International Wildland Fire Summit "Fire Management and Sustainable Development: Strengthening international cooperation to reduce the negative impacts of wildfires on humanity and the global environment"  Sydney, Australia, 8 October 2003 Note: This website is regularly updated concerning the implementation of the outcomes of the Summit (last update: 3 April 2007)

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Introduction

Following the 3rd International Wildland Fire Conference in Sydney, Australia, 3-6 October 2003, an International Wildland Fire Summit was held on 8 October 2003 between invited representatives from all regions of the globe to develop a strategy for the improvement of wildland fire management. Also attending were invited representatives of those countries and international agencies most able to assist, or having a significant stake in the situation. The participants met to collectively plan both short- and medium-term pragmatic solutions to the problems being confronted in wildland fire management. The summit came up with an agreement for the implementation of a five-year wildland fire strategy.

The following three documents provided information on the organization and scope of the International Wildland Fire (IWF) Summit, including a comprehensive background paper:

• Summit Scope Statement
• Briefing Notes
• Background Paper

As a result of the summit, participants had been invited to consider four position papers. These papers have been edited in the course of the Summit and were finalized in the post-Summit discussions. The final versions, including an additional paper on Community-Based Fire Management, are included in the Summit Communiqué (see below).

Outcomes of the Summit

The Summit Communiqué includes the final versions of the Summit conclusions and the five position papers.

• Summit Communiqué (Original version with text of the five papers and technical annexures, updated 23 April 2004 – PDF file, 283 KB, 57 p.)
• Summit Communiqué (Short version with main Summit outcomes - 3 p.)
• Summit publication with all documents (ECE/FAO International Forest Fire News – IFFN No. 29)

Additional Statements delivered at the Summit:

• Summit Opening Address by the Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs

• Message of the UN Secretary-General for the International Day for Disaster Reduction (October 2003)

• Statement by UN Convention on Biological Diversity

• Position paper of the Russian Federal Forest Service at the Summit

• Summit Statement by the Southern African Fire Network (SAFNet) (SAFNet Workshop, Kruger National Park, South Africa, 17 - 22 August 2003)

• Summit Contribution from Russia: New Approaches to Forest Fire Management at an Ecoregional Level in the Far East of the Russian Federation (Khabarovsk, Russian Federation, 9-13 September 2003)

Group photograph of the summit participants (8 October 2003)

 

 

Follow-Up: The Global Wildland Fire Network

A number of regional consultations and conferences have been accomplished during the post-summit process:

 

• The Global Wildland Fire Network
  
  
• Regularly updated documents reflecting the status of the global cooperative arrangements (Status Paper Global Wildland Fire Networks and Framework for the Development of the International Wildland Fire Accord 

  
  

• Foundation Meeting of the Regional Northeast Asia Wildland Fire Network (5-6 March 2004, Seoul, Korea)
  
  

• Conference on Forest Fire Management  and International Cooperation in Fire Emergencies in the Eastern Mediterranean, Balkans and adjoining Regions of the Near East and Central Asia (30 March - 3 April 2004, Antalya, Turkey)
  
  

• Joint meeting of the International Liaison Committee (ILC) and the UN-ISDR Working Group on Wildland Fire: Side meeting at the Second International Symposium on Fire Economics, Planning and Policy: A Global Vision (19-22 April 2004, Córdoba, Spain)
  
  

• Regional Baltic Meeting on Cooperation in Wildland Fire Management (10 May 2004, Helsinki, Finland) (by invitation only; more information will be added in May 2004)
  
  

• Global Fire Experts Workshop of the TNC-WWF-IUCN Global Fire Partnership (16-18 May 2004, Switzerland)
  
  

• Joint UN Inter-Agency Advanced Wildland Fire Management Training Course and Regional Consultation for the Southern African Development Community (SADC) (Nelspruit, South Africa, 30 May – 5 June 2004)
  
  

• 3rd South American Symposium on Wildland Fire Control and 7th Joint Technical Meeting FUPEF/SIF/IPEF on Wildland Fire Control jointly with the Foundation of the Regional South America Wildland Fire Network (14-17 June 2004, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil)
  
  

• Meeting of the Regional Wildland Fire Networks of South America, Mesoamerica and the Caribbean in conjunction with the Pan-American Wildland Fire Conference (San José, Costa Rica, 21-24 October 2004)
  
