Rural and semi-rural communities in Mediterranean ecosystems face many overlapping challenges. Pressures like depopulation and climate change exacerbate already vulnerable and rapidly changing landscapes. Fire, once a land management tool, has now become a threat due to larger, more frequent and uncontrollable events. This research focuses on developing a transdisciplinary, systems thinking framework that bolsters adaptive land management as a wildland fire risk reduction approach in rural and semi-rural Mediterranean communities. This will be done by considering an arrange of socio-ecological analyses, adopting lessons from water management practices, focusing on socially inclusive research, and developing a communication tool.