GFMC CALENDAR 2024

January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December


January 2024

Transition of GFMC to the Global Fire Management Hub (the “Fire Hub”) – hosted by FAO – and definition of the future role of the Regional Wildland Fire Networks and the Regional Fire Management Resource Centers in the Fire Hub

  • GFMC post to follow updates / developments: https://gfmc.online/programmes/un/fao/fao.html 
  • Second Workshop, in which the integration of the Global Wildland Fire Network and associated regional networks and centers into the Fire Hub will be discussed (March 2024)
  • Third workshop, which will discuss the operation and financing of the Fire Hub, also following up with countries already collaborating or interested in collaborating/contributing (May 2024)
  • 27th Session of the FAO Committee on Forestry (COFO) addressing the theme of Integrated Fire Management (IFM) and a side event on the Fire Hub (22-26 July 2024)

Related UNFF meeting

Regional activities

  • Preparation of a cross-regional workshop on wildfire risk reduction and landscape fire management for enhancing climate resilience and security to be held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia targeting primarily the countries of Central Asia, which will bring together representatives of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, Ministries of Forestry/Environment from Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to exchange experiences and best practices in this field and explore co-operation opportunities. The workshop will be an activity of the component “Enhancing wildfire risk reduction in Mongolia and strengthening regional and cross-regional co-operation on landscape fire management” of the Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities (OCEEA) within framework of the Project No. 1102151 “Strengthening Responses to Security Risks from Climate Change in South-Eastern Europe, Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus and Central Asia” (https://www.osce.org/node/521965) (tentatively June 2024)
  • Preparation of an international forest fire conference hosted by PR China, jointly co-organized with GFMC (tentatively September 2024)

Bridging science to policies

National activities 

February 2024

02 February 2024
Strategic meeting with the GFMC-led National Committee on Perspectives of Landscape Fire Management in Greece; GFMC, Athens, Thessaloniki, online.

06 February 2024
Freiburg Landscape Fire Task Force planning meeting for 2024; Freiburg Fire and Rescue Service, Freiburg, Germany.

07 February 2024
OSCE project “Strengthening Responses to Security Risks from Climate Change in South-Eastern Europe, Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus and Central Asia” (#1102151): Online planning meeting „Co-operation to strengthen climate resilience through fire risk reduction” in the frame of the activity “Climate Change and Security in North-west Azerbaijan and North-east Georgia”, with GFMC support; OSCE and GFMC, Vienna, Freiburg, Tbilisi, Baku; online.

22 February 2024
GFMC briefing of German Federal Police Special Security Unit; GFMC.

27 February 2024
Partner meeting of the “Landscape Fire Management in the Western Balkans” (LFMWB). LFMWB is a programme on cross-boundary cooperation in landscape fire management, including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia, implemented in the first phase 2022-2025 by the Regional Fire Monitoring Center for Southeast Europe / South Caucasus (RFMC) through the Regional Executive Agency (REA) FARMAHEM, financed by Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and supported by GFMC; Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia, online

29 February 2024
Partner Fire and Rescue Services of Freiburg and Lausanne, Canton Waadt (VD), Switzerland and GMFC – Forest Fire Workshop and Briefing on the Freiburg Model; Freiburg, Fire and Rescue Service and GFMC.

Freiburg and Waadt Fire Services discussed the current approaches in firefighting with emphasis on mountain terrain and at the interface to residential areas. ©Photo: Christian Brauner

March 2024

05 March 2024
Exchange and coordination meeting on forest fire management in Baden Württemberg State, Germany, with State Forest Experiment and Research Institute (Forstliche Versuchs- und Forschungsanstalt) on fire management cooperation between State Forest and Fire Services; GFMC.

07 March 2024
National conference “Forest Fires. Conclusions and Directions. The case of Evros”, organized by the Geotechnical Chamber of Greece in cooperation with GFMC in its function of Chair, National Committee on Perspectives of Landscape Fire Management in Greece, with presentation of the chair of the National Committee (Johann G. Goldammer, GFMC) “Landscape Fire Management as a Cross-sectoral Task: Greek and Global Perspectives” and the speaker of the National Committee (Gavriil Xanthopoulos, Hellenic Agricultural Organization “Demeter”, Institute of Mediterranean Forest Ecosystems) “Forest Fires: Directions for the Future in light of Recent Disasters’”; Alexandroupolis, Greece. 

