COMMUNITY-BASED FIRE MANAGEMENT

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Basics, Introductory Materials and Case Studies


Communities in Flames
An international conference on community involvement in fire management was held in Balikpapan, Indonesia, 25-28 July 2001. The proceedings (edited by Peter Moore, David Ganz, Lay Cheng Tan, Thomas Enters and Patrick B. Durst) have been published in 2002 by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific Bangkok, Thailand (RAP Publication 2002/25, 133 p., ISBN 974-7946-29-7). The chapters include examples of Definition of Community-Based Fire Management (CBFiM) from Africa,Asia, Europe and North America:

Community-Based Fire Management: Case studies from China, The Gambia, Honduras, India, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Turkey
This publication features case studies documenting a range of local fire management scenarios, each with a diverse set of land uses and desired outcomes. The community-based fire management (CBFiM) approaches from China, the Gambia, Honduras, India, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), and Turkey presented in this publication illustrate a recent shift in direction; a movement away from centralized and state-driven forest fire management towards decentralized and mainly community-based management regimes. The book volume has been published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific,Bangkok, Thailand.
©FAO 2003 (ISBN 974-7946-39-4)

The following chapters have been reproduced forthe GFMC CBFiM Website with the permission of the FAO. Page numbering of eachPDF chapter is different from the complete book version (for proper citationplease use page numbers given in the table of contents).

Community Involvement in and Management of Forest Fires in South East Asia
This book volume published by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and prepared by Sameer Karki is a review of community involvement in and management of forest fires in South East Asia. Successful experiences of local community-based approaches to fire prevention and control in South East Asia are reviewed and analysed. Particular attention is given to the political, institutional, economic and cultural elements that enable local communities to actively engage and prevent uncontrolled burning. It is anticipated that this report will provide information to South East Asian governments and other stakeholders and will lay the foundation for recognizing, financing and utilizing community fire control as a component of their fire management strategies.
© Project FireFight South East Asia 2002 (ISBN no.979-3260-02-5)

Community-Based Fire Management in Spain
Today’s urbanized societies tend to asks for wildfire exclusion through the strengthening of suppression resources to the extent that available budgets can buy. Unfortunately however, year after year, the experience shows that only a better understanding of the role of fire in the forest ecosystems can help to prevent catastrophic fires. In many places the rural land abandonment is creating the conditions for large fires, because of the huge fuel accumulations that are spreading into former agricultural lands. To establish data on burning by local people; their aims and reasons motivations have been analysed. The information gathered concludes that 60 percent of the total number of fires in the country can be prevented if controlled burning is carried out together with the farmers instead of just forbidding them from burning. Therefore, awareness rising or sensitization programmes in the rural villages are crucial for the success in fire management when remembering that the local population are those who cause the fire damages and also remembering that training in controlled burning with the help of specialized teams (Equipos de Prevención Integral deIncendios Forestales – EPRIF) are organized in the areas where the number of fires is high. Besides the EPRIF activities also other programs are carried out to promote cooperation with volunteers living in small villages by e.g. visiting them and providing economical incentives to them when they become integrated in permanent fire management organizations supervised by the Administration. Urban and rural people can cooperate together in these organizations to prevent fires.

The report “Community Based Fire Management in Spain” is based on the work of  Mr Ricardo Vélez, Ministry of Environment, Spain, and published by the FAO Forestry Department, Forest Resources Development Service, Forest Protection Working Papers FFM/4/E, © FAO,Rome, Italy, April 2005 (21 p. + Annexes):

Community-Based Disaster Risk Management: A Field Practitioners’ Handbook
The concept of Community-based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) has emerged during the past two decades in South East Asian countries. The promoters included NGOs, citizen’s organizations, humanitarian agencies and government departments in different countries in the region. Despite this rapid expansion in application, a great majority of CBDRM practitioners lack opportunities for skill development and capacity building. Although there are a number of courses available on community-based disaster risk management, it is not possible for all practitioners to participate in such courses due to problems of funding and language. The Disaster Reduction in South East Asia Project (PDR SEA), under the guidance of UNESCAP, took steps to fill that need by producing information and training materials such as this handbook. The purpose of the CBDRM Field Practitioners’ Handbook, edited by Imelda Abarquez and Zubair Murshed,is to help equip CBDM or CBDRM practitioners with theories and practical tools that can be applied in community work. The handbook is a product of the tripartite partnership between ADPC, UNESCAP and DIPECHO.

Community-Based Fire Management: A Review
Community-based fire management can take different forms. FAO Forestry Paper 166 (2011) highlights the state of the art in community-based fire management and reviews some implementation and training case studies, reflects on related policy and legal frameworks and considers the climate change concept. It draws attention to limitations in: policy and law, capacity, training opportunities, incentives, concept promotion and funding.

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