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Working Group on Fire
Objectives: Working together towards
reducing the negative impacts of
vegetation fires on the environment and
humanity through
effective strategies employed by civil
society and international organizations
1. Rationale
Over the past decade, many regions of
the world have experienced a growing
trend of excessive fire application in
the forestry-agriculture interface,
land-use systems and land-use change,
and an increasing occurrence of
extremely severe fires. Some of the fire
effects are trans-boundary, for example
smoke and water pollution and its
impacts on lives, human health and
safety, livelihoods, material
possessions, loss of biodiversity or
site degradation at a landscape level
leading to desertification or flooding.
The depletion of terrestrial carbon by
fires burning under extreme conditions
in some vegetation types, including
organic terrain in peat land biomes, is
one of the driving agents of disturbance
of global biogeochemical cycles, notably
the global carbon cycle. Observed and
modelled consequences of regional
climate change suggest an alteration of
fire regimes with consequences on
ecosystem degradation and depletion of
terrestrial carbon. Although this trend
is revealed by a wealth of scientific
knowledge on the cultural, social,
economic and environmental dimension of
fire in the Earth system, the gaps in
fire management capabilities from local
to global levels are evident. The
current situation and the expected
trends are challenging the international
community to address the problem
collectively and collaboratively.
2. Response by Civil Society and
International Organizations
In recognition of the significant
impacts of vegetation fires on the
global environment, on economies and
society, and the role of natural and
anthropogenic fire as an important
factor in maintaining stability,
biodiversity and functioning of some
ecosystems, several international
consultations during the 1990s,
including the 2nd
International Wildland Fire Conference
(1997), recommended that a group and
mechanisms be formally established under
the auspices of the United Nations to
facilitate international cooperation in
addressing global fire needs.
In 2001 a Working Group on Wildland Fire
was established under the auspices of
the Inter-Agency Task Force for Disaster
Reduction, UN International Strategy for
Disaster Reduction (UNISDR). The Working
Group provided an international platform
and forum with the overall aim of
bringing together
the technical members of the fire
community and the authorities concerned
with policies at national to
international levels to realise their
common interests in fire management at
global scale.
Among other activities the Working Group
initiated the establishment of the
UNISDR Global Wildland Fire Network
(GWFN) under which Regional Wildland
Fire Networks would play a key role in
developing partnerships and cooperation
in fire management between countries.
Expert
consultations and dedicated
international conferences on forest fire
policies management and research since
the late 1990s examined action related
to international collaboration, capacity
building and human resource development;
to review mechanisms to support
cooperation in forest fire management at
bilateral, regional and international
levels; the establishment of
inter-country agreements aimed at
sharing resources, personnel and
equipment; and to examine components of
such inter-country agreements, including
overall logistical, policy and
operational level considerations.
In 2003 the International Wildland Fire
Summit recommended principles and
procedures for international cooperation
in fire management. Furthermore, the
summit recommended international
dialogue through the Regional Wildland
Fire Networks organized under GWFN and
coordinated by the UNISDR Wildland Fire
Advisory Group (WFAG).
In May 2004 the Global Fire Monitoring
Center (GFMC), FAO, UNISDR and GOFC/GOLD
(Global Observation of Forest and Land
Cover Dynamics) drafted a paper
“Framework for the Development of an
International Wildland Fire Accord”.
Regional consultations in 2004
recommended the development of informal
partnerships, joint projects and formal
agreements between government and
non-governmental institutions that were
essential to enable nations to develop
sustainable fire management
capabilities. In 2004 the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations (FAO) and the Wildland Fire
Advisory Group / Global Wildland Fire
Network proposed the development of an
International
Wildland Fire Accord to the FAO
Ministerial Meeting on Forests and the
17th Session of the FAO
Committee on Forestry, March 2005 (COFO
2005). Both the Ministerial Meeting and
COFO 2005 called upon FAO, in
collaboration with countries and other
international partners, including the
UNISDR, to develop a strategy to
enhance
international cooperation on
wildland fires, that advances
knowledge, increases access to
information and resources and explores
new approaches for cooperation at all
levels, and to develop voluntary
guidelines on the prevention,
suppression and recovery from forest
fire.
In response, FAO convened a technical
core group of international fire
specialists in March 2006 and held an
international expert consultation in
Madrid in May 2006 to consider drafts of
the Strategy to Enhance International
Cooperation in Fire Management and the
Voluntary Guidelines. The international
experts agreed upon
a framework outlined in Figure 1.
The Strategy to Enhance International
Cooperation in Fire Management is built
upon four pillars:
-
Principles and Strategic Actions as
detailed in the Voluntary Guidelines
-
Implementation Partnership (Fire
Management Actions Alliance)
-
Global Assessment of Fire Management
-
Review of International Cooperation
This summary paper of the Working Group
on Fire provides the main elements of
the review (Pillar 4), which had been
developed by the GFMC in cooperation
with UNISDR-WFAG / GWFN in response to
the Global Assessment of Fire Management
2006 (Pillar 3) and the principles and
recommendations included in the Fire
Management Voluntary Guidelines (Pillar
1).