14 March 2024
International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) planning meeting on the review and updated edition of the ITTO Guidelines on Fire Management in Tropical Forests (1997), with ITTO Secretariat, Regional Fire Management Resource Center – South East Asia (RFMRC-SEA) and Regional Western Africa Fire Management Resource Center (RWAFMRC); Yokohama, GFMC, Bogor and Kumasi, online.

14 March 2024
Meeting of the International Liaison Committee (ILC) of the International Wildland Fire Conferences; online.

15 March 2024
Prescribed burning in nature conservation site Marienfliess: Joint implementation of prescribed burning for regenerate dwarf-shrub heaths (Calluna vulgaris) in the FFH conservation site Marienfliess (Ganzlin) on behalf of DBU Naturerbe – carried out by the FEUERFRONT partner DiBuKa and @fire.

19-21 March 2024
Global Fire Management Hub – Second Technical Workshop: Integration and transition of the 25-year work experience of the Global Fire Monitoring Center (GFMC), the Global Wildland Fire Network and the Regional Fire Management Resource Centers into the Fire Hub; FAO Headquarters, Rome, Italy.

20 March 2024 – International Day of Forests – FAO Side Event “Innovations in Fire Management: Integrating Science, Technology and Traditional Knowledge in Fire Danger Rating and Early Warning Systems” – with WMO EW4All Initiative, Mongolia – Central Asia Wildland Fire Network, Madagascar – Sub-Saharan East Africa Wildland Fire Network, Brazil – South America Wildland Fire Network and Indonesia – Southeast Asia Wildland Fire Network. FAO, Rome.

21-22 March 2024
FAO Fire Hub Workshop “Introduction to Fire Danger, Early Warning and Integrated Fire Management Decision-making”; FAO, Rome.

26 March 2024
International Donor and Stakeholders Conference “Support for Recovery of Forestry Sector in Ukraine”. The main purpose of the International Conference is to raise awareness and mobilize the international community through partners and stakeholders interested to support urgent needs and recovery of the Forestry Sector in Ukraine during and after the war. In this framework, an overview of the identified priority needs were shared by the Government of Ukraine, and discussions will be held to identify concrete actions and investments that can be mobilized during the coming year, as well as potential vehicles for scaling up investments and provision of support to the sector stakeholders and concerned actors. GFMC intervention addressed forest fire management; Czech Republic, Prague, and online.

27 March 2024
International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) planning meeting on the review and updated edition of the ITTO Guidelines on Fire Management in Tropical Forests (1997), with ITTO Secretariat, Regional Fire Management Resource Center – South East Asia (RFMRC-SEA), Regional Western Africa Fire Management Resource Center (RWAFMRC) and Regional South America Wildland Fire Network (Peru); GFMC, Bogor, Lima and Kumasi, online.

April 2024

01 April 2024
Preparatory meeting for Aerial Firefighting Conference Europe 2025 (25-27 March 2025, Bordeaux, France); Tallinn, London, GFMC, online.

16-17 April 2024
Joint consultations between DBU Naturerbe and German Advisory and Support Group FEUERFRONT, on joint fire management agenda; DBU, Osnabrück.



More information and follow-up: See FEUERFRONT

May 2024

02-03 May 2024
“EUROMED PROTECT-NET – Euro-Mediterranean Forum for Disaster Risk Governance, Health Preparedness, and Networking Advancement”, hosted by the European Centre for Disaster Medicine (CEMEC), in collaboration with the University of San Marino’s Center for Security Studies (CUFS), the University of Rome “Tor Vergata” Department of Electronic Engineering (DIE), and the Italian Research Institute Observatory on Security and CBRNe Defense (OSDIFE). GFMC contribution: “Landscape Fires, Human Health and Security Addressing Local and Transboundary Impacts by Cooperative Solutions”; Republic of San Marino.

06 May 2024
United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) 19the Session, Side Event “Principles and Strategies for Integrated Landscape Fire Management through Collaborative Governance” with collaborative presentations of ITTO and FAO; UNHQ, New York, USA.

07-08 May 2024
Inaugural World Fire Congress, hosted by the United States Fire Administration, U.S. Department of Homeland Security; with joint presentation of Germany of German Fire Services Association (Deutscher Feuerwehrverband – DFV), German Committee for Disaster Reduction (Deutsches Komitee für Katastrophenvorsorge – DKKV) and the Global Fire Monitoring Center (GFMC) “The Flood Emergency in Germany 2021: Retrospective, Lessons Identified and the Way Ahead” (presented by the President of DFV), addressing also international cooperation in fire management including the concept of the Global Fire Management Hub (FAO/GFMC); Washington, DC, USA.

