TACIS Project Newsletter No.1: Improvement in Forest Fire Response System
Project Newsletter
Issue No 1, June 1999
Tacis Project ENVRUS9701:
“Improvement in Forest Fire Response System”
0. Introduction
The Project Management has decided to issue a periodic bilingual newsletter informing all our partners and other stakeholders concerned with the project about its features and progress. The first issue will cover the projects overall and immediate objectives, its planned outputs and activities. Future newsletters will focus on progress and will therefore be smaller in volume. Contact addresses are given at the end. Feedback and responses by readers are welcome !
I. Project Background
The framework for a forest protection project was drawn up by the Federal Forest Service of Russia about three years ago.
It was submitted to the European Commission Directorate DG1a and in due course, after discussions with the Federal Forest Service, the proposed TACIS PROJECT ENVRUS9701 was approved and tenders were invited. The consortium consisting of HTS (UK), TAESCO (Germany), and HKS (Finland), submitted a proposal by June 1998. In November 1998, HTS was informed by the European Commission that its proposal had been successful and to proceed with the implementation of the project.
The project officially started in mid-November and has a planned duration of 24 months. It consists of two components, namely a management support and a technical assistance component.
II. Project Synopsis
The project synopsis summarises the projects as conceived by the Russian Federal Forest Service and the European Commission, and as specified in the consortiums contract with the European Commission.
1. Project beneficiary and partner
The Federal Forest Service of Russia is the beneficiary, and its Central Base for Aerial Forest Fire Protection (Avialesookhrana) is the project partner.
2. Project objectives
The overall goal is to support the establishment of management systems that will enable conservation aims to be achieved in the implementation of sustainable forest management objectives. Specifically, the project will aim to: (i) foster the development of sound and cost-effective fire and phyto-sanitary monitoring systems; (ii) improve information standards in support of monitoring and management objectives; (iii) support local management systems in making effective use of available information; and (iv) improve the response to forest fires, pests and diseases.
3. Planned outputs
Planned outputs in support of the objectives are: (i) a comprehensive forest protection system integrated with a sustainable forest management strategy; (ii) an operational fire and phyto-sanitary monitoring and information system in Pushkino that will assist forest protection and management at federal level; (iii) an operational fire and phyto-sanitary monitoring and information system in Irkutsk and Pushkino to address forest management/protection issues at regional level; and (iv) establish links between federal, regional and local stakeholders so as to enable them to improve their response to forest events.
4. Project activities
To achieve the envisaged outputs the project will provide: (i) management support including consultation on policy, legislative and regulatory, institutional and economic issues, so as to assist counterparts in the development of an integrated forest protection system; and (ii) technical assistance to develop a federal and regional monitoring capacity by improving monitoring and information systems, improving information products and their use, improving links between stakeholders and responding to their specific needs, and training of staff and users.
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Start-Up Phase
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Inception Phase
During December 1998 and January 1999 a number of familiarisation visits were made to Moscow, Irkutsk and St. Petersburg to get a realistic picture of the situation, meet Russian counterparts, potential local consultants, set up the initial infrastructure for the project and commence with the drawing up of a work plan as a basis for the inception report.
The inception report provides the basis for a projects implementation, its main elements being its overall work plan, time schedule and staffing plan. The inception report has to be approved by the European Commission in Brussels before a project can commence.
The tentative work programme and the distribution of tasks among European and local partners were presented to all counterpart organisations and local partners in a workshop held in Pushkino at February 8. The comments and suggestions of the Russian partners were then integrated into the work programme to form a common basis for the inception report and, consequently, the further implementation of the project.
In keeping with the European Commissions guidelines and procedures, HTS and its partners finalised the inception report in February 1999 and submitted it to Brussels by March 1999 in compliance with the official deadline. Formal approval for the project to proceed was given by the European Commission at the end of March upon which the first tranche of money to implement the project was transferred to HTS.
III. First Implementation Phase (March June 1999)
According to the guidelines of the European Commission, the project is divided into 4-monthly planning and reporting periods. In accordance with the approved work programme set out in the inception report, the activities in the first implementation phase were mainly focused on:
(A) Management Support Component:
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identification of required equipment, preparation of tender documents and initiation of tender procedures;
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specification and distribution of technical tasks among local partners including organisