E-Thesis 421 views
Stakeholders’ Perception of Landscape Fire in the Brecon Beacons, South Wales / JOELLA MANLEY
Swansea University Author: JOELLA MANLEY
Abstract
The Brecon Beacons National Park is home to unique, distinctive landscapes that have long been influenced by the presence of fire. Here, fire is used as a management tool, a legally recognized farming practice carried out by graziers and landowners, but there is also a troubling presence of maliciou...
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Swansea, Wales, UK
2023
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| Institution: | Swansea University |
| Degree level: | Master of Research |
| Degree name: | MSc by Research |
| Supervisor: | Doerr, Stefan H., Sinnadurai, Paul. and Forman, Daniel |
| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa63614 |
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| Abstract: |
The Brecon Beacons National Park is home to unique, distinctive landscapes that have long been influenced by the presence of fire. Here, fire is used as a management tool, a legally recognized farming practice carried out by graziers and landowners, but there is also a troubling presence of malicious fire-setting in the area. Between 2009 and 2022, 24,000 landscape fires have been recorded in South Wales, and a substantial proportion of these have occurred outside of the legal burning period. While there is a decline in the frequency of fire events, there are concerns with climate change that wildfires are increasing in size and having considerable impacts on protected areas of land. The shortage of qualitative research in the area and the level of conflicting perspectives highlights the need for analysis of perceptions, given the complex and intricate issues related to landscape fire.Through in-depth, semi-structured interviews, perspectives held by relevant stakeholders are assessed using thematic analysis. 16 individuals across four groups of stakeholders are included: graziers, individuals within Fire and Rescue Services, governmental officials, and individuals working for landowners in the Brecon Beacons National Park. Open questions concerning key themes were discussed, including the level of risk fire poses, if fire has changed over the past 10 years, the impacts, causes, and role of fire, as well as management and media coverage of fire. There is substantial variation in perceptions concerning landscape fire, related and unrelated to stakeholder group. Findings indicate level of risk is increasing with climate change, policies regarding land management need updating, and areas of future research are identified as necessary in establishing best practices of landscape fire in the area. |
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| Item Description: |
A selection of content is redacted or is partially redacted from this thesis to protect sensitive and personal information. |
| Keywords: |
Wildfire, landscape fire, stakeholder perception, Brecon Beacons, prescribed burn |
| College: |
Faculty of Science and Engineering |