15 May 2024
Thematic consultations with the bilateral India-Germany project „Restore, Conserve and Protect Forest and Tree Cover for NDC Implementation in India“ (RECAP4NDC); GFMC.

Alejandro von Bertrab (right) and Kundan Burnwal (left) – head and deputy head of the project Restore, Conserve and Protect Forest and Tree Cover for NDC Implementation in India (RECAP4NDC)

28-30 May 2024
Global Fire Management Hub – Third Technical Workshop: “Development of the Roadmap for the Fire Hub”; FAO Headquarters, Rome, Italy.

Participants of the 3rd planning workshop. ©Photo: FAO.

28 May 2024
Second meeting of the Group of 20 (G20) Disaster Risk Reduction Working Group chaired by G20 presidency Brazil with the launch of the “Compendium on Nature Based Solutions and Eco-System Based Approaches for DRR“. The Compendium includes16 cases of from Member States, out of which 4 cases were selected for presentation at the meeting. The report submitted by the German Government “Serving the science-policy-practitioners interface in landscape fire management and wildfire disaster risk reduction at global level” highlights the role of Integrated Fire Management (IFM) as a relevant approach and the role of GFMC at international level serving the science-policy interface. Chair of the session: Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), Mr. Kamal Kishore; presentation by GFMC; Brasilia, FAO Rome and online (Note: Meeting postponed due the extreme rainfall and flooding emergency, which ravaged southern Brazil, particularly the State of Rio Grande do Sul, affecting 478 out of the state’s 497 municipalities, affecting over 95% of the region).

29 May 2024
Deutsche Agentur für Transfer und Innovation (DATI) (German Agency for Transfer and Innovation, German Federal Ministry of Education and Research) announcement of granting the Forest Fire Fighting-Lab (FFF-Lab) with financial support of €5M, at Hochschule für Forstwirtschaft Rottenburg (Rottenburg Forest University for Applied Sciences), in cooperation with GFMC.

30 May 2024
World Fire Congress Stakeholder Engagement Meeting, convened by the United States Fire Administration, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, in following-up the Inaugural World Fire Congress (Washington, D.C., 07-08 May 2024); with GFMC and FAO presentation of the Global Fire Management Hub; Washington, FAO Rome, online.

June 2024

06 June 2024
Langenauer Expertenforum “Resilient trotz Klimawandel: Krisenmanagement und Krisenvorsorge in der Forstwirtschaft“ (Resilience despite Climate Change: Crisis Management and Crisis Preparedness in Forestry) organized by Forstkammer (Forestry Chamber), Baden-Württemberg State, and Bayerischer Waldbesitzerverband (Bavarian Forest Owner Association); with GFMC presentation “Waldbrand als neuer Faktor im Forstbetrieb” (Forest Fire – a new Factor in the Forest Enterprise); Langenau, Germany.

11 June 2024
Defense of Master Thesis “Combustible Futures – Learning How to Live in Flammable Landscapes” (M.Sc. Urban Design, Berlin Technical University), presented by Julian Hees (GFMC second examiner); Technische Universität Berlin, GFMC online. 

12 June 2024
75th Annual Assembly of the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science (Max-Planck-Gesellschaft – MPG). Keynote speech of MPG president Professor Dr. Patrick Cramer on „International Climate Protection remains the Major Task for Future“ (Internationaler Klimaschutz bleibt die große Zukunftsaufgabe), addressing the transition of GFMC to the United Nations; Axica Congress Center, Berlin, Germany.

MPG President Cramer addressing the 75th Assembly of the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science – Berlin, Germany, 12 June 2024. Source: MPG Public Relations Department

15 June 2024
Symposium “Wipfelfeuer” (Symposium Crown Fire) with GFMC keynote “Vegetationsbrandbekämpfung 2024 Quo Vadis” (Vegetation Fire Suppression 2024 – Quo Vadis); Filderstadt, Germany.



20 June 2024
GFMC Classroom training on fire management and wildfire suppression at Horben Fire and Rescue Service – in conjunction with the Freiburg Model approach; Horben, Germany.

27 June 2024
International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) World Congress 2024: Session T4.20 “Managing Safety and Resilience of Forests and Forestry affected by Armed Conflicts and the Climate Crisis: Past and Future Contribution of Forest Science”. Initiators: REEFMC and GFMC; Stockholm, Sweden.

27-28 June 2024
Summit “Climate Change and Wildland Fire” hosted by , with GFMC keynote presentation “Governance of Integrated Fire Management in Natural and Cultural Landscapes: Global and Latin American Perspectives”; Sao Paulo, Brazil, 27-28 June 2024

July 2024

Call for Proposals for Community – based Competitive Fund, in the framework of the Landscape Fire Management in the Western Balkans (LFMWB) Programme, financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation – SDC, coordinated by Farmahem in cooperation with the Regional SE Europe / Caucasus Fire Monitoring Center (RFMC) and GFMC).

11 July 2024
National Platform for Resilience, Federal Republic of Germany, meeting of the Network of Civil Society Actors (GFMC, member), Office of the National Focal Point for the Sendai Framework, Germany, Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance; Bonn, Germany, and online.

22-26 July 2024
27th Session of the Committee on Forestry (COFO). The biennial sessions of COFO bring together high-level representatives, heads of forest services, government officials and partner organizations to identify emerging policy and technical guidance, seek solutions, and advise on future strategy and action. A side event of COFO-27 and the 9th World Forestry Week “The Fire Hub: Connecting the Global Fire Community”, organized by FAO in cooperation with German Federal Ministry for Food and Agriculture and other partners, with GFMC contribution on the panel “Importance of bridging technological and social innovation in integrated fire management”; FAO, Rome, Italy.; FAO, Rome, Italy.

COFO-27 Fire Hib side event – group photo. The recording of the event is available online. ©Photos: FAO

25 July 2024
ITTO Tropical Forest Fire Expert Group Meeting: Review of the implementation and the revision of the ITTO Guidelines for Fire Management in Tropical Forests (1997) (revision of the guidelines led by GFMC); a satellite event of FAO COFO 27; Nigeria Room C215, FAO, Rome, Italy.

ITTO Tropical Forest Fire Expert Group – Closure of the meeting.
©Photo: ITTO

29-30 July 2024
Second meeting of the Group of 20 (G20) Disaster Risk Reduction Working Group chaired by G20 presidency Brazil with the launch of the “Compendium on Nature Based Solutions and Eco-System Based Approaches for DRR“. The Compendium includes16 cases of from Member States, out of which 4 cases were selected for presentation at the meeting. The report submitted by the German Government “Serving the science-policy-practitioners interface in landscape fire management and wildfire disaster risk reduction at global level” highlights the role of Integrated Fire Management (IFM) as a relevant approach and the role of GFMC at international level serving the science-policy interface. Chair of the session: Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), Mr. Kamal Kishore; presentation by GFMC; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

August 2024

01-23 August 2024
Implementation and the revision of the ITTO Guidelines for Fire Management in Tropical Forests (1997) (revision of the guidelines led by GFMC).

22 August 2024
Work visit of Leonor von Montgelas Cesar das Neves, Nova School of Business and Economics, Lisbon, Portugal, addressing the study “The Role of Landowners in Disaster Risk Reduction: Exploring the Influence of Heimat”; GFMC.

28 August 2024
Online consultation with UNFCCC Nairobi work programme (GFMC contributor / focal point since 2009):

September2024

06 September 2024
Handing over of the Global Landscape Fire Award 2024 to the Head, International Forest Policy Division, Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (Bundesministerium für Ernährung und Landwirtschaft – BMEL), in recognition of supporting politically and financially projects and programmes addressing regional and international cross-boundary cooperation in landscape fire management – examples:

  • The UNECE Regional Forum on Crossboundary Fire Management (UN Geneva 2013
  • Multilateral cooperation in South America (2016: out of Uruguay; 2017: out of Chile)
  • National / international programmes such as in Eastern Europe and the Central Eurasian Region (2012 and 2013)
  • Establishment of the Regional Fir Management Resource Center – South East Asia (2016)
  • Most recently – the cooperation process to integrate te Global Fire Monitoring Center (GFMC) and its regional centers into the Global Fire Management Hub hosted by the FAO (2023 onwards)
  • Accompanied by the successful endeavour in cooperation with the EU partners and globally, to address the recognition of the Global Fire Management Hub in a UN General Assembly Resolution (15 November 2023)

17-20 September 2024

5th Steering Committee/Partner meeting of the LFMWB / 4th Meeting of the “Landscape Fire Management in the Western Balkans” (LFMWB). LFMWB is a programme on cross-boundary cooperation in landscape fire management, including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia, implemented in the first phase 2022-2025 by the Regional Fire Monitoring Center for Southeast Europe / South Caucasus (RFMC) through the Regional Executive Agency FARMAHEM, financed by Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and supported by GFMC, with GFMC contribution “Bringing International Activities to Regional Western Balkans Level”; Banja Luka and Bihac, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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