Scaling up integrated fire management: What next? (UNFF21 Side Event)

Excellencies, colleagues, please take your seats, Distinguished delegates, colleagues and friends.
We are just about to start this exciting side event.
Under the title Scaling Up Integrated Fire Management, what next? This is a question which we will be trying to respond to today.
As we're starting a little late, I hope everybody can bear with us for additional 5 minutes.
We apologize for this, but the session in the morning also was slightly prolonged, hence we had to reorganize here the nameplates and the podium.
My name is Margo Briggs and I'm the Secretary of the Committee on Forestry in FIO, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
I have a great honor and pleasure to moderate this event today.
Warm welcome to our distinguished guest speakers in this panel and the co organizers of the event and everybody joining us in this room, as well as the audience of this event watching it online as we are being livestreamed on UN Web TV channel.
We are meeting at the time when wildfires are increasing in frequency, intensity and duration across many parts of the world.
FIO's forest resources assessment estimates that average of 261 million hectares of land is impacted by fire globally each year, which is nearly the size of Argentina and with nearly half of this being forests.
In response to this challenge, there is a growing consensus that a fundamental shift is needed from a focus on suppression alone to the more holistic and integrated approach to fire management.
This has been reinforced by strong political momentum.
The G seven Kananaskis Wildfire Charter, the call to action on Integrated Fire Management at Cop 13 Brazil, the UN General Assembly resolutions on disaster risk reduction, and the UN Environmental Assembly resolution on wildfire management, along with a country led initiative on forest fire preparedness and innovative technologies spearheaded by the government of Turka.
Those processes all point into one and the same direction towards stronger cooperation, better use of knowledge and data, and they also recognize the important role of the Global Fire Management Hub, the co organizer of today's event alongside with the government of Germany and Turka.
The question is now that we want to answer today, how do we move on showing alignment and ambition to implementation at scale.
Without further ado, it is my honor to invite His Excellency, Mr.
Polt, Deputy Minister at the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, Republic of Turka for opening this event.
Sir, the floor is yours.
Thank you for the f.
Distinguished panelists, dear colleagues, ladies and gentlemen.
I'm honored to join this panel today immediately following our constructive discussion during the main UNFF 21st session.
I thank FAL and Germany for co organizing this timely side event and the Global Five Hub for moderating.
Turkey is proud to have hosted our counter led initiative, CII on forest five partners and innovative technologies in Istanbul, end of last year.
That CII brought together policymakers, experts, and practitioners from around the world.
Its final report, now an official UN document contains 33 concrete recommendations.
But today, the question before us is not what did we agree.
The question is what next? Let me offer three points from Turkey's perspective.
First one, from political commitment to operational integration.
We have seen remarkable political momentum in last year, the G seven Karneki charter.
The cop 30 leaders call to action UNEA seven resolution.
These are not mere documents.
They represent a global consensus.
Suppression only approaches have failed, but consensus alone does not put out fires.
The next step is operational integration, embedded integrated fire management into national forest programs, disaster risk reduction strategies, and climate adaptation plans in Turkia, Directorate General of Forestry, we have carried out the project EDOP for IFM that breeds prevention, early learning response, and restoration.
Second one, regional capacity building, the Antala model.
Turkey believes that global frameworks must be supported by regional hubs for practical training and interoperability.
Our International Forest Training Center in Antala is a concrete example.
It already provides simulation training for fire commanders, not just from Turkey, but from the Mediterranean, the Middle East and beyond.
I announced here today Turkey offers IFTC as a regional forest training hub under the Global Fire Management Hub Network.
Let us build capacity together.
Let us not forget Turkey will host CP 21 in Ontario from 1920 November 2026.
This is a perfect platforms to showcase IFM as a climate solution, protecting carbon stock, maintaining ecosystem function, and building landscape resilience.
T one, financial flows.
Distinguish colleague, we cannot implement IFM on public budgets alone.
The scale of the challenge demands innovative financing.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Istanbul CII concludes with a simple but powerful message.
No country, no matter how advanced its technology or well trained, its firefighters teams can face the fire crisis alone.
Turkey is ready to pilot cross border interoperability protocols with Mediterranean and neighboring countries.
Host regional IFM forested training courses at IFTC in Antala, Showcase, IFM as a climate solution at Cp 31, partners with the global Fire Hub, FAO, Germany, and all of you turn commitments into action on the ground.
The world has reached a turning point.
Now is the time for implementation, beyond negotiations.
Now is the time for ecosystems, beyond landscapes.
Now is the time for integrated fire management at scale with urgency and together.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, Excellency, for your inspiring words.
Congratulations on your work on fire, integrated fire management, and thank you for your leadership.
Excellency, dear colleagues, please allow me now to introduce the speakers of today's panel.
Let me start from my left side.
I'd like to welcome warmly Mr.
Thomas Baldof Head of Division from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Regional Identity, Germany.