        
Figure
1.
The Components of the Strategy to
Enhance International Cooperation in
Fire Management
3. Definition of Principles and
Priorities for Action
These references highlight a lack of
capacity in integrated fire management
in many countries around the world –
both in human and technical resources.
Action is needed at local, sub-national,
national and regional levels. Priority
for action aimed at enhancing fire
management capabilities are put opposite
the fire management principles of the
Fire Management Voluntary Guidelines
(Table 1).
Table
1.
Principles with derived implications for
priority action.
|
Principles: Voluntary Guidelines
- Relevant at all levels |
Implications for International
Cooperation:
Priorities
for Action |
|
Appropriate
use and management of fire will
promote sustainable livelihoods;
the traditional use of fire on
the lands of indigenous peoples
and traditional rural
communities should remain as a
practice for those communities
and adapted to the current
environment |
|
|
Human health
and security will be improved by
minimizing the adverse effects
of fire |
|
|
The
destructive impacts of unplanned
fires on livelihoods, property,
and resources must be minimized. |
|
|
An effective
and efficient fire management
programme requires a balance
between the benefits society
receives from the use of fire
and the costs, damages, or
undesirable impacts caused by
unwanted fire. |
Development
of methodologies and standards
to assess (a) benefits, costs,
and economic outputs from the
use of fire for resource
management and the public good;
(b) fire damages including
effects to non-economic or
non-commodity values; and (c)
benefits of mitigation of the
unwanted effects or damages to
lands and resources. Development
and use of early warning systems
to provide seasonal severity
predictions and inform citizens
on mitigation measures and
assist in the assessment of fire
risk. |
|
The
interactions of climate change
with vegetation cover and fire
regimes should be understood and
appropriately considered in the
planning process and
implementation of fire use. |
Promotion of,
and capacity building in,
integrated approaches of
strategic fire management
planning that include the
interactions between climate
change and fire regimes,
particularly the preparation of
long-term fire management plans,
land-use plans, silvicultural
planning and management plans of
protected areas that take into
account attributes of climate
change, i.e. increasing
occurrence and impacts of
climate extremes (droughts,
hurricanes, floods) on potential
behaviour and severity of fire,
fuel dynamics, and shifting of
vegetation zones; utilizing
hazardous fuels for energy
production with the dual goal of
reducing wildfire hazard and
consumption of fossil fuels; and
maximizing the storage of carbon
in ecosystems – especially in
restoration of degraded
ecosystems – without increasing
the wildfire risk. |
|
Fire should
be managed in an environmentally
responsible manner to assure
properly functioning and
sustainable ecosystems into the
future. |
Knowledge
transfer and capacity building
in fire ecology and derived fire
management practices, post-fire
rehabilitation and management of
invasive species.
|
|
All fire
management activities should be
based on a legal framework and
supported by clear policy and
procedures |
Promotion of
and capacity building in
enacting legislation and
regulation at the appropriate
jurisdictional levels, e.g. for
achieving goals ranging from
those set by local communities
to internationally agreed
principles such as the
Millennium Development Goals,
notably those of eradication of
extreme poverty and hunger,
ensuring environmental
sustainability, and development
of a Global Partnership for
Development. |
|
Successful
fire management requires
participatory approaches for
leadership and management
appropriately shared between
public and private landholders,
the fire services, and
communities of interest. |
|
|
Few nations
and no single agency or
community have the ability to
manage every situation, and as
fires routinely affect multiple
jurisdictions, agencies should
develop cooperative arrangements
to mitigate the
multi-jurisdictional impacts. |
Development
and promotion of the use of
common terminology, systems, and
standards to enhance
international cooperation;
promotion of exchange of
knowledge, technology and
resources in order to facilitate
rapid international response to
fires; participation in
international organizations,
networks, fora, and activities
to increase the domestic
agencies’ capacity to manage
fire; and use of available
guidelines and examples of
successfully implemented
agreements as a framework will
facilitate the development of
binding and non-binding
international instruments. |
|
Access to,
and the appropriate transfer of,
knowledge is essential for all
fire management activities. |
Promotion of
and capacity building in
high-quality scientific research
and confirming the utility of
practical knowledge is necessary
for the creation of policies,
regulations, guidelines and
practices; use of science and
technology transfer in local
fire activities including
community-based approaches. |
Priorities for internationally
coordinated action as recommended in the
Global Assessment of Fire Management, by
international conferences and
international organizations are
summarized in Table 2.
Table
2.
