(IFFN No. 28 - July 2003)
At the time of preparation of IFFN No.28 the preparations for the 3rd International Wildland Fire Conference, Sydney, Australia, 3-6 October 2003, are in full swing. Six years after the 2nd International Wildland Fire Conference (Vancouver, Canada, May 1997) there will be another opportunity for the international community of wildland fire managers, scientists and policy makers to meet at a common forum and to share experiences, views and visions on global fire issues. Most important will be the topics of science and technology transfer, and international cooperation in wildland fire management. Since 1997 the world of fire has undergone dramatic changes. At the time of the Vancouver Conference the strong El Ni๑o Southern Oscillation (ENSO) event sent its first precursor signals. One year later drought and extended wildfires, many of them escaped from land-use and conversion burnings, left scorched and destroyed forests and other vegetation around the globe, particularly in South East Asia and Latin America. The pan-tropical fire crisis was followed by the most extreme series of fire seasons in the U.S.A. For the first time in history the U.S.A. called for fire management assistance from countries outside of North America. Fire management specialists from Australia and New Zealand rushed to a nation that was struck by fires of almost unprecedented intensities and severities, leaving more than 2.9 million ha scorched lands. After a moderate fire season of 2001 (area burned: 1.5 million) wildfires picked up again in 2002 and burned another 2.9 million ha.
In the boreal forests of the Russian Federation large fires occurred in the Far East region and led to considerable damages on commercial forests, ecosystems and endangered species. Satellite data revealed an area burned of more than 2.4 million ha in Khabarovsk Territory alone and about 9.4 million ha on the whole territory of the Russian Federation. In the year 2000 the fires began to escalate. In Amur Region satellites depicted fire on 19.9 million ha and in Buryatiya 1.4 million ha. In 2002 and early 2003 the situation got even worse. The reports from Russia in this issue of IFFN indicate a total area of 11.7 million ha affected by fire during the fire season of 2002. In Kazakhstan more than 2.8 million ha were burned. At the time of writing this editorial (on 20 July 2003) the total area affected by wildland fires in the Russian Federation is more than 21 million ha a size almost doubled as compared to the hot season of last year.
Fires burning in other regions of the world are unfortunately not so well documented. Global satellite datasets for the year 2000 indicate that the total area affected by wildland fires, land-use fires including conversion fires and regular rangeland burnings was more than 350 million ha. What we dont know or what is extremely difficult to be assessed by looking at fires from space: What is the share of the fires that have negative effects on the environment, i.e. fires threatening the sustainability of the ecosystems concerned, what is the share of fires that have beneficial effects on ecosystem stability and land-use system productivity, and how many of these fires have indifferent effects and can be tolerated?
The FAO Global Forest Fire Assessment 1990-2000 attempted to answer some of these questions. However, the lack of reliable data including the lack of agreed criteria and indicators for damage assessments limited the global evaluation of the real magnitude and impacts of fire. It is timely that an international consensus will be reached to develop standards for fire assessment. But not enough. We are recognizing that the multiple and accumulating effects of global change are creating conditions favourable for more destructive fires. All regions of the world are now experiencing increasing climate extremes, most of them leading in one way or another to an increase of wildland fire hazard and fire risk.
This is why the first International Wildland Fire Summit is now being prepared in conjunction with the 3rd International Wildland Fire Conference, on 8 October 2003. All countries attending the Sydney conference are searching for pragmatic and sustainable answers to the mitigation of risks to health and safety of communities, and the environmental, ecological and economic damage caused by uncontrolled wildland fires. Each country has valuable contributions for providing synergistic solutions. Many countries and international agencies, especially those with well developed wildland fire management systems or with resources available to share, are in the position to assist others that are in need of help. The participants at the Summit have an unprecedented opportunity to consider the key issues and to help identify solutions and ways to commit to global action. All communities around the world afflicted by wildland fires can benefit from initiatives taken at this Summit.
IFFN readers are encouraged to follow the preparation of the International Wildland Fire Summit. The GFMC has established a summit website at http://www.fire.uni-freiburg.de/summit-2003/introduction.htm and will report about the outcomes of the conference and summit in its next volume by end of 2003.
Freiburg, July 2003 Johann G. Goldammer
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