{"id":5488,"date":"2025-10-31T08:38:22","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T08:38:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fireadapt.eu\/?p=5488"},"modified":"2025-11-05T13:14:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T13:14:13","slug":"sh-argentina-the-parana-river-as-a-setting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fireadapt.eu\/en\/sh-argentina-the-parana-river-as-a-setting\/","title":{"rendered":"SH Argentina: the Paran\u00e1 wetlands as a setting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The province of Santa Fe (Argentina) was the setting for the fifth FIRE-ADAPT Study Hub (SH). From 22 September to 3 October 2025, presentations, workshops, and field visits were conducted to advance the project results and to gain firsthand knowledge of the research, the use of fire, and associated social factors in the Paran\u00e1 River wetlands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Argentina SH had an organising committee composed of Aylen Carrasco, Virginia Venturini, and Zuleica Marchetti from the <\/a>Facultad de Ingenier\u00eda y Ciencias H\u00eddricas<\/em><\/a> (Universidad Nacional del Litoral<\/em>, UNL); Bri\u00e1n Ferrero and Adriana Mill\u00e1n, from the Centro de Investigaci\u00f3n y Transferencia Rafaela<\/em><\/a> (CONICET-Universidad Nacional de Rafaela<\/em>, UNRaf); Francisco D\u00edaz, from the Secretar\u00eda de Protecci\u00f3n Civil y Gesti\u00f3n de Riesgos de la Provincia de Santa Fe<\/em><\/a>; and Jay Mistry and Bibiana Bilbao, from COBRA Collective CIC<\/a>. 44 participants from France, Italy, Spain, Bolivia, the United Kingdom, and Argentina attended, representing the various partner organisations of the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pre-Study Hub event<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few days before the official start of the Argentina SH, the FIRE-ADAPT project collaborated in organising the \u201c1st National Meeting on Integrated Fire Management in Argentina,\u201d which took place in the city of Santa Fe from 19 to 21 September. The event was conceived as an opportunity to address a strategic and urgent need to begin a transition toward fire management models that reduce risks, contribute to landscape restoration, and improve territorial governance in Argentina. To this end, keynote addresses, roundtables, presentations of case studies, and forums for local stakeholders were held to connect scientific and traditional knowledge with public policies that will facilitate the transition to Integrated Fire Management in Argentina. More information and programme here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Study Hub opening<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The majority of SH Argentina’s activities took place in the city of Santa Fe and the surrounding areas. On 22 September, at the Santa Fe Provincial Cultural Centre, the Argentina SH was opened, offering a perspective on the context of fire in the country from historical, ecological, stakeholder, and emergency services viewpoints. The Argentina SH unfolded in two locations: the cities of Santa Fe and Rosario and their Paran\u00e1 River islands (wetlands).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Development of the Argentina SH<\/strong> in Santa Fe<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Presentations and workshops<\/strong> [Facultad de Ingenier\u00eda y Ciencias H\u00eddricas<\/em> (UNL) and CONICET facilities]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monitoring and sharing progress on the different work packages of the project is an important part of all the Study Hubs<\/a>. The one in Argentina was no exception, scheduling presentations on Carbon dynamics (WP1), biodiversity conservation (WP2), (inter)cultural services and well-being (WP3), modelling and forecasting (WP4), Integrated Fire Management and climate adaptation (WP5), communication and dissemination (WP6), and project coordination (WP7).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pere Casals (CTFC) commenting on the progress in WP1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Tristan Charles Dominique (Sorbonne University) following up on WP2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The sessions were complemented by various workshops to gather information and advance the materials from the different work packages. Following preliminary activities led by Alice Hsu (University of East Anglia) and Paula Guilaberti (CONICET) to build trust among participants and establish a collaborative network map, Jay Mistry and Andrea Berardi (both from Cobra Collective) organised a workshop within WP3 in which participants created participatory videos<\/a> on Integrated Fire Management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have observed that intercultural aspects are often overlooked when addressing Integrated Fire Management. It is important to consider not only the diversity of systems and dialogue among different types of stakeholders, but also to foster participation and methods that can build engagement with people. Participatory videos are a technique for establishing a research process, better understanding the topic at hand, and communicating it to relevant stakeholders,\u201d says Jay Mistry of Cobra Collective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Map of collaborative networks of SH Argentina participants<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Presentation of the storyboard for one of the videos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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A moment of recording one of the videos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Also within the field of interculturality, Jay Mistry, along with Adriana Ford (Leverhulme Leverhulme Centre for Wildfires, Environment and Society), led a workshop on justice and equity with the aim of identifying the three dimensions of justice: recognition, procedures, and distribution. As part of WP5, J\u00falia Nogu\u00e9s from the Pau Costa Foundation facilitated a workshop to continue gathering information for a diagnosis of the socioeconomic, fire ecology and fire management pillars in Integrated Fire Management, to advance the development of the document ‘Guidelines on Capacity Building in Integrated Fire Management.’