Priorities for action, as recommended in
the Global Fire Assessment, and from
international conferences and
organizations.
|
International Priorities |
Implications for Action |
|
Harmonization
of terminology and definitions
will result in clear and better
understanding |
Development
of a multilingual fire
management terminology |
|
Global fire
monitoring, assessment and
reporting standards, procedures
for data collection and fire
database management is essential
to provide a full picture on the
occurrence and impacts of
vegetation fires, including
changes of fire regimes as a
consequence of global change. |
Development
of internationally agreed
standards for fire monitoring,
assessment and reporting of
vegetation fires. |
|
Operational
global fire early warning,
detection and surveillance
system |
Development
of operational fire early
warning and risk assessment
systems (local to global) for
decision support in fire
management; development of a
coordinated satellite-based
system for operational detection
and monitoring (surveillance) of
fires. |
|
International
fire disaster assistance |
Enhancement
and improvement of existing
mechanisms of fire disaster
support at international level
under an internationally agreed
jurisdictional / legal
framework; provision of
appropriate funding, and human
and technical resources. |
|
Bilateral,
Multilateral and international
cooperation: Networking and
agreements |
Development
(where not yet in place) of
agreements to enhance
international cooperation in
fire management (capacity
building, sharing of fire
management resources,
development and joint
implementation of policies
addressing transnational issues
of fire management. |
|
International
cooperation in fire research |
Development /
enhancement of cooperative
research projects and programmes
with a focus the human and
environmental implications of
global change and changing fire
regimes. |
|
International
donor support |
Creation of
mechanisms for funding, e.g. an
international partnership or a
“Fire Management Programme
Facility” which would correspond
to the
National Forest Programme
Facility |
|
Technical
Support to Fire Management |
Regular
evaluation of in-country
capabilities in fire management
in order to define gap-stop
measures to improve political,
policy and public awareness
building, and to develop:
-
Community-based fire management
-
Fire
management planning,
institutional jurisdictions in
integrated approaches in the
rural-urban and
forestry-agriculture interfaces
-
Strengthening
knowledge creation and sharing
-
Greater
commitments to education and
training a local, sub-national,
national and regional levels and
international fora, seminars,
conferences, workshops, study
tours to share knowledge
-
Strengthening
UNISDR Regional Wildland Fire
Networks |
4.
Goals of International Cooperation in
Fire Management
The goals to enhance international
cooperation in fire management are to:
-
Adopt a common language and common
principles in fire management as a basis
for international, inter-cultural and
multilingual cooperation
-
Better understand the issues related to
fires, their underlying causes and
environmental and humanitarian impacts
-
Create synergies by increasing
collaboration by actors and coordinating
individual actions
-
Achieve greater integration of policies,
plans, management and monitoring between
sectors
-
Develop policy and fire management
support systems that are of global /
international nature
-
Implement relevant international
agreements, conventions, declarations,
processes and voluntary agreements into
regional, national and local policies
and actions
-
Create a framework and mechanisms of
international donor support for fire
management stakeholders in need.
Enhancing international cooperation
can assist the international, regional,
national and local communities to:
-
Improve and make available knowledge,
information and data on the extent and
impacts of fire on a range of forest and
non-forest ecosystems (to serve as a
basis for decision making in fire
management) and on the atmosphere and
global climate
-
Increase efficiency of fire management
(land use and fire use, prediction,
prevention, preparedness, rapid response
to control of wildfires and mitigation
and restoration / rehabilitation
following fires)
-
Ensure capacity building in fire
management
-
Develop cross-sectoral policies, notably
with the land-use domain (agriculture,
pastoralism), nature conservation,
environmental management, climate change
mitigation, etc.
5.
Priority Themes for International
Cooperation in Fire Management
The priority themes to enhance
international cooperation in fire
management are clustered in four broad
areas:
1.
Development of international standards,
methods and systems for fire early
warning, monitoring, impact assessment
and reporting
-
Terminology
-
Fire statistics: Development of a
coherent global database
-
Fire monitoring
-
Early warning
-
International sharing of data and
information
2.
Training and technology transfer
-
Training of fire management personnel
-
Public / community involvement in fire
management
-
Fire management guidelines
3.
Support to policy, legal, institutional
and planning frameworks
-
Policies, legislation and strategies:
National and regional
-
Human safety and health
-
Human security and peace
-
International agreements for cooperation
in fire management, including mutual
assistance in fire emergencies
4.
Research
Figure
2.
International sharing of fire data and
information will involve cross-sectoral
participation of global to local actors
with responsibilities ranging from
scientific and technical analysis to
land users and fire management actors on
the ground, i.e. the local communities.
6.
Conclusions
The strategic review and assessment of
the role of international partners in
international cooperation in fire
management, developed by members of the
Working Group on Fire, concentrated on
themes and fields that require a
cooperative and collective approach. The
availability of finances for the
implementation of the strategic actions
and for coordinated action suggested in
this review, however, are crucial for
the overall success of international
cooperation. An active follow up of this
assessment through the UNISDR Wildland
Fire Advisory Group, the Global Wildland
Fire Network and the Fire Management
Actions Alliance will be crucial for the
success of coordinated and collective
international action. It is strongly
assumed that nations (governments),
international organizations and civil
society (non-government organizations),
notably those participating in the
UNISDR Regional Wildland Fire Networks,
will be interested and available to
serve as partners.
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