When Forests Burn

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During the International Year of Forests, Mètode would like to contribute to the event by dedicating this issue to one of the dangers faced by these ecosystems: forest fires.

Coordinated by Artemi Cerdà, an internationally acclaimed researcher into forest fires, this monograph entitled

When Forests Burn. The Impact of Fire on Ecosystems discusses fire from a scientific perspective. According to Professor Cerdà, while scientists understand fires to be natural processes, the general public continues to see fire as a threat. «…[forest] management is beginning to understand that we must work with fire, and not against fire», says Cerdà. Fire is part of how ecosystems work, but man has changed natural fire patterns, both by protecting against and preventing fires or by causing others. The articles in this monograph help us to understand the effects that fire has on our forests, and how we can fight against large forest fires, which involve not only natural disasters but often become a safety issue for people too.

This interesting monograph has received the collaboration of the artist Javier Riera, who has done work exclusively for Mètode, where the forest, fire and light call to mind the tragedy of fires.

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© Javier Riera
In this monographic issue, Mètode has seen through the eyes of the artist Javier Riera (Avilés, 1964). His works mix light, nature and fire.
In the picture, Javier Riera. Making off Fire 4, 2011. Photograph on paper, variable measurements.

Mètode’s summer issue also has a feature on Valencia’s freshwater lake known as the Albufera. To mark the 25th anniversary of the Albufera being declared a Natural Park, articles discuss changes in the state of the lake and the public demonstrations and media campaign that saved the Dehesa de El Saler, near the Albufera, where a huge urbanization project would have meant the end of the forest as well as seriously damaging the lake.

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© Mètode
Aerial photograph of the Albufera Lake in Valencia, declared a Natural Park in 1986. 

Full Professor of the History of Science, Josep Lluís Barona, tells us about the Denia doctor, Francesc Torrent-Guasp, a cardiologist whose research changed the way we understand the heart. All this accompanied by interviews, articles and regular sections.

© Mètode 2011.

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Mètode‘s summer issue, When Forests Burn. 

«During the International Year of Forests, Mètode would like to contribute to the event by dedicating this issue to one of the dangers faced by these ecosystems: forest fires»

03DESPRES-DEL-FOC
© D. Gironés
Mètode puts forward the song Després del foc, with music by Atzukak and lyrics by David Gironés. The song looks at fire, beyond scientific analysis, bringing us closer to the perspective of those who inhabit countryside devastated by fire.

© Mètode 2011