  

• ASEAN Haze Technical Task Force (HTTF) meeting and ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Haze (back to back with the First Meeting of COP to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution (8-11 November 2004, Viet Nam) (see also Status Paper of the Global Wildland Fire Network, 24 December 2004)
  
  

• Regional Central Asian Forest Congress “Forest Policy: Problems and Solutions” (Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic, 25-27 November 2004)
  
  

• First Meeting of the UN-ISDR Wildland Fire Advisory Group and the Global Wildland Fire Network and International Liaison Committee for the 4^th International Wildland Fire Conference (3-4 and 2 December 2004, GFMC, Freiburg, Germany)
  
  

• Summary publication of the activities of the Global Wildland Fire Network in 2004 (Special Issue of ECE/FAO International Forest Fire News - IFFN No.31)
  
  

• 2^nd Meeting of the Northeast Asia Wildland Fire Network (Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan, 18 January 2005)
  
  

• UN World Conference on Disaster Reduction (WCDR) (18-22 January 2005, Kobe, Hygo, Japan) with GFMC / Global Wildland Fire Network presentations
  
  

• Regional Southeast Europe Wildland Fire Network: Regional Scientific and Technical Consultation 2005 (Ohrid, Macedonia F.Y.R., 4-5 April 2005)
  
  

• Eastern European, Near East and Central Asian States Exercise on Wildland Fire Information and Resources Exchange - EASTEX FIRE 2005 (Haskovo, Bulgaria, 20-22 April 2005)
  
  

• Side Event at the 5th Session of the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) "Development of a Strategy or Agreement on International Cooperation in Wildland Fire Management" (New York, 18 May 2005)
  
  

• Report of the Wildland Fire Advisory Group / Global Wildland Fire Network to the 11th Meeting of the ISDR Inter-Agency Task Force for Disaster Reduction (Geneva, 24-26 May 2005)
  
  

• Regional Central Asia Fire Management Study Tour and International Conference on Forest and Steppe Fires (Mongolia, Buryatia, Irkutsk Oblast, August-September 2005)
  
  

• Report of the Wildland Fire Advisory Group / Global Wildland Fire Network to the 12th Meeting of the ISDR Inter-Agency Task Force for Disaster Reduction (Geneva, 22-24 November 2005)
  
  

• Preparatory Meeting for the 3^rd Regional Northeast Asia Wildland Fire Network Meeting 2006 in conjunction with the 5^th Symposium of the National Research Institute of Fire and Disaster (NRIFD) (2 December 2005, Tokyo, Japan)

  
  

• Fourth International Symposium on Sustainable Management of Forest Resources (SIMFOR 2006) and First International Workshop on Fire Management (19 - 22 April 2006, Pinar del Río, Cuba)

  
  

• Conference on Promoting Partnerships for the Implementation of the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution (11-12 May 2006, Ha Noi, Viet Nam) 

  
  

• COFLAC 2006-Taller Pre-Comisión (LACFC 2006 Pre-Commission Workshop) (25 June 2006, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic)

  
  

• First International Northeast Asia Forest Fire Conference and 3^rd Meeting of the Regional Northeast Asia Wildland Fire Network (28 to 30 September 2006, Khabarovsk, Russia)

  
  

• Regional Wildland Fire Consultation on the Development of a Strategy on International Cooperation in Wildland Fire Management in the Regional South East European / Caucasus Wildland Fire Network (19-21 March 2007, Sofia, Bulgaria)

  
  

• Foundation Meeting of the Regional South Asia Wildland Fire Network (2-3 April 2007, Kathmandu, Nepal)

FAO Ministerial Meeting on International Cooperation in Forest Fire Management

• Agenda of the FAO Ministerial Meeting on International Cooperation in Forest Fire Management (Rome, 14 May 2005) (PDF, 80 KB)
• FAO Background Paper for the Ministerial Meeting on International Cooperation in Forest Fire Management (PDF, 100 KB)

• FAO Background Paper for the Meeting of the Committee on Forestry (COFO) on Needs and Opportunities for International Cooperation in Forest Fire Preparedness (Rome, 15-19 March 2005) (PDF, 140 KB)

• Issues Identified by the Regional FAO Forestry Commissions in 2004 (Recommendations towards international cooperation in wildland fire management are highlighted)