Miss Megan Masters, Deputy Director of Multilateral Affairs, Natural Resources, Canada, welcome.
Mr.
Omid Turnan, Deputy Head of Department, General Director of the Forestry, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry Republic of Turka.
Far on the left, we have Mr.
Emmanuel Linz.
A government advisor of biodiversity Division, Secretariat for Climate Energy and Environment Minister of Foreign Affairs, Brazil, welcome.
I'm moving to my right.
Warm welcome to Mr.
Ragu Prasad, Inspector General of Forest Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, India.
By the end, last but not least, my dear colleague, Mr.
Martin Krause, Director of Climate Change Division from UNEP.
Warm welcome to all of you, colleagues, please let's have a round of applause to welcome this panel with us today.
Our first panelist is Thomas Baudel, who has been with the ministry, I think since 2014, so you bring a lot of experience, Thomas.
Thomas is also a co chair of the steering group of the Global Fire Management Hub alongside with UNEP.
Thomas, from your perspective, what do you see as the key priorities for scaling up IMF effectively? Thank you, Margo.
Thank you, Excellency.
Good afternoon to everyone in the room and to my colleagues on the panel.
It's a real pleasure to be here today as co organizer of this event and also in my capacity as co chair of the Global Fire Management steering group together with UNP.
I would like to thank all partners for being here today and in bringing this discussion to the Uni platform.
As we are well aware, wildfires are rapidly growing rapidly growing global threat and are becoming more frequent.
More extreme and more destructive, driven by climate change and unsustainable land use pressures.
In this context, the need to scale up integrated fire management is both urgent and unavoidable.
From my perspective as co chair, I see real value in the collaborative approach that has been built around the Fire Hub since it was launched in 2023 where Germany was supportive.
It is creating opportunities for meaningful exchange, for better use of resources, and for stronger peer to peer relationships across regions and institutions.
These are essential foundations for moving from ambition to impact on the ground.
At our most recent steering group meeting, there was a clear and shared sense that we are now entering an implementation phase for this whole endeavor.
The focus is shifting towards practical measures, identifying what works, scaling effective approaches, and ensuring they can be applied more broadly across different national and regional contexts.
Others on this panel will be better placed to speak in detail about global commitments and frameworks such as my colleague from Canada on the wildfire Charter, Cop 30 call to action on integrated Fire Management and wildfire resilience from Brazil, and the UNA resolution on strengthening the global management of wildfires from my colleague from Europe and how these can help guide that process.
The key question for us all is now how to translate these into tangible progress on the ground.
This also requires us to take account of the broader context.
There's a wide and growing international agenda on forests, fire, and climate, and that is for good reason.
Let's say resources are not unlimited.
We see this all over.
We need to find even more effective and efficient ways to use what we have.
That means strengthening collaboration, reducing fragmentation, and creating more systematic ways of sharing knowledge, tools, and capacities are more needed than ever.
In that sense, the Fire Hub offers a practical space to do exactly this.
Connecting actors, aligning efforts, supporting countries and turning shared commitments into coordinate action and impact on the ground.
I would therefore encourage all partners not only to invest in new initiatives, but also to actively scale and share what is already working regionally and globally.
There is significant untapped value in existing experience, and we should make full use of it.
Germany remains committed to supporting this collective effort and to work with partners in advance a more coordinated, effective, and implementation focused approach to fire management.
I look forward to this discussion and to continue this work together.
What's next? Thank you very much so much.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you for this inspiring words, but also for the commitment of the government of Germany and all the support.
With this, I would like to turn now to Mr.
Omit Turan from Turka who has played a leading role in advancing the dialogue on forest fire preparedness, including through the recent CLI, the country led Initiative, which was presented at the plenary of this UNFF 21 on Tuesday.
I'm going to turn to you to tell us a little bit more and build up on already what we've heard from the strategic view of Deputy Minister on what are the concrete plans and the next steps of Turka over to you.
Thank you, Madam Moderator.
His Excellency, distinguished panelists and our colleagues.
It's a great pleasure to me to take part in such a significant event.
Our head of delegation, His Excellcy has shared Turkey commitments and the outcomes of our CLI.
I will not repeat those.
Instead, let me share three operational shifts that are already happening on the ground.
These are not future plans, these are ongoing transformation.
First shift from aggregated statistic to targeted strategy.
In last year, Turkey analyzed every single fire incident.
The result is striking.
86% of our wildfires started outside forest boundaries in agricultural, stubble, power lines or near settlements.
This single data point changed everything.
We are no longer just deploying resources inside the force, we are building interface prevention zones.
We are training not only firefighters, but also farmers, beekeepers, and hunters.
The last one is simple.
You cannot supress a fire inside force if you don't stop it outside the force.
The result, last year, despite a 45% increase in high risk days, our burned area decreased by 42%.
Second shift from technology deployment to the decision intelligence.
K has invested heavily in hardware.
