Wildfire-Workshop-Presentation-Johann-Georg-Goldammer

1. Adapting Fire Management to a Changing Climate
Paris, France, 16-17 January 2020
Innovative Approaches in Enhancing Governance and
Interoperability in Landscape Fire Management:
Interagency and International
Johann Georg Goldammer

2. Innovation
 Introductory Remarks: Formation of the Global Fire Monitoring
Center (1998) and the Global Widland Fire Network (2003) –
Creation of a Science-Policy-Practitioners Interface (SPPI)
 Recent Challenges: Outcomes of the 7th International Wildland
Fire Conference – The Campo Grande Statement (1 November
2019)
 International and multilateral organizations supporting national
agendas
 National progress

3. 01 November 2019
Campo Grande Statement
“Building Sustainable and Fire-Resilient Societies and Landscapes”
Extracts

4.  The paradigm of addressing the problem through individual and
disconnected services and actions in fire prevention or suppression should
be reframed.
 Unified and integral planning must ensure and strengthen societal,
environmental and economic resilience to landscape fires by addressing:
- Risk governance and ownership
- Dialogue of knowledge, including traditional and indigenous knowledge
- Gender, diversity and inclusion
- Socio-economic innovation in rural landscapes, favoring nature-based
solutions
- Strengthening local action
- Creation of resilient ecosystems and communities

5.  Decision-making must be evidence-based and supported by monitoring and
evaluation systems. Implementation should be coherent, cohesive and
coordinated
 The integrated cross-sectoral approach described above supports the
Sustainable Development Goals, the goals of the Paris Agreement and the
Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030
 This approach would be further strengthened by an appropriate United
Nations instrument

6. International and multilateral organizations
supporting national and regional (cross-boundary)
agendas
 UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction –
UN Office for DRR
 Council of Europe – European Major Hazards
Agreement
 Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE)

7. The Global Wildland Fire Network
14 Regional Wildland Fire Networks
and 6 Regional Fire Management Resource Centers

8. Functions of “Regional Fire Monitoring Centers” (RFMC) / Regional
Management Resource Centers” (RFMRC)
 Advisory support to nations and to the regional organizations:
- Development and implementation of fire management policies
- Support of participating countries of the region to develop informal or
formal agreements / protocols for cross-boundary cooperation in fire
management

9. Establishment of Regional Fire Monitoring /
Fire Management Resource Centers (I)
 2010: Establishment of the first Regional Fire Monitoring
Center: Southeast Europe / Caucasus Region (RFMC) (Skopje,
FYR Macedonia)
 2013: Eastern Europe Regional Fire Monitoring Center
(REEFMC) (Kyiv, Ukraine)
 2015: Regional Fire Management Resource Center in Central
Asia (RFMRC-CAR) (Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia)

10. Establishment of Regional Fire Monitoring /
Fire Management Resource Centers (II)
 2017: Regional Fire Management Resource Centers in
South East Asia (RFMRC-SEA) (Bogor, Indonesia)
 2017 / 2019: Regional Central Eurasia Fire Monitoring
Center and Russia (Krasnoyarsk)
 2017: Decided but not yet opened: Regional Fire
Management Resource Centers in South America (RFMRC-
SAR) (Santiago, Chile, and Gurupí, Brazil)
 2019: Negotiations initiated for Eastern Subsahara Africa
(Madagascar) and Eastern Asia (Harbin, P.R. China)

11. Scientific & Technical
Analysis & Prediction
Social & Economic Actions;
Fire Management
GlobalScaleRegionalScale
Nationalto
LocalScale
Global
Fire Early Warning
Monitoring & Analysis
Centres
National
Fire Management
Coordination Centres
Sector
Support
Institutions
Regional
Fire Early Warning
& Monitoring
Centres
National & Local
Actors in
Fire Management
International
Support
Organisations
Regional
Support
Organisations
Global
Applications
Centres
Regional
Applications
Centres
Sharing of Information and Resources within the Global Wildland Fire Network – 2001

