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Thèmes proposés

• Labour productivity, sectoral employment shifts, and worker mobility
• Housing markets, mortgage risk, and migration and other behavioural responses to wildfire risk and exposure
• Natural capital and ecosystem service valuation, including impacts on biodiversity, recreation, and forest asset pricing
• Inequality, information access, and distributional impacts of exposure and monitoring technologies
• Public finance, insurance markets, and the fiscal consequences for local and regional governments
• Institutions, governance, and risk-sharing arrangements, including coordination across jurisdictions, public-private roles, and firm responses to wildfire risk
• Prevention, suppression, and adaptation strategies, including land-use planning, prescribed burning, indigenous fire stewardship, and advanced monitoring and management technologies
• Welfare losses from smoke exposure, including physical and mental health outcomes and associated human capital effects