190 air vehicles and at around 30,000 personnel, but hard way alone is not the answer.
The real transformation is our decision support systems.
It integrates AI, real time weather data, and fire modeling.
Our UAY fleet scans 3.5 million hects per minute, reaching 5,000 village early warnings.
But technology must lead to cooperation.
The Mediterranean is a single fire landscape.
Fire doesn't respect borders.
Neither should our training.
Our International forestry Training Center in Antaka has already trained experts from 16 countries.
Today, I reiterate Turkey offers the training center as a regional training group under the Global Fire Management Group Network.
Furthermore, in 2027, Turkey will propose a Mediterranean regional IFM capacity building program focusing on cross border protocols and share early warning standards.
We must bridge the gap between the north and south Mediterranean.
At the global level, fire management is a climate action.
As Turkey prepared to host Cop 21 in Antalia, we invent to co organize a high level event on fire and climate with FO.
Every hecta dead burns releases decades of stored carbon.
We cannot reach climate goals without managing fire.
Dear colleagues, let me conclude with three concrete goals.
First, to UNFF members embed integrated fire management as a core chapter in your nation programs, not an annex.
The second one to the Global Fire Group and FOO, work with us to set Antago Training Center as an official regional hub by 2027.
The last one to our neighbors, send your personnel to Antago training center, let us conduct joint training and share knowledge.
Then the next fire season comes, we will fight fires together, not alone.
The Istanbul CLI give us a consensus to Antia Training Center gives us capacity.
Cop 31 gives us visibility.
Now is the time for implementation, now is the time for integrated fire management at scale with urgency and together.
I thank you.
Okay.
Thank you very much, Mr.
Umid, for those very clear key messages and takeaway messages.
I couldn't formulate it better.
I think they are really up to the point and thank you also for highlighting the technologies that we have available and the AI models that can be deployed at scale.
Also, thank you for sticking with the allocated time of 5 minutes for this presentation.
With this, allow me to turn to my right and welcome Mr.
Ragu Prasad, Inspector General of Forest, Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change of India.
Welcome, sir, and the India was instrumental behind the UN seven resolution on strengthening the global management of wildfires.
If you could today share with us some reflections on India's current priorities on the very topic we are discussing.
Thank you very much.
The floor is your sir.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Honorable Minister of government of Turkey.
My colleagues, distinguished delegates and fellow panelists here.
Good afternoon.
Let me thank the organizers, FAO, Germany and Turkey for the invite for the side event today.
In fact, we had the privilege of leading or sponsoring the Union resolution in the Union seven in last November.
Uh, on strengthening global management on wildfires.
In fact, I don't have to repeat and reiterate the importance of having a global response on wildfires because it's currently no longer an isolated environment even it is becoming increasingly a global climate biodiversity and a developmental challenge.
And according to UNEP assessments, in fact, currently, the extreme wildfire events could increase significantly by the end of the century, and these challenges undermine that we need to undertake coordinated action and integrated responses.
Just wanted to bring in background as to what are the objectives of India sponsoring this resolution in Union seven last year.
We wanted to highlight the need for a comprehensive and an integrated approach to wildfire.
I think the honorable minister also was reiterating the need for the integrated wildfire management.
And so we wanted to emphasize both in terms of prevention, preparedness, early warning systems, and restoration of wildfire affected areas, and also on promotion of sustainable land and forest management.
Another key objective was on strengthening the international collaboration through technology sharing, scientific collaborations, capacity building, and even promoting project proposals for countries to access finance from various sources.
The resolution which we had put forth sought to integrate wildfire management into the broader aspects of climate, biodiversity and ecosystem frameworks.
And most importantly, since the global forest fire Hub was co chaired by both the FAO and the UNAP, we wanted to actually bring in the entire expertise of UNPs role in landscape management, in ecosystem preparedness and governance and environment governance into the fold of the global forest Fire hub so that both the FAO and the UNP can actually add on from both organizations expertise.
That was a basic premises in which we wanted to strengthen the existing global forest fire management hub.
We've already heard from the Global Forest, the Fire Management Hub.
It's a platform which serves for early warning systems, they have risk assessment tools, knowledge sharing and capacity building, and they have also brought out the global guidelines on wildfire management.
Again, wanted to reiterate as to what will be the role of the UN.
In fact, UNP has been working closely with the FAO, all the CPF member organizations, the world material organizations, and the UN DRR in DS and other partners both in terms of their strengths and ecosystem monitoring, in early warning systems, restoration mechanisms, and knowledge sharing platforms.
We believe that this strengthened UN system coordinations could be effective for an integrated wildfire management.
Uh, the resolution which we brought forth also had recommendations to the member states in terms of promoting and integrated approaches, following the integrated IFM management voluntary guidelines brought out by the global by the Hub and in terms of mainstreaming, the IFM into the national policies and climate plans and biodiversity strategies and at the national levels.
