The U SBIRRU association, winner of the French Ministry of Ecological Transition's call for projects, has been leading a landscape plan in the Giussani micro-region, Balagne, Haute-Corse (2B), since 2019, delegated by four municipalities. By integrating fire into territorial management, this project locally redefines public policies for forest fire prevention to strengthen the resilience of Mediterranean landscapes while developing sustainable and ecosystem-friendly practices.

Jordan SZCRUPAK, Landscape designer
APJS (subcontractor) and member of the Scientific Committee of U Sbirru

As part of the landscape plan "Landscape and Fire Culture Integrated into Territorial Development," U SBIRRU, with the TEM PAYSAGES, a french landscape architects agency acting as project manager, coordinates this innovative approach to fire management in the upper Giussani valley (altitude: 900 m – 100 km²), which consists of four municipalities: Pioggiola, Mausoleo, Olmi-Capella, and Vallica, with a total of 320 inhabitants. This study, supported by the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME) and the Regional Directorate for Environment, Development, and Housing (DREAL) of Corsica, adopts a systemic approach and relies on cartographic and geo-historical (DEM, fire history, forest cover) data analysis by the Jordan Szcrupak Landscape Workshop (APJS), landscape architect consultant specialized in wildfire, as well as a deep understanding of ecological and rural dynamics. 

In the Mediterranean, forest fires are recurrent natural phenomena that profoundly affect both ecology and landscape perceptions. Rather than viewing them solely as a threat, the landscape plan proposes to transform fire risk into a creative resource. This approach paves the way for integrated management across various sectors such as urban planning, agriculture, tourism, and health. The key lies in reducing vulnerabilities, especially at the wildland-urban interface, by incorporating ecological approaches of water resource. This landscape scale project also fosters enhanced planning within the broader context of fire risk. By creating a collaborative interface among stakeholders, including local communities, state services, and environmental organizations, the project not only strengthens the resilience of landscapes but also promotes sustainable territorial development. 

Proactively engaging with fire in land management 

In response to the challenges posed by climate change, the strategy developed in Giussani aims to reduce vulnerabilities, particularly at the wildland-urban interface (WUI), through operational landscape planning and agro-silvo-pastoral management of rural areas. For example, terraced food gardens play a key role along historical valley axes by forming green belts capable of limiting fire spread through agroforestry systems that need to be restored (chestnut groves, orchards, fodder trees). 

One of the central proposals of the project is to extend the Legal Obligations for Clearing (OLD) to a general interest zone of 150 meters, transforming an agri-urban edge into a project thickness that allows for coordinated fuel management between local stakeholders and state services. This plan is based on two components: the combination of agro-silvo-pastoral practices and controlled burns on one hand, and regenerative hydrology to buffer climatic extremes on the other. The objective is to create a heterogeneous landscape mosaic of natural, agricultural, and forest areas, capable of reducing the burned areas and altering the behavior of fire propagation at the territorial scale. International examples, such as the "Ramats de foc" in Catalonia, demonstrate that integrating fire into landscape management can be economically viable with non-timber forest product sectors and environmental services, while also reducing the vulnerability of key assets (inhabitants, herds, heritage). 

Ultimately, this landscape plan proposes a new way of living with fire, viewing it as an intrinsic and structuring element of the territory, and aims to develop a supportive economy for the Corsican forest through actions by the Office for Agricultural and Rural Development of Corsica (ODARC) and products with Protected Designation of Origin (PDO). Through this methodology, which is applied outside of fire seasons, the aim is to shift the paradigm from fighting fires to developing a new collective awareness of the phenomenon, which scientists confirm will increase in frequency and intensity due to climate change especially in the Mediterranean area. In this perspective, fire becomes a catalyst for new agro-landscape practices that enhance local resources while preserving ecosystems. These practices are operationalized locally, through governance models capable of anticipating and managing future crises, actively contributing to the transformation and sustainability of Mediterranean landscapes.