fire Article Socio-Ecological Perceptions of Wildfire Management and Effects in Greece Palaiologos Palaiologou 1, * , Kostas Kalabokidis 1 , Andreas Troumbis 2 , Michelle A. Day 3 , Max Nielsen-Pincus 4 and Alan A. Ager 3   Citation: Palaiologou, P.; Kalabokidis, K.; Troumbis, A.; Day, M.A.; Nielsen-Pincus, M.; Ager, A.A. Socio-Ecological Perceptions of Wildfire Management and Effects in Greece. Fire 2021, 4, 18. https:// doi.org/10.3390/fire4020018 Academic Editor: Fantina Tedim Received: 11 March 2021 Accepted: 30 March 2021 Published: 2 April 2021 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). 1 Department of Geography, University of the Aegean, Mytilene, 81100 Lesvos Island, Greece; kalabokidis@aegean.gr 2 Department of Environment, University of the Aegean, Mytilene, 81100 Lesvos Island, Greece; atro@aegean.gr 3 USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory, Missoula, MT 59808, USA; michelle.day@usda.gov (M.A.D.); alan.ager@usda.gov (A.A.A.) 4 Department of Environmental Sciences and Management, Portland State University, Portland, OR 97201, USA; maxnp@pdx.edu * Correspondence: palaiologou.p@aegean.gr; Tel.: +30-22510-36435 Abstract: Adapting to the growing frequency of catastrophic wildfires in Greece and mitigating their effects is a complex socio-ecological problem. We used an online survey to query more than 100 engaged stakeholders who can potentially influence possible legislation and fire management organizational reform, emphasizing civil protection agencies and research entities. We focused the questionnaire on the importance of different wildfire effects to understand which were considered negative or unacceptable, indifferent, or positive. For fire prevention, we examined the range of acceptance and views on fuel management and fire use activities that are limited in extent or not allowed in Greece. We also examined the beliefs regarding ignition causes and responsibility, in addition to how different policies might reduce wildfire-related problems. The results revealed an emphasis on reforming wildfire management policies to deal with the way society and agencies function and interact, and mitigate the influence of climate change in wildfire frequency and behavior. In addition, respondents had a negative stance towards allowing wildfires to burn for resource objectives and a strong belief that arsonists are behind most ignitions. They also believe the lack of a national cadaster system is a major source of wildfire-related problems. The results indicate little support for fuel treatments, but increased acceptance for the legalization of fire use during firefighting (backfires). This study summarizes current wildfire perceptions in Greece and identifies opportunities and barriers to changes in wildfire governance to improve risk management programs and guide post-fire management and mitigation. Keywords: fire risk governance; society; fuel management; social survey; controlled burn 1. Introduction Catastrophic wildfires over the past few decades in Greece suggest that existing risk governance policies are inadequate to address future fire hazards and effects. Despite the rapid advancement of scientific knowledge regarding wildfire risk and mitigation practices, little has been done to improve existing wildfire management policies [1]. The most significant fire suppression and forest management regulations were established almost four decades ago (Law 998/1979) and strongly favor fire suppression (about USD 400 million annually invested), with only minor funding for fire prevention and fuel management programs (about USD 25 million annually) [1–3]. The current fuels reduction budget provides the Greek Forest Service (GFS) with direct funding adequate to treat a small area (20,000 ha) spread across the entire country per decade (approximately 2000 ha annually). This amounts to about 1% of the forested landscape (about 2.8 million ha), where Fire 2021, 4, 18. https://doi.org/10.3390/fire4020018 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/fire