The resolution also talked about the need for finance and not going into the details of that.
In fact, we wondered that the strengthened the hub will also support countries in need in terms of developing project proposals so that they in turn can access financial finance from various sources.
At the national level in India, we have been working very hard for a long time on this for the last two decades because India has a very last spectrum of landscapes which are prone to forest fire.
One of our strengths which we have built in over the years is to bring in the almost near real time alerts generated through available satellite information and almost daily, we push around six times near real time data on forest fire incidences to almost around 301,000 users across the Indian landscape so that the near real time information which they get, and then we keep on monitoring on a six hour basis using satellite data as to how we can actually and we have put in a huge amount of infrastructure for this.
In closing, I'd like to thank the Madam Moderator for this and we still believe that the integrated Wildfi management could become one of the most essential pillars in sustainable forest management and for climate residents.
Thank you.
Very much.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us.
With this, I would like to move to the next panelists and I'd like to invite Mr.
Emmanuel Linz from the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Brazil.
Emmanuel played an important role in spearheading the call to action on integrated Fire Management at the Berlen Climate Summit last year ahead of Cop.
Thank you very much for your dedication and passion.
And the question, I think to you, Emmanuel, would be after this political momentum achieved in 2025, how can countries move from recognition to implementation on the integrated fire management and what role can Brazil play in the next phase? Thank you very much, Margo, for those words and also for inviting me to this event.
Thank you everyone for attending and this incredible table here with so many countries represented that are so important to this international agenda.
I'll be very brief here in terms of what we did in last year and what we aim to do now in answering your question.
I believe that the political mandate is set.
2025 had four great initiatives starting with the G seven Karaski Wildfire Charter, moving to the Turkish CLI on forest fires in the new NA resolution and the part that was under my purview, the call to action on integrated File management, so definitely, we can say that 2025 gave us a mandate.
Now we have to decide exactly where we're going to take this, where we're going to take this political mandate.
So countries are engaged, so as partners, our partners, we know what we have to do in changing from this suppression approach to an integrated fire management approach with prevention and preparedness recovery.
But we also know that recognition, which we have, it's not necessarily implementation.
So our task now is to see how we can translate that into our national ship systems, into our budget priorities, strengthening our local capacities in having regional cooperation and international cooperation at the right place.
In terms of, if you could move the slide please.
In terms of the Blink to action, we tried to provide we had a set of commitments there, 13 different commitments that I believe it brought all different aspects that we need to address there.
What we have now, we already have the commitment.
It was endorsed by 67 countries and four international organizations.
I'm very thankful and proud to say that all the countries represented here and organizations represented here in this table endorsed and were a part of bringing this together.
Now together, let's see what we can do.
This was the most endorsed declaration in the Berlin Climate Summit out of all the subjects that were brought forward.
So the need is there.
I think it also falls on us to answer together on what's next.
You have, of course, the QR code there.
If you don't know the declaration, you can of course always still see it at the Global Fire Management home website, which very kindly participated on this process with us.
Next slide, please.
I can say is that Brazil has 100% incorporated this into our national policy.
In terms of what we do internally, this is very much embedded in our structure, in fighting fire structure, integrated fire management structure.
We have enough knowledge to share with countries that are interested in our national policies, coordinations across different levels of government, the operational capacity itself, which always remain important in listening to the local communities and people that have the local knowledge that is needed.
Next slide, please.
In terms of internationally, and just answering the last part of the question logo, what can be Brazil's contribution? In this moment, we can contribute with our political support, of course, working together with all the countries interested in moving this forward.
We are ready to exchange and to share our knowledge as well.
We see the Global Fire Management Hub as a key venue to do exactly that.
Of course, with finance architecture, we have a proposal that is able to address at least part of the financial issue, which is, of course, the TFFF.
One of the key aspects when we're designing the TFFF is exactly that tropical forest countries will have the necessary stream of predictable annual resources that address the fire issue so that we don't address this only, for example, in Brazil, we need to have brigers all year round, not only on fire seasons.
The TFFF can provide that.
Saying that, I'll have to leave after my intervention so that I can go to the TFF event.
I thank you very much for this opportunity.
I'm happy and we will keep this conversation going in other venues as well.
Thank you.
Thank you very much, Emmanuel.
Thank you for bringing also the issue of the finance, which is so important.
We know that there is a parallel competing event going on equally important on TFFF, but I really thank for connecting these two topics here and thanks also for recognizing our work with the Fire Management Hub.
Thank you very much and we totally understand that you need to leave to join the other panel.
So I think with this, I would like to turn to our next panelists and allow me to welcome miss Megan Masters, Deputy Director for Multilateral Affairs, Natural Resources, Canada.
Megan, Canada has experienced unprecedented wildfires in recent years.
How has this shaped Canada's response to fire management? Any thoughts on the next steps, what we can do together.
Over to you.
For sure.
Thank you, Margot.
