For the first time in 30 editions of the Climate Conference, the fire agenda has taken center stage. Approved during COP30 in Belém, the Call for Action on Integrated Fire Management and Forest Fire Resilience has so far received the support of 61 countries and four international organizations (see list below). The strategy recognizes fire management as a priority for climate adaptation, the protection of ecosystems and the security of peoples and communities. The call to action is led by the Brazilian government and has the participation of a coalition of 60 Brazilian organizations, including IPAM (Amazon Environmental Research Institute).
“This is the first time at a climate conference that there has been something at this level of presidency talking about fire management. Fire permeates much of what is being discussed here. We’re talking, for example, about all land use change, all emissions. All land use change is related to the use of fire, but emissions from forest fires don’t come into the equation. And we see what happened last year in Brazil,” he said
The concern is based on an alarming track record. Countries such as Belize, Russia, Australia and Colombia have had historical records of vegetation loss caused by fire. Last year, the area burned in Brazil set a record. 17.9 million hectares were burned, 58% in the Amazon, the highest rate in 40 years.
“This means a 500% increase in the impact of fires on the rate of deforestation in the Amazon. Even so, the Brazilian government has managed, despite the challenge of the fires, to reduce it by more than 50% in the last three years. This means: if it weren’t for the fires, this year’s deforestation rate would be the lowest in history,” said André Lima, Extraordinary Secretary for Deforestation Control and Territorial Environmental Planning at the MMA (Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change).
Urgent solution
Created last year, the MIF (Integrated Fire Management) policy has helped people understand that fire is a natural and essential element in many ecosystems and that traditional and indigenous peoples and communities use it to fulfill their cultural and subsistence activities and ways of life.
“IPAM has presented data on the impacts of these fires. The area burned in Brazil, not just in the Amazon, but in other biomes, the dynamics of fire. So this really helps us to think about how far we are off the curve and how much fire has actually impacted territories in general,” emphasized Ane Alencar.
The Science Director also stressed that the discussion needs to move onto the official agenda, since fire is capable of having an impact on solutions for forests that have been discussed, such as the TFFF (Tropical Forests Forever Fund), the Leaf coalition, REDD+, payments for environmental services, bioeconomy strategies and restoration, for example. “We need to take control of this tool so that we don’t have to literally burn our solutions that are being thought up and discussed,” he said.
Check out the list of members
Andorra, Algeria, Armenia, Austria, Australia, Benin, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Cuba, Dominica, Ecuador, France, Ghana, Gabon, Greece, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Lebanon, Liberia, Malaysia, Morocco, Mexico, Myanmar, Mozambique, Nepal, Netherlands, Norway, Panama, Pakistan, Peru, Portugal, United Kingdom, Republic of Korea, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Dominican Republic, Czech Republic, Rwanda, Russia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sudan, Switzerland, Turkey, Uruguay, Zambia, FAO (United Nations Food and Agriculture Fund), ITTO (International Tropical Timber Organization), UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) and UNDP (United Nations Development Programme).