UNECE - gfmc.online

1 UNECE united nations economic commission For europe Food and Agriculture Organizationof the united nations INTERNATIONAL FOREST FIRE NEWS No. 36 January June 2007 united nations united nations economic commission For europe Food and Agriculture Organization of the united nations UNECE ECE/TIM/IFFN/2008/1 INTERNATIONAL FOREST FIRE NEWS No. 36 January June 2007 united nations New York and Geneva, 2008 NOTE The statements made in the articles are those of their authors and do not necessarily correspond to those of the secretariat or the official views of the author's home countries. Furthermore the designations employed and the presentation of the material of this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the united nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

2 ECE/TIM/IFFN/2008/1 united nations PUBLICATION ISSN 1020-8518 iii International Forest Fire News (IFFN) is an activity of the FAO/ UNECE Team of Specialists on Forest Fire and the Global Fire Monitoring Center (GFMC). IFFN is published on behalf of UNECE Timber Committee and the FAO European Forestry commission . Copies are distributed and available on request from: UNECE Trade Development and Timber Division Timber Branch Palais des nations 1211 Geneva 10 SWITZERLAND Fax: +41-22-917-0041 E-mail: The publication is edited and prepared by Johann G. Goldammer, Leader of the FAO/ UNECE Team of Specialists on Forest Fire, at the Global Fire Monitoring Center (GFMC), Germany. Mailing address, telephone and fax numbers of the editor: Johann Georg Goldammer Fax: +49-761-80 80 12 The Global Fire Monitoring Center (GFMC) Tel: +49-761-80 80 11 Fire Ecology Research Group E-mail: Max Planck Institute for Chemistry c/o Freiburg University / united nations University (UNU) Georges-Koehler-Allee 75 79110 Freiburg GERMANY All current issues of IFFN are posted on the homepage of the GFMC and can be accessed at: All IFFN contributions published between 1990 and this current issue are accessible through 77 country folders and other special files on the GFMC website.

3 Call for contributions Readers of the International Forest Fire News are warmly invited to send written contributions to the editor at the above address. These may be in the form of concise reports on activities in wildland fire management, research, public relations campaigns, recent national legislation related to wildfire, reports from national organizations involved in fire management, publications or personal opinions (letters to the editor). Photographs (black and white) and graphs, figures and drawings (originals, not photocopies, also black and white) are also welcome. Contributions are preferably received by e-mail. The deadlines for submitting contributions to the bi-annual issues are: 15 May and 15 November. iv INTERNATIONAL FOREST FIRE NEWS (IFFN) IS AN ACTIVITY OF THE TEAM OF SPECIALISTS ON FOREST FIRE OF THE UNECE TIMBER COMMITTEE, THE FAO EUROPEAN FORESTRY commission , AND THE GLOBAL FIRE MONITORING CENTER (GFMC) CO-SPONSORS OF IFFN AND / OR GFMC ARE.

4 The Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management The UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) united nations University (UNU) The World Conservation Union Deutsche Gesellschaft f r Technische Zusammenarbeit The International Boreal Forest Research Association (IBFRA) Fire Working Group The IGBP International Global Atmospheric Chemistry Project (IGAC) Focus Impact of Biomass Burning on the Atmosphere and Biosphere "Biomass Burning Experiment" (BIBEX) The International Union of Forestry Research Organizations (IUFRO) Forest Fire Research Group v CONTENTS 1 Special Issue on the 4th International Wildland Fire Conference (13-17 May 2007, Sevilla, Spain), and the Strategy to Enhance International Cooperation in Fire Management The 4th International Wildland Fire Conference: The Opening addresses .. Recommendations of Session A: Mesoam rica, Caribe y Am rica del Sur Conclusiones y Recomendaciones.

5 Recommendations of Session B: Australasia and North Recommendations of Session C: europe , Southeast europe , Mediterranean North Africa and Caucasus .. Recommendations of Session D: Eastern Baltic, Central Asia, and Northeast Recommendations of Session E: South Asia and Southeast Asia .. Recommendations of Session F: Subsahara Africa .. GOFC-GOLD Side Event Report .. Workshop on Aviation Management: Communiqu .. Conference Statement as agreed by the Representatives of 13 Regional Wildland Fire Networks and Participants of the Joint Regional Posters Presented by 14 Regional Wildland Fire Networks .. Strategy to Enhance International Cooperation in Fire COUNTRY REPORTS The Forest Fire Situation in Mongolia .. Fire Effects on Productivity and Community Dynamics of Mongolian Grasslands .. Fuel Assessment and Fire Prevention in Pine Plantations during the Tending Stage in Dalat, Lam Dong Province, Viet RESEARCH & TECHNOLOGY Small UAS Demonstration by NASA and the US Forest Service.