Thank you, Excellency, all of my colleagues on the panel and those in the room.
It's a pleasure to be here today.
Wildland fires and integrated fire management are extremely important to Canada as Margot mentions, Canada is home to 367 million hectas of forest.
So in context, that's about 9% of the world's total forested area, making us the third most forested country globally.
Wildland fire is a top priority.
Fire is natural and a necessary process in many of Canada's ecosystems, supporting regeneration, biodiversity, ecosystem health, but it becomes a critical risk when it threatens communities, human health, infrastructure, and livelihoods.
We're seeing fires grow in frequency and intensity due to climate change in Canada.
2025 fire season was Canada's second worst on record, surpassed only by 2023.
We had in 2025, over 8 million hectres burned.
Looking ahead to 2026, we anticipate a relatively gradual start.
Oops, I Yes.
Risking increasing as spring transitions into summer.
In response, Canada is taking a comprehensive whole system approach.
We're investing across the full wildland fire cycle from prevention and preparedness to response and recovery.
We're shifting from reactive responses to proactive risk inform landscape based fire management, which is anchored in Canada's wildland fire prevention and mitigation strategy.
This approach has emphasized the collaboration across all levels of government, indigenous peoples, industry, and communities to build shared resilience.
The Build and mobilize Foundational Wildland Fire Knowledge Program seeks to improve our ability to assess wildland fire risk and to develop effective and enduring preventative measures that will minimize its impact and protect communities and peoples while considering the full range of ecological, economic, social, and cultural values provided by the forest ecosystem.
Transforming how we manage wildland fires must also meaningfully include indigenous peoples.
Natural Resources, Canada is advancing this through a suite of Federal wildland Fire programs, including the Wildfire Resilient Futures Initiative and the fighting and managing wildfires in a changing climate program, which provides training and equipment funds.
This is alongside indigenous led initiatives such as the Red Fire Lab, which supports collaborative research and knowledge sharing to advance wildfire risk reduction.
But we cannot only work domestically.
Internationally, Canada is a strong supporter of strengthened global collaboration and shared responsibility.
As fires exceed national capacities, countries, including my own are relying more on international cooperation.
Bilateral partnerships are critical.
For example, Canada's recent Memorandum of Understanding with Brazil on mutual assistance and integrated Fire management reflects the practical value of cooperation alongside initiatives like the Frontline ear Support Initiative, which is part of Canada's implementation of the Cananascus Wildfire Charter.
It's improving preparedness in Latin America through basic equipment and training.
These partnerships enhance interoperability by aligning standards, improving access to equipment and personnel during emergencies.
At the multilateral level, Canada has contributed over $13 million to support the global Fire Management Hub.
Is participating in the development of the integrated Fire Management Assessment tool to help translate global commitments into actions.
Under Canada's G seven presidency, we've led Cananascas Wildfire Charter development, which was endorsed by all G seven members and several partner countries.
To advance implementation, Canada has committed over $120 million to expand wildfire satellite monitoring globally, build wildfire response capacity in Colombia and Peru, as well as establish an international Indigenous led Fire adaptation Network.
The charter objectives complement the work of the Fire Hub and other excellent initiatives that have been led by my colleagues here on this panel today.
In conclusion, wildland fire is a burning challenge that's annually spreading its impact across all forest types and political lines.
We support proactive implementation of global commitments.
Strengthen partnerships with all stakeholders at all levels, including prioritizing meaningful engagement with indigenous peoples and ensuring complementarity, reducing duplication of an effort across the UN system, as well as across existing commitments as key to tackling that challenge.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much, Megan.
Thank you for also highlighting the role of the indigenous peoples.
I think this is so important and congratulations on the great initiatives and the great work that you've been doing.
We're very pleased to see that Kenya has arrived.
Welcome, George.
I would allow me to welcome Mr.
George Terz, forest conservation Secretary, Minister of Environment, climate change, and Forestry Republic of Kenya.
George, we will give you a moment to settle.
I'll pause for a second and I'll turn to my colleague, Martin.
From UNEP for his reflections on the burning challenge, as you have phrased that we are discussing today and your reflections, and then we'll come back to Kenya to hear Kenyan's points.
Martin, over to you.
Thank you very much, Margo and hello everybody, Excellency Deputy Minister, colleagues.
Being at the end of the speaker list is a good thing because I don't have to say much.
Many of the important things have been said already here on this panel.
What we see in UNP is that wildfires are no longer isolated events that are occurring naturally and that are in a way normal and healthy.
But wildfires are becoming more and more systemic risks, and that is because of their frequency and their intensity.
We have done a landmark report in the year 2022, it's called spreading like wildfire, where we have done some deep analytics and pulled up all the data that is available at a global scale and in that landmark report, we are talking about prevention, preparedness, and recovery.
Climate change is, of course, one of the, we would say amplifiers.
It's not the only cause or not the only root cause, but it's an amplifier of what we are seeing.
