Regional South Asia Wildland Fire Network 

      

Regional Pan-Asia / Pacific Consultation on Building Advanced National and Regional Capacities in Integrated
Fire Management based on Participatory Involvement of Local Communities

 

20-22 November 2012, Lalitpur, Nepal

Introduction

Faced with increasing fire occurrence and decreasing public budgets, government departments, local organizations, and forest users must consider a range of fire management options and experiences from around the world. Increasingly the solutions to the fire problems and the persistence of them year after year is suggesting that the reaction to fires to date in many countries needs to be reviewed. An active role of communities as proactive actors in fire management – in particular those which recognize the responsibility of civil society to plan and perform fire management activities — may avoid pitfalls and mistakes of the past. These approaches are seen as more effective, less costly, and more sustainable over the long term.

At present, some countries of the Asia-Pacific region, particularly in the developing countries, are initiating community-based approaches to wildland fire management. The “Regional Pan-Asia / Pacific Consultation on Building Advanced National and Regional Capacities in Integrated Fire Management based on Participatory Involvement of Local Communities” was held between 20 and 22 November 2012 in Lalitpur, Nepal. The objectives of the consultation included:

  • To bring together fire scientists, practitioners / managers, and policy makers to discuss global, regional as well as national level issues and concerns of wildland fire paradigms and management of wildland fire involving local communities as a key national approach in developing sustainable capacities in fire management
  • To share knowledge and experiences of good practices in CBFiM among countries of the Asia-Pacific region and outside of Asia
  • To elaborate the differences, opportunities and challenges of the role of communities in fire management throughout the region, especially under the light of changing socio-economic conditions, e.g.:
    –     increase of the rural exodus in some countries, resulting in abandonment of land cultivation (agriculture, pastoralism), weakening of the young work force
    –     reversed trends, e.g. ex-urban migration in some countries, e.g. in those regions where overpopulated urban areas do not offer sufficient resources for the livelihood of migrants
    –     role of traditional and changing nomadic communities and fire management
    –     role of modern “nomadic” communities: tourism
  • To develop the concept of a regional activity in community-based fire management in the Asia-Pacific region
  • To develop a draft concept of building a pilot activity in Nepal and at regional level to promote CBFiM approaches by establishing a Regional Fire Management Center for monitoring, capacity building and advisory services in fire management.

 

Outcomes of the consultation

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