Tropical Forest Fire Prevention for Integrated Fire Management: From Guidelines to Best Practices in Field Implementation
Tracks
D. Maria Room
| Tuesday, May 16, 2023 |
| 4:30 PM - 6:00 PM |
| Workshop |
Details
Forest fires in the tropics have become a major concern due to their severe impact on communities and ecosystems, as well as the economic costs they incur. In 2019 alone, forest fires in Indonesia released around 708 million tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere. According to a new report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and GRID-Arendal, climate change and land-use change are projected to make wildfires more frequent and intense, and global wildfires will increase up to 14 per cent by 2030, 30 per cent by the end of 2050 and 50 per cent by the end of the century, and the regions affected by wildfires will likely increase significantly.
As part of its efforts to assist member countries, ITTO has been promoting tropical forest fire guidelines as a policy reference, along with field capacity building projects in the three tropical regions. Recently, ITTO initiated two fire projects in Indonesia and Peru, which were funded under the Japanese Government’s emergency assistance program. These projects aim to provide comprehensive training programs for local stakeholders on agriculture waste practices, adoption of technologies to detect and minimize fires, and improved cooperation among local institutions, the private sector and communities on forest and land fire management.
The lessons learned from these projects, along with ongoing research outcomes in Ghana, will contribute to the development and implementation of forest fire policies and strategies to limit extreme forest and land fires in the tropics.
Speaker
Hwan-ok MA
Officer-in-Charge
Forest Management Division, ITTO
Chair
Biography
Dr. Ma is currently Officer-in-Charge of Forest Management Division at ITTO, an intergovernmental organization based on Yokohama, Japan promoting sustainable forest management (SFM) in the tropics. With over 27 years of experience, he promotes the capacity building of SFM, including forest-based climate change adaptation and mitigation, and conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in tropical production forests. Recently, he has supported the implementation of projects for the prevention of forest fires in Indonesia and Peru.
Johann Georg Goldammer
Director
Global Fire Monitoring Center (GFMC)
Keynote Speaker: Preventing and Managing Tropical Forest Fires: Guidelines and Best Practices for Integrated Fire Management
Biography
Johann Georg Goldammer is Chief of the Global Fire Monitoring Center (GFMC), which he founded in 1998. The GFMC has worked with the United Nations family, multilateral and intergovernmental organizations and directly with more than 70 countries in supporting scientific-technical and policy advice for developing capacities and policies in landscape fire management. The GFMC is coordinator the Global Wildland Fire Network (GWFN) and a Voluntary Commitment to the Sendai Framework. As coordinator of the GWFN, he has established eight Regional Fire Management Resource Centers throughout the continents and serves as Secretariat of the International Fire Aviation Working Group (IFAWG).
Lucy Amissah
Regional Western Africa Fire Management Resource Center, Ghana
Speaker: Managing Community Forest Fires in Ghana: Lessons Learned and Strategies for Sustainable Solutions
Biography
Dr. Lucy Amissah is an Ecologist, and a Senior Research Scientist with the CSIR-Forestry Research Institute of Ghana. She holds a Ph.D. in Forest Ecology from Wageningen University, the Netherlands. Lucy has over twenty years’ experience in research and development in forest ecology, fire management and biodiversity conservation. Lucy’s research focuses on the impacts of disturbances (drought and fires) on tree species distribution, plant diversity, and the underlying mechanism using plant functional traits. Other research areas include the study of impacts of wildfires on farming systems dynamics in the forest zone of Ghana. Lucy has worked with other stakeholders to develop fire use guidelines and Manual of Procedures for Fire Management in the High Forest Zone of Ghana, which is one of the operational manuals used by the Forest Services Division of the Forestry Commission of Ghana. In addition, Lucy has led the development and implementation of community fire management programs to help protect natural forests and restored forest landscapes. Lucy is currently the site Principal Investigator for the Wageningen University led EU-funded PANTROP project that seeks to assess how human-driven climate change, landscape degradation, and biodiversity loss affect forest recovery in tropical landscapes in Ghana, Mexico and Australia. She is serving as the founding head of the Regional Western Africa Fire Management Resource Center within the Global Wildland Fire Network.
Elvira Gómez Rivero
DG, General Directorate of Information and Forest and Wildlife Management, National Forest and Wildlife Service (SERFOR)
Speaker: Women in forest fire prevention and response in Peru
Biography
Professional with more than 20 years of experience in forest management, rural management and public management, design, coordination, execution, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of programs, executive management positions in forest management and conservation, in addition to developing strategies for climate change and forests at the national level, as well as with experience in international negotiations at the UNFCCC level for REDD+. She has consistently delivered results that exceed expectations and sets goals. She has 9 years of experience in positions of responsibility, coordination, Senior Management and Direction in the public and private sectors. She was the director of the ITTO-financed project: "Prevention and response to forest fires in tropical forests and forest plantations in Peru" and is currently the director of the department of information and forest management and one of the activities she leads is the monitoring of forest fires in Peru in the National Forestry and Wildlife Service of the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation.
Bambang Hero Saharjo
Regional Fire Management Resource Center - Southeast Asia, Indonesia
Speaker: Enhancing Policy Intervention for Forest Fire Management in Indonesia to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Biography
Prof. Bambang Hero Saharjo is senior lecturer at the Faculty of Forestry and Environment IPB University and also the Executive Director of Regional Fire Management Resource Center Southeast Asia under GFMC. Spent more than 30 years in Indonesian forest fire problems. Prevention in the real action is one of the best solutions for decreasing of fire and GHG emission reduction. The paper will talk about the minimum tillage of land utilization and without fires