If you look at the latest report that we have done, the emission gap report, for example, that we are heading towards a world of warming between 2.3 and 2.5 degrees Celsius above pre industrial level.
That is the trajectory that we are on.
That brings with it All these climatic impacts and hazards, and that is one of those reasons why wildfires are occurring, we believe with such a frequency and intensity.
Now, fires are not only an ecological and environmental or biodiversity related problem or risk, they are becoming a financial and economic risk.
They are affecting carbon markets, red class, livelihoods, and so on and so forth.
There is a political momentum that has been built, as many of my colleagues here have said, and that is evident by, we have the UNAMA resolution passed in December last year, we have the call for action, we have the Wildfire hub.
There's a lot of political movement in that space, and that is very great to see.
Now, when you ask me, Margo and you ask all the panelists, what's next? What do we need to do now? Considering that situation and landscape and context, I would say that we should look more closely into a better system of tracking and early warning.
We can use, and this is a suggestion for consideration, satellite based and AI supported systems.
We do that, the prediction accuracy of where the next wildfire will occur will increase significantly and we will have a better database of actually seeing what is happening at a global scale with wildfires.
I would say a satellite based AI supported system that creates an MR, a database with accountability and so on, is something that we should maybe take on as those who are concerned about moving forward towards action.
I will leave it at that and pass it back to you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you very much and thank you for pointing out with some very concrete ideas on what next on how we can move on.
With this, I would like to pass the floor to our last panelists today and it is my great pleasure to welcome George Tos, forest conservation Secretary of Kenya and the colleague of the Forest and Climate Leaders Partnership work area on Integrated Fire Management.
George, from your perspective, from Kenyan perspective on the topic that we are discussing here and also the question, what next? Over to you.
Thank you.
Thank you, Marco and apologies for coming in late.
There was a small mix up.
Like you rightly said, yes, I'm George Ts and we college together with Peru, another very fantastic work team that is aiming at looking at how do we integrate fire for purposes of also addressing the global challenge from the forest system put.
Forest climate Leaders partnership in its priorities for the year 2026 is really keen on this specific issue.
Like it's been said by my previous colleagues and I believe they must have said a lot, fire is a real global issue that requires to be addressed.
It is, of course, confirmed by the mini declaration my colleague just mentioned from Blam to G seven to U.
But I think more importantly from where I'm seated is we need to take advantage of the existing political momentum to basically transform those action points into very practical, implementable actions on the ground.
And I'm just thinking, how would we be able to do that? We need to invest in ensuring that we strengthen our prevention mechanism, our preparedness, but more importantly, working with communities to ensure that we have early warning systems that are actually very easy to implement.
We are also to look at how are we harnessing our cross border collaboration for purposes of bigger impactful collaboration.
So my biggest takeaway and my biggest proposal is therefore we need all of us to be synergize and more so work towards ensuring we have this ticket.
As a decade of implementation.
One way of doing that is celebrating the many small wins because they always say success is accumulation of the small wins.
That ally is missed.
There are already quite a number of fire prevention mechanisms that are being used out there by small communities.
I think one way is now garnering that momentum and elevating them, to be able to celebrate them and all of us pulling in the same direction.
Thank you very much.
I really like how you said and how you framed it that we need to also celebrate the small wins and then leverage on this.
Distinguished delegates, colleagues, miraculously, we still have some time for a discussion and for some interventions from the floor.
Even we started this event 10 minutes late, I think it's because I've been not speaking that much.
All the panelists were very disciplined.
Thank you so much again for your great contribution.
I think with this, I would like to open the floor for a few interventions, observations, additional input.
I know that we also have you and DDR representatives in the room and I can see here is, could you also please press the button so I can see how many of you would like to speak? I have two, three, four.
I think that we have to start probably with the four.
May I ask you and DDR perhaps first quickly, 1 minute elevator teach intervention, please.
Absolutely.
Thank you so much and thank you to the co organizers for convening this really tiny discussion.
The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction welcomes the strong global momentum on integrated fire management.
As others have noted, we are now at a critical turning point, shifting from reactive response to proactive risk informed approaches.
Let me highlight just three key messages.
First, prevention must be central and resources must also shift increasingly to prevention.
Measures like landscape management, fuel reduction, and community based action are amongst the most effective ways to reduce losses.
Second, integrate wildfire into multi hazard early warning systems.
We heard a lot about early warning systems on this panel today and countries are doing an excellent effort right now to expand their early warning systems for other areas as well, including extreme weather events.
Let's not work hazard by hazard, but let's consider them jointly for maximum effectiveness and efficiency.
We know that fires are closely linked to heat, to drought, to ecosystem stress, and other extreme weather events.
Third, strengthen risk governance and coordination.
Wildfire risk must be embedded across strategies, across DRR strategies, across NB SAPs, across forage management strategies, climate adaptation, and development planning instruments alike.