<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jay Mistry and Adriana Ford presenting the workshop on justice and equity<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Providing information for the document “Guidelines on Capacity Building in Integrated Fire Management”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Field trips<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researchers from UNL led a field trip to learn about the experimental work on prescribed burns in experimental plots on the islands of the Paran\u00e1 River. There was also an opportunity to learn from local stakeholders about the use of fire for pasture improvement and vegetation control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn four experimental plots, we are conducting controlled burns to study the impact of fire on different environmental components: vegetation, water quality, invertebrates, vertebrates, and soil. We carry out the studies before, during, and after the burn. We have been monitoring for three years to see how burning can restructure some communities through the fire itself, but also what the effect of future flooding might be, since these plots are prone to flooding,\u201d explains Zuleica Marchetti, a researcher at UNL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In this same scenario, in the so-called pajonales<\/em>, a herbaceous community very representative of the wetlands of the Paran\u00e1 River, the biodiversity (WP2) and Carbon dynamics (WP1) protocols were applied in plots where burnings had been carried out at three different times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Writing down information for the biodiversity protocol<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Applying the Carbon dynamics protocol<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The visit to the Santa Fe la Vieja Archaeological Park (Cayast\u00e1), the site of the original settlement of the city of Santa Fe, offered an opportunity to learn about and discuss the conservation of historical and cultural heritage in the face of fire risk, using the 2021 fire as a reference point. Organised by Adriana Mill\u00e1n and Bri\u00e1n Ferrero (National University of Rafaela-CONICET), the visit included the participation of the Cayast\u00e1 Volunteer Firefighters Association. The outing also included a visit to the adjacent nature reserve to learn about the characteristics of the environment and the impact of fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Listening to the intervention of the volunteer firefighters of Cayast\u00e1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Finally, a Zodiac boat tour was conducted through the islands of the Paran\u00e1 River to learn about its system, the islands, and their relationship to fire, as well as to share knowledge with a local family about community fire management strategies. It was also an opportunity to learn about the legal implications of fire use at the local level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Talking with a local family about the use of fire<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Development of the SH in Rosario<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Centro Cient\u00edfico, Tecnol\u00f3gico y Educativo Acuario del Paran\u00e1 and Paran\u00e1<\/em> islands<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rosario was the setting for a field trip to the Paran\u00e1 River wetlands across from the city. The aim was to understand the approach to fire use in productive areas, its relationship with livestock farming and the island environment, as well as sustainable alternatives for landscape management. This perspective of large-scale producers was contrasted with the views of members of environmental organisations on fire, as well as those of regional authorities, regarding its causes and impacts on the wetlands. All of this took place within the context of the 2020 fires in the wetlands, which, in addition to their impact on the wetlands themselves, caused significant smoke pollution problems in the city of Rosario.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn Rosario we wanted to show the complexity of fire in this region of the Paran\u00e1 River, where there are opposing views and a very marked controversy, and where the challenge is to start thinking about the implementation of Integrated Fire Management programs,\u201d says Bri\u00e1n Ferrero, researcher at the Universidad Nacional de Rafaela<\/em> – CONICET.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Talk to a producer in the Rosario wetlands<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Panel of speakers from environmental organisations<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Rosario was also the place where the Argentina SH was closed with a joint exercise to reach conclusions on the contribution and challenges posed by interdisciplinarity and interculturality in Integrated Fire Management policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After the 15 days of the Argentina<\/strong> SH<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Universidad Nacional de Rafaela, Universidad Nacional del Litoral and CONICET<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Rosario, the team returned to Santa Fe to work together on project deliverables of the work packages (inter)cultural services and human well-being (WP3), and Integrated Fire Management as part of climate change adaptation (WP5). A fire awareness workshop was also conducted at the “Nuestra Se\u00f1ora de Guadalupe” secondary school in Santa Fe. This workshop explored the concept of the fire triangle and factors contributing to fire spread. The participants shared experiences on wildfires, discussed self-protection, and created models to show how fire behaves depending on building materials and the presence or absence of landscape management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Collaborative work on project deliverables<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Workshop at the “Nuestra Se\u00f1ora de GUadalupe” high school<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The province of Santa Fe (Argentina) was the setting for the fifth FIRE-ADAPT Study Hub (SH). From 22 September to 3 October 2025, presentations, workshops, and field visits were conducted to advance the project results and to gain firsthand knowledge of the research, the use of fire, and associated social factors in the Paran\u00e1 River […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5373,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sin-categorizar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fireadapt.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fireadapt.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fireadapt.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fireadapt.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fireadapt.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5488"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.fireadapt.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5488\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5498,"href":"https:\/\/www.fireadapt.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5488\/revisions\/5498"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fireadapt.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fireadapt.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fireadapt.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fireadapt.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}