6 2 3 6 9 11 15 18 21 24 25 27 29 43 46 67 76 87 Due of the time lag between editing and print/distribution of IFFN, readers interested in meeting announcements are kindly requested to visit the Internet version of this issue for update and short-term announcement of meetings (continuously updated) on vi Acknowledgements The Secretariat takes this opportunity to thank the editor of the IFFN, Professor Johann Georg Goldammer of the Global Fire Monitoring Center (GFMC) and his team for preparing this issue of IFFN. The Secretariat also wishes to express its appreciation to the national and international agencies who work together and are co-sponsoring the IFFN and GFMC: Deutsche Gesellschaft f r Technische Zusammenarbeit, the International Boreal Forest Research Association Fire Working Group, the International Global Atmospheric Chemistry Project, the International Union of Forestry Research Organizations, the united nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, the united nations University, the Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management, and the World Conservation Union.

7 1 EDITORIAL Strengthening International Cooperation in Wildland Fire Management The year 2007 started with a number of events in favour of recognizing and supporting the intent of the international wildland fire science and management community to strengthen international cooperation in fire management. The vision of building a global culture of fire management by sharing common goals and action had already received major support by the recommendations of the International Wildland Fire Summit of 2003 (see IFFN Special Issue No. 29) and the activities of the Global Wildland Fire Network (see IFFN Special Issue No. 31). While there was limited agreement by countries to develop an International Wildland Fire Accord, as suggested by the Wildland Fire Advisory Group (WFAG) in 2004 (see IFFN No. 31) and as laid down in a position paper Framework for the Development of the International Wildland Fire Accord jointly developed by the WFAG, FAO and Global Observation of Forest Cover / Global Observation of Landcover Dynamics (GOFC/GOLD) - Fire Mapping and Monitoring Team1, the FAO-hosted Ministerial Meeting on Sustainable Forest Management and the FAO s commission on Forestry (Rome, Italy, 2005) called upon FAO, together with the united National International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) and collaborating partners to prepare a strategy to enhance international cooperation in fire management.

8 As follow up, an Expert Consultation on Wildland Fire Management (Madrid, Spain, 2006) recommended that the foundation of the strategy to enhance international cooperation in fire management should include: (i) a Global Assessment of Fire Management; (ii) a review of International Cooperation; (iii) the development of Voluntary Guidelines for Fire Management; and (iv) an implementation partnership. The first three products were collectively developed by fire experts from throughout the world, notably by representatives of the Global Wildland Fire Network, and presented to the 2007 meeting of FAO s commission on Forestry. The Committee requested FAO, in collaboration with the united nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction Global Wildland Fire Network and other partners, to finalize the Strategy to Enhance International Cooperation on Fire Management and welcomed the plan to present it at the 4th International Wildland Fire Conference, to be held in Spain in May 2007.

9 The Committee also welcomed the development of Voluntary Guidelines on Fire Management in a multi-stakeholder process. It recommended that Members and forestry stakeholders make use of the guidelines and that FAO and partners facilitate their implementation in order to improve practices on the prevention, suppression and recovery from forest fire. The Committee also recommended that the Guidelines be maintained as a living document, to be updated and improved by incorporating feedback from implementation at country level. The 4th International Wildland Fire Conference, which was held in Seville from 14 to 17 May 2007, provided a forum for fire management leaders, politicians, professionals, researchers and practitioners from throughout the globe to discuss and work on critical fire issues affecting people, communities, resources and ecosystems in all Regions and work on a cooperative way in the consolidation of a Global Wildland Fire Management Strategy; and to strengthen the effectiveness of the Regional Wildland Fire Networks and support their links into the UNISDR Global Wildland Fire Network Freiburg Geneva, June 2007 Johann G.

10 Goldammer 1 2 The 4th International Wildland Fire Conference 13-17 May 2007, Sevilla, Spain The Announcement Rationale and Introduction The protection of the world environment cannot be effective without national and international fire management policies for natural, semi-natural and cultural landscapes and ecosystems that constitute an essential part of the habitable land and the functioning of the global system. National and international policies must be designed to meet both the specific local and the common global threats from wildfires and excessive application of fire in land-use change. These policies must be developed cooperatively with all the stakeholders involved in the protection of the environment and humanity. A series of International Wildland Fire Conferences was initiated in the late 1980s aimed at bringing together both the technical members of the fire community and the authorities concerned with policy and national practices in wildland fire management to realise their common interests of wildland fire risk management and disaster reduction at local, national, regional and global scales.