This is the only way to break down silos.
UN DRR remains committed to supporting countries in advancing prevention focused, multi hazard and risk informed fire management in partnership with other colleagues from the UN system.
Thank you so much.
Thank you very much for this input.
We certainly are working together with you and DR and I'm sure everybody here in this panel would agree with some of the very good points you have shared.
May I just pass the floor now to the gentleman in the second row.
Kindly introduce yourself, please.
Thank you.
How about now? Good.
My name is Rick Fox.
I teach forest bioeconomy at University of California and I'm wondering how the hub is approaching issues around value chains for Woody biomass.
In California, we also have had quite a wildfire problem in the last couple of decades.
For us in western North America, perhaps Canada has a similar experience.
We've often suppressed fire.
Historically, and that has led to an accumulation of biomass that is very expensive to remove.
What we're working on at Berkeley with state agencies in California is how to build capacity in value chains, particularly leveraging things like public procurement for housing and energy using small diameter and residual wood waste.
Otherwise, it's too expensive to remove all that excess biomass.
My question is, to what extent is that a problem in the global context and the other countries that participate in the hub? If so, how are you addressing that challenge? Because building capacity for those value chains is difficult at best.
Very much.
Very interesting question.
I will give the panelists a moment to think about maybe one would like to address it while they're thinking, maybe we can take another question here, please, also in the second row.
Thank you.
I hope it's work.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
I don't have a question, but more a comment about this Forestry Engineering Vocational Training Center for forest fire and prevention monitoring and management, which is in Antalia which has been said by His Excellency Abdul Kadir Polt the Deputy Minister of Agriculture Forum for Turkey.
Had the opportunity.
We are from Romania.
I am Dmitri F.
I am from the National Trade Union Confederation Meredian, but also a member of the Euroanconomic and Social Committee and we discussed a lot about the European Civil Proion mechanism.
With me is Mr.
Sivjan forest engineer, forester from Romania, from National Trade Union Federation Silva.
We worked with our colleagues from Turkey, particularly with Mr.
Belen, because we met him in 2018 in the center.
Indeed, it's amazing and I think can be used even by the European Union member states.
Following the experience that we have in Greece with forest fires, we understood that we need these centers because the interoperability, it's a key issue.
Romanian fire brigade, they had problems with the interoperability in Greece.
We wasn't able to use the hydropce because of the lack of common standards, but also the common procedure at global level are very interesting.
In this regard to the Belm Declaration, it's very welcomed by any parties and we as a representative of foresters, we think that the involvement of foresters in the forest fire management, it is very important.
Sometimes only the fire brigade are there, but not the foresters.
That should be improved and we will very much like to know the perspective of the countries which are on this panel, India, Brazil, Turkey, how they do with Canada, also, how they work in this regard of interoperability.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
Thank you for the excellent question.
The gentleman needs a third row, please.
Thank you.
Just be brief.
Thank you.
Yes.
Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Moderator, excellency and distinguished panelists.
My name is Felipe Carasso.
I speak on behalf of the World Economic Forum under the Center for Nature and Climate.
I applaud this effort, this dialogue led by Turkey and Germany.
Integrated fire management is a must to have agenda for sure.
Through dialogues, we have had in the forum conducted with private stakeholders via the Global Wildlife Leadership Network, one of our communities, we have identified key elements that we believe is valuable to get brought to your attention.
Wildfires is a risk across nature according to the private sector, but also to the economy and to communities.
215 billion assets have been exposed to this risk last year.
More than 440 million people exposed over the last two decades, 106 billion losses over the last decade.
For example, linked to California, we know that there's 4 billion in insured losses alone.
The private sector is seeing these impacts increasingly materialize in financial systems, insurance, asset management, banking sector, land use industries, build environment and infrastructure, real estate and energy, and health and workforce systems.
Given the increasing risk exposure, private sector partners are now more focused on building resilience to wildfire with a focus shifting from suppression to prevention.
We would like to express our deep interest to continue to work together in building a bridge between the private sector and this well structured public sector agenda that you are leading us to effectively build win win solutions for the implementation of the fire management agenda through effective public private collaboration, We believe it will be possible to mobilize catalytical capital in core investment areas such as technology and AI application, enhancement of nature based solutions, finance and insurance risk management schemes, community resilience, capacity building, and active engagement.
We are already honored to be working with the Fire Hub closely and partners such as Turkey, but we're happy to engage further around the current ongoing pilots being developed under the network.
My colleague, Natalie Chilm here sit next to me, manages the network and is collectively striving to build a strong network so that we can tackle this common goal of integrating long term finance into investment mechanisms.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
We welcome Weth here.
Thank you for joining our event and thank you for bringing us private sector into this conversation.
I see one more microphone in the last row on the left side of the room.
Madam, please be extremely brief because now we are starting running out of time.
Over to you.
Good afternoon, everyone.
Good afternoon.