• Recommendations of the first meeting of the UN-ISDR Wildland Fire Advisory Group and the Global Wildland Fire Network (GFMC / Germany, 3-4 December 2004) 

• Additional statement of the UN-ISDR Wildland Fire Advisory Group “Recommendations for the Development of an International Wildland Fire Accord” (March 2005) (PDF, 70 KB)

• Global Wildland Fire Network poster exhibition at the Ministerial Meeting / COFO (Rome, 15-19 March 2005) (JPG, 1 MB) 

• On-site statement by the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN-ISDR) / Wildland Fire Advisory Group / Global Wildland Fire Network at the FAO Ministerial Meeting on Forests, 17th Session of the FAO Committee on Forestry (COFO), 14-19 March 2005 (presented by the Global Fire Monitoring Center (GFMC), 16 March 2005)

• Summary of the Ministerial Meeting on Forests and the Seventeenth Session of the FAO Committee on Forestry, 14-19 March 2005 (published by ENB, 21 March 2005) 

• Statement of the Ministerial Meeting on Forests (Rome, 14 March 2005; statements related to wildland fire are marked yellow)

• Final Report of the 17th Meeting of the FAO Committee on Forestry (COFO) (Rome, 19 March 2005; statements related to wildland fire are marked yellow; versions in other FAO languages can be downloaded at: www.fao.org/forestry/site/cofo/en) 

• Follow-up of the Ministerial Meeting and COFO-17: Draft of The Fire Management Code (for international stakeholder discussion and comments, up to 31 October 2006)

• Development of a non-legally binding Strategy to Enhance International Cooperation in Fire Management (2005-2007), with endorsement by COFO-18 (March 2007)

 

Background Documents on International Cooperation in Wildland Fire Management

The following additional background documents are provided for briefing summit delegates and the international wildland fire community about earlier resolutions, agreements and ongoing programmes on which the Summit will build.

I. Decisions, recommendations and outputs of earlier international conferences

During the last decade several dedicated international conferences recommended global action programmes in wildland fire research and fire management cooperation. 

• Recommendations of the Wildland Fire Community at the UN-IDNDR World Conference for Natural Disaster Reduction (Yokohama, Japan, 23-27 May 1994)

• Declaration of the 1995 Chapman Conference "Biomass Burning and Global Change" (Williamsburg, Virginia, USA, 13-17 March 1995)

• ECE/FAO/ILO Conference on "Forest, Fire, and Global Change" (Shushenskoe, Russian Federation, 4-9 August 1996)

• Second International Wildland Fire Conference (Vancouver, Canada, 25-30 May 1997)

II. World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD)

The goal of the International Wildland Fire Summit will contribute to the implementation of the recommendations of the WSSD

• Statements on Wildland Fire submitted to the World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD)

• Results of the World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD)

During the WSSD a major initiative led by UNEP-OCHA was launched to increase international cooperation in the field of prevention, preparedness and response to environmental disasters. From the beginning wildland fire issues have been included.

• WSSD Partnership “Integrated Approach to Prevention, Preparedness for and Response to Environmental Emergencies in support of Sustainable Development”

The UNEP-OCHA Advisory Group on Environmental Emergencies (AGEE) at its 5th meeting in May 2003 decided to utilize the Partnership Programme to enhance international cooperation in wildland fire management.

• 5th AGEE Meeting Report (25 May 2003)

• Report of the Joint AGEE / APPELL Meeting on the Partnership on Environmental Emergencies (16 June 2003)

• AGEE Website: http://www.reliefweb.int/ochaunep/govern/agee5.htm

III. International Agreements for Assistance in Wildland Fire Emergencies

A documentation of established international mechanisms for mutual assistance in wildland fire emergencies and documents with surveys and evaluation of existing agreements on cooperation in wildland fire management is provided by the GFMC.

• International Agreements for Assistance in Wildland Fire Emergencies

IV. Documents of UN Agencies and Programmes

A special website has been created by the GFMC in which all reference documents on international wildland fire issues can be downloaded

• Fire Programmes and Documentations of the United Nations System

V. Global Fire Monitoring Center (GFMC)

The GFMC website provides access to scientific and user-oriented global wildland fire information and data, including facilitation of wildland fire emergency support

• GFMC Information System
  

• Global Wildland Fire Network

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