12. Scientific & Technical
Analysis & Prediction
Social & Economic Actions;
Fire Management
GlobalScaleRegionalScale
Nationalto
LocalScale
Global
Fire Early Warning
Monitoring & Analysis
Centres
National
Fire Management
Coordination Centres
Sector
Support
Institutions
Regional
Fire Early Warning
& Monitoring
Centres
National & Local
Actors in
Fire Management
International
Support
Organisations
Regional
Support
Organisations
Global
Applications
Centres
Regional
Applications
Centres
GFMC
Sharing of Information and Resources within the Global Wildland Fire Network – 2018

13. Recommendations of the
“UNECE Regional Forum on Cross-boundary Fire Management”
Geneva, 28-29 November 2013
Establishment of Voluntary International Cooperation Mechanisms
With Participation of Belarus and Ukraine
UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC
COMMISSION FOR EUROPE

14. Recommendations of the UNECE / FAO Forum
Development of the International Wildfire Preparedness Mechanism
(IWPM)
 The IWPM provides a voluntary framework from which to cascade
improved knowledge, good practice, experience and training globally
 Sharing of fire management expertise across borders
 Application of standard training materials
 Development of common SOPs for enhancing cross-boundary inter-
operability in fire management, especially in wildfire emergencies

15. Selected IWPM Tools
Tools for advising / supporting nations and the United Nations in Capacity
Building in Landscape Fire Management and Wildfire Disaster Risk
Reduction
 Development of National landscape fire management policies and
implementation strategies
 Involvement / capacitation of State authorities and civil society
(community-based fire management)
 Integrated and nature-based fire management solutions

16. Selected IWPM Tools
Development of Guidelines
Defence of Villages, Farms and Other Rural Assets against Wildfires:
Guidelines for Rural Populations, Local Communities and Municipality
Leaders
Meanwhile available for
the use in various cultural
Regions of Europe and Asia

17. Selected IWPM Tools
www.euro-fire.eu
International competency standards for
training of firefighters
January 2020:
Available in 22
languages for the
use in 60+ countries

18. Examples of Practicing Preparedness and Cross-boundary
Interoperability in Fire Management
- 1st and 2nd International Fire Management Training Course for the South
Caucasus and Western Balkans – Attended by 10 Countries (Turkey, 2010
and 2014)
- First International Fire Management Week, Islamic Republic of Iran (2016)
- First South America Regional Fire Management Exercise (Uruguay, 2016)

19. Activities – Examples 2016 (I)
 SE Europe / Western Balkans (2-phased)
Republic of North Macedonia: National Round Table on Fire
Management: Consent on formation of an inter-agency task force and a
national fire management policy
First Regional Consultation on Cross-boundary Cooperation in Fire
Management (11 September 2016, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and
Water Economy, Republic of North Macedonia)
Participating countries: Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Kosovo, the Republic
of North Macedonia and Serbia.

20. Activities – Examples 2016 (II)
 Middle East – Islamic Republic of Iran (May 2016)
Introduction of Iran to the Regional Wildland Fire Networks of SE
Europe / Caucasus and Central Asia
Introduction of the EuroFire Competency Standards in Parsi (Persian)

21. Agricultural Burning - A major source of Black
Carbon deposits on the Arctic environment

22. Transport of Fire Emissions to the European Arctic
Satellite images courtesy of Norwegian Meteorological Institute

23. Prevailing in countries of Eastern Europe, Southeast
Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia:
Legal / technical vacuum for managing agricultural fires
ForestAgricultural
Lands
Settlements
Fire Services Forest Services
Vacuum

24. Cross-sectoral dimension of fire management
Fires are burning across the sectoral responsibilities of land owners
and land management agencies:
Typically responsible agencies
 Natural ecosystems: Forests
and other protected areas
 Agricultural and pasture lands
 Farms, villages and suburbs
 Infrastructures (incl. critical
infrastructures), traffic
 Waste deposits and otherwise
contaminated lands
 Military terrain
 Forest Service
 Park Service
 Ministry of Agriculture
 Ministry of Interior
 Crisis Management
 Ministries for Public
Health and Environment
 Ministry for Defense