Thank you so much for the presentations that you gave.
I've learned a lot about early warning systems, about collaborations.
I'd like to inquire how we can form these linkages with the panelists that are there for capacity building on the issue of early warning systems and how to investigate fire management, and also how we can go about acquiring funding.
The procedures that are to be taken place and where we can find the course for proposals.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
I would like now to turn to the panelists and looking on my left and on my right, if one of you would like to reflect on what we have heard from the floor.
Thomas? Sure.
But it's not an easy task because we have only some minutes left.
You could talk, I think for hours on that.
I've heard risk based approaches, that's something that's really center of the whole work in the hub.
Absolutely.
It's also about the question of biomass.
A active management of the area is very much important to follow up with this risk.
So this is absolutely key.
What we see under the fire is what we call the five Rs.
It's review and analysis, it's risk reduction, its readiness, its response and recovery.
Under those pillars, so to say, the action are dealt with.
I see absolutely conformity with all your comments and questions with what we are working on under the Hb.
Pers this is the short answer.
And the comment from the World Economic Forum, I think private sector is one of those issues that is being dealt with in the near future and I'm happy to do so under the co chairmanship together with UNP in this regard to guide you through the process, but I'm absolutely sure that the Fire Hub Secretariat is very keen in working together.
Thank you so much.
Thank you very much.
Yes, indeed.
Any other reflections? A very quick one from the panelists? If not, I would like to encourage everyone to continue this conversation, of course, in the corridors of UNFF 21, but also beyond.
I think colleagues, because of the time pressure, we need to go to a closure of this event.
I think with this, it is my great pleasure to invite my dear colleague, Angelika Kayah, the Director of F Liaison Office for North America.
Angela, you have the floor to wrap up this event and give us some closing reflections.
Not an easy task, but I think we are in good hands.
First of all, I wish to thank all of you for this very rich discussion.
It's clearly been demonstrated at the discussion, the scale of the challenge along with considerable progress made in elevating integrated fire management on the global agenda.
Wildfires as been noted, are no longer isolated or seasonal events.
There are systemic risks with far reaching implications for forests, livelihoods, biodiversity, climate, and people.
There's also been a noticeable shift on how the fire management challenge is being addressed.
As several speakers highlighted, we are moving beyond predominantly reactive responses to more proactive, risk informed, and landscape based approaches.
In light of this, FAO, UNIP and UNDP, as well as other partners launched the global Fire Management Hub in 2023 to bring together key partners, networks, countries to build capacities for integrated fire management.
The aim is to reduce negative impacts of extreme wildfires on livelihoods and landscapes while recognizing the important economic, ecological and social cultural roles of fire in many landscapes.
The fire Hub has developed a diverse network of partners, comprimising governments, practitioners, researchers, civil society, international organizations, private sector organizations, and indigenous people, as well as other local knowledge holders.
The knowledge and experience of all these partners is vital for shaping effective and sustainable approaches.
Fire Hub is supported by a growing coalition of countries reflecting both confidence in its model and the momentum behind the fire management agenda.
This has been reinforced by wider political momentum, including global resolutions and high level commitments, many of which have been discussed today and which underscore the importance of coordinated and sustained action.
As many of our speakers have emphasized, recognition of the importance of this topic now needs to be matched by implementation.
The Fire Hub is not only a platform for dialogue, it is also a mechanism for scaling up implementation.
It provides guidance on integrated fire management, supports technical cooperation, and enables action on the ground in areas such as data, international interoperability, and community based fire management.
Looking ahead, the challenge is to move from alignment to implementation at scale.
This requires embedding integrated fire management in national policies and climate strategies, mobilizing both public and private finance and strengthening coordination and accountability.
No one actor can do this alone, and I think it's clear here that we have a great partnership to move forward.
Effective integrated fire management requires coordination across sectors as well as engagement with the private sector.
We have a strong foundation to build on, growing political will, expanding partnerships, and increase in technical knowledge.
If we succeed in translating this into coordinated action, we will reduce the risk and impacts of wildfires while also strengthening the resilience of forests, landscapes, and communities, and contributing to broader goals such as food security, nutrition, climate, biodiversity, and other development goals.
FAO is fully committed to support this effort together with all the partners here and outside of this room.
Thank you very much.
Many thank Angelica for really summarizing this in a great way.
I would also, I think, like to say just one thing that this conversation needs to continue and this conversation has an opportunity to be continued in Rome in September at the next session of the committee on forestry, which will be held in FIO headquarters from the 28th of September to the 3rd of October.
Where integrated fire management will be taken forward under a dedicated agenda item.
We are looking forward to seeing you all in Rome to advance this very important agenda and explore practical pathways for the implementation.
Thank you again, everybody, for attending this event, all of you who joined us here in this meeting room and everybody watching this event online.
With this, I want to give warm thanks to all the speakers and everyone please join me in just giving one last round of applause.
Thank you so much.