Conversion of powerline right-of-ways: biodiversity, resilience, and local value in the face of climate change and wildfires

The Portuguese transmission system operator, REN – Rede Elétrica Nacional (REN), manages more than 33,500 hectares of Rights-of-Way (ROW), 66% of which in forest areas, including ecologically sensitive and fire-prone regions of the country. For decades, these corridors were managed almost exclusively as technical buffer zones, subjected to periodic vegetation clearing intended to maintain safety distances between conductors and vegetation. However, the intensification of climate change, the increasing recurrence of large-scale wildfires and the degradation of rural landscapes have revealed the limitations of reactive management strategies.