25. Case of Ukraine
 National Round Tables on Fire Management Fires in the Natural and
Cultural Landscapes of Ukraine: Towards the Development of a National
Fire Management Policy (between 2017 and 2019, at the Regional Eastern
European Fire Monitoring Center – REEFMC)
 Preparation of legislative initiative for Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada)
 President of Ukraine on 24 December 2019 signed a Decree asking the
government to develop a regulatory framework concerning agricultural burning

26. Case of Ukraine
 While aiming at reducing / halting excessive /
unnecessary burnings – Ukraine and
neighboring countries of Eastern Europe /
Eurasia has made significant progress in
integrated fire management including the use
of prescribed fire in nature conservation and
wildfire hazard reduction

27. Case of Greece
 On 23 August 2018 established an independent Commission on the Future of
Fire Management in Greece, chaired by GFMC in its function of EUR-OPA
Specialized Center, with a Core Team of 5 Greek Scientists
 Working with >70 experts and 28 agencies of Greece
 Report for reorganizing fire management in Greece (submitted to the
Government and the Hellenic Parliament in February 2019)

28. Principles of ΟΔΙΠΥ (I)
1. Transdisciplinary and Innovation
Policy and strategic planning and relevant decision making shall be based on
sound scientific knowledge and considering technological capabilities and
innovation; this will include considering the revival of traditional, socio-
economically sound and environmentally benign land-use practices. A multi-
disciplinary scientific approach is mandatory to address the cross-sectoral nature
of fire management at landscape level.
2. Holisticness, Integration and Inclusion
Policy development and strategic planning shall be holistic, i.e. address the fire
problem at landscape level by including all relevant institutional mandates and the
potential and capacity of contribution of the civil society.

29. 3. Coherence
The mandates and activities in fire management of State institutions and other
stakeholders shall be coherent (harmonized) and meet the overarching
national fire management policy and implementation plan.
4. Cohesiveness
The National Fire Management Plan shall be considered cohesive (obligatory)
for individual institutional / sectoral planning and activities.
5. Coordination
The implementation of actions under the National Fire Management Plan shall
be monitored in a permanent basis and highly coordinated
Principles of ΟΔΙΠΥ (II)

30. Regional Governance
3-4 October 2017: Regional Consultation on Transboundary
Cooperation in Fire Management in South America
 Viña del Mar Declaration
 Official document that shall be endorsed and followed up by all
South American countries
 Initiation of the formal dialogue between government agencies in
10 South American countries

31. Innovation – Technical / Technologies vs. Policies
The FIre and REscue Innovation Network (FIRE-IN)
Landscape Fire Crisis Mitigation – Objectives
 Analyze drivers and underlying causes of
increasing wildfire severity and vulnerability of
European landscapes and societies
 Exchange views across sectors, responsibilities
and borders
 Analyze gaps in the tools for landscape fire
disaster-risk reduction
 Define and prioritize future R&D efforts

32. GFMC Global Wildfire Damages Report 2018
 Evaluation of the damages (extracts):
 Fatalities: 354 (2017: 303; 2016: 227, 2015: 198)
 Injuries: 1281 (2017: 1887; 2016: 568,244; 2015: 650,302)
 Evacuations: 885 evacuations in 41 countries involved the temporary
displacement of more than 639,679
 Homes destroyed: 29,985 (2017: 10,498)
 Other structures destroyed: 7,160
 Protected areas affected by wildfires: 421,240 hectares in 41 countries
(2017: 530,907 ha in 23 countries)

33. GFMC Global Wildfire Damages Report 2018
 Economic impacts of wildfires in 2018 in 18 countries (in $US):
 The known economic impacts of wildfires in 13 countries were estimated
well in excess of USD $32.3 billion
Thereof
 Direct fire damages including insured losses were estimated at more than
$26.06bn
 Suppression costs at nearly $1.5bn
 Mitigation, prevention and recovery costs: $3.23bn
Comparison 2017:
 Total: ~ $US 22.7 billion

34. Adapting Fire Management to a Changing Climate
Paris, France, 16-17 January 2020
Thanks for Your Attention