(IFFN No. 27 - July 2002)
In continuation of the last issues of International Forest Fire News and an agreement with the FAO Global Forest Fire Assessment 1990-2000 within the Forest Resources Assessment 2000 (FRA) this issue presents three country reports that had been included in the FAO global fire assessment (Canada, United States of America, and Mexico). In the North and Central America America Fire Special additional contributions come from Chiapas (México) and Guatemala. A contribution of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), sponsor of International Forest Fire News, reports on America’s National Fire Plan which follows the recommendations by the U.S. Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior in response to the wildland fire season of the year 2000.
The Europe Special of this issue provides the first comprehensive reports from Poland, Portugal and the United Kingdom. These reports had been presented at BALTEX FIRE 2000 in Finland and are now published with a slight delay. In addition a pan-European analysis of forest fires is presented which was based, among other, on the statistical data provided by IFFN and the ECE. An essay on recent collaborative activities in fire management in the Mediterranean region is provided by the GFMC. The Country Notes of this issue, finally, provides the most recent reports from India and Mongolia.
At the time of writing this Editorial the Global Fire Monitoring Center (GFMC) is working on the establishment of the Regional Wildland Fire Networks that have been proposed by the GFMC and the UN-ISDR Inter-Agency Task Force for Disaster Reduction, Working Group on Wildland Fire. One of the agreed terms of reference of the Working Group is to support “the establishment of, and operational procedures for, a global network of regional- to national-level focal points for early warning of wildland fire, fire monitoring and impact assessment, aimed at enhancing existing global fire monitoring capabilities and facilitating the functioning of a global fire management working programme or network.
A number of regional activities are currently emerging and taking the lead in the formation of networks. These will be invited to participate at the 3rd International Wildland Fire Conference, Sydney, Australia (September 2003). Currently the Regional Wildland Fire Networks are initiated through the following initiatives and groups:
- Regional Baltic Wildland Fire Network (FAO/ECE/ILO Team of Specialists on Forest Fire)
- Regional Mediterranean Wildland Fire Network (European Open Partial Agreement, Major Hazards Agreement, Mediterranean Disaster Information Network – MEDIN, and FAO Silva Mediterranea)
- Regional South East European Wildland Fire Network (FAO/ECE/ILO Team of Specialists on Forest Fire)
- Regional Central Asia Wildland Fire Network (FAO/ECE/ILO Team of Specialists on Forest Fire)
- Regional North America Wildland Fire Network (t.b.d.)
- Regional Mesoamerica Wildland Fire Network (Technical Mesoamerican Permanent Group)
- Regional South America Wildland Fire Network (UNEP)
- Regional Australasian Wildland Fire Network (proposed: Australasian Fire Authorities Council – AFAC)
- Regional South East Asian Wildland Fire Network (Association of South East Asian Nations – ASEAN; launched in June 2002)
- Regional Subsahara Wildland Fire Network (follow-up of the kick-off meeting at the Wood for Africa Conference, held in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, 3 July 2002)
Each of the Regional Wildland Fire Networks will consist of a Network Coordinator and the Focal Points of countries belonging to the regions. The networks will consist of a number of sub-networks that will possibly include
Wildland Fire Early Warning Subnet
Wildland Fire Monitoring Subnet
Wildland Fire Management Subnet
Wildland Fire Science Subnet
Wildland Fire Capacity Building Subnet
Wildland Fire Policy and Legislation Subnet
IFFN readers are encouraged to follow the developments on the websites of the GFMC and the ISDR Working group on Wildland Fire at:
http://www.unisdr.org/eng/task%20force/tf-working-groups4-eng.htm
http://www.fire.uni-freiburg.de or www.gfmc.org
Freiburg, July 2002 Johann G. Goldammer
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