The Global Wildland Fire Network and the UNISDR international Wildfire Preparedness Mechanism (IWPM):

Advances and Prospects

Resumen

Tasked by and member of the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction through its Inter-Agency Task Force for Disaster Reduction and the UNISDR Wildland Fire Advisory Group the Global Fire Monitoring Center in 2001 has initiated to build the Global Wildland Fire Network that provides advice for the development of fire management policies, and science and technology transfer to enable nations and international organizations to: (i) reduce the negative impacts of landscape fires on the environment and humanity; and (b) advance the knowledge and application of the ecologically and environmentally benign role of natural fire in fire-dependent ecosystems, and sustainable application of fire in land-use systems. Following the recommendations of the International Wildland Fire Conferences since 2003 and international consultations such as the UNECE/FAO Forum on Cross-boundary Cooperation in Fire Management (2013) the International Wildfire Preparedness Mechanism (IWPM) was launched in 2014, a non-financial instrument facilitating national and international agencies, programs and projects to exchange expertise and build capacities in fire management. The GFMC is serving as Secretariat and working through five Regional Fire Monitoring Centers / Regional Fire Management Resource Centers in the regions Southeast Europe / Caucasus, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Southeast Asia and Central Eurasia. The centers have intensified the regional dialogue and exchange for enhancing national and cross-boundary fire management capacities. Activities were supported by international organizations, including multilateral organizations like the Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) with its 57 Participating States. The IWPM is recognized as Voluntary Commitment to the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030. In implementation of the recommendations of the 6th International Wildland Fire Conference the IWPM has achieved advances in initiating national and international agendas, projects and programs in cooperative fire management by applying principles of integrated fire management: (i) strengthening ecosystem-based approaches and Green DRR Infrastructure; (ii) scholarliness, transdisciplinarity and innovation for policy development and strategic planning based on principles of holisticness, integration and inclusion by including relevant institutional mandates and capacities of civil society; (iii) coherence, cohesiveness and coordination of actors mandated in fire management.