By Lucas Guaraldo
The issue of wildfires and forest fires needs to be given greater prominence in conference discussions and other international climate agendas. This need was highlighted during the panel“Rio Synergy in Practice: Integrated Fire Management, Conservation, and Ecosystem Restoration,” organized by IPAM (Amazon Environmental Research Institute) at the Brazil Pavilion during COP31 in Antalya, Turkey, this Saturday (the 14th).
“Forest fires impact all nature-based solutions we’ve been considering in relation to forests. They impact restoration, REDD, payments for environmental services, and the bioeconomy. So, we have to address this issue as a key topic at this convention and delve deeper into it so we can move toward a world where fire is, in fact, managed—something it is not today,” warns Ane Alencar, IPAM’s Director of Science.
The issue of wildfires and forest fires remains a secondary topic in COP discussions. Since COP3, held in 1997 in Kyoto, Japan, COP30 in Belém has been the edition that has addressed the issue the most, with four official side events dedicated to the topic. On average, fire is addressed in only two official events per COP, out of the more than 250 held since the third edition of the conference.
“It’s an issue that should be included in everything. In mitigation, for example, greenhouse gas emissions from wildfires are not recorded. In adaptation, because we do not know for certain how to attribute these fires, the issue is left out of the discussion on loss and damage. That is why the scientific community has been working to better understand how much of what burned was caused by more extreme weather and how much was due to an increase in arson,” adds Alencar.
“We often draw on Brazil’s experience as inspiration for creating public policies and for transforming actions into concrete results on the ground. The integrated fire management policy is one of the few in the world that addresses the issue of fire at the national level with such depth and cooperation among the public and private sectors, different levels of government, and traditional peoples and communities. This provides the foundation for Brazil to lead initiatives such as the call to action launched last year, which was supported by more than 80 countries,” said Amy Duchelle, coordinator of the FAO’s Global Fire Management Hub.
Integrated Fire Management
The event also discussed the implementation of new federal and state laws, enacted following the El Niño episodes of 2023 and 2024, and the impact of these policies on tackling hotspots in subsequent years. According to participants, the enactment of the Integrated Fire Management (MIF) law made it possible, for the first time, to establish more robust, continuous, and structured policies for Brazil’s strategies to prevent and combat wildfires.
“The fire situation is worsening year after year, beyond the effects of El Niño, but today we are better prepared than we were in 2023. Fires used to be seen as an issue for Prevfogo, but they have reached such a large scale that we need a more structured approach—and it is no coincidence that we passed the new IFM law. With it, we are establishing a national IFM system and a system of mandatory and preventive emergency measures mandatory and preventive measures that must be taken by various stakeholders, such as rural property owners, municipal governments, or traditional communities, for example,” notes André Lima, Special Secretary for Deforestation Control and Environmental Land Use Planning at the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change.
Approved in 2024, following a record number of wildfires recorded across various Brazilian biomes that year—amid the effects of El Niño—the National Policy on Integrated Fire Management has become an international benchmark in this field. The legislation stands out, above all, for providing for coordination among different agencies that previously operated in isolation in firefighting policies and for prioritizing techniques to prevent large fires, in addition to tackling active fire hotspots.
“Ibama [Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources] is responsible for fighting fires across more than 3 million hectares, mainly in protected areas, but we also respond to other requests to assist state and municipal agencies, for example. Therefore, this integration among different stakeholders is essential for us to act effectively,” emphasizes Jair Schmitt, president of Ibama.
Regional Governance
At the state level, the National Policy on Integrated Fire Management was fundamental in establishing national guidelines while also allowing fire prevention and suppression strategies to be adapted to the specific conditions of each biome and state. According to Arthur Falcette, Secretary of the Environment for Mato Grosso do Sul, this combination of coordinated action and respect for local contexts gave the policy strength and allowed its guidelines to be effectively implemented across the regions.
“Our fire policy was born out of pain, but it has yielded interesting results. Starting in 2021, Mato Grosso do Sul recognized that it was not prepared to handle the scale the wildfire problem had reached. In 2023, the record number of wildfires was crucial for testing all levels of our coordination. It was then that we sat down with the federal government, civil society organizations, and the agricultural sector to chart a more modern course that would provide the legal framework needed to begin this process of fire management adapted to the reality of the Pantanal—something that had never happened before,” he recalls.
Brazil’s experience with the National Policy on Integrated Fire Management has also been highlighted as an international benchmark for developing public policies and combating wildfires. According to representatives of international organizations, Brazilian legislation stands out for its national approach and the coordination among different sectors of society, which strengthens the country’s leading role in the global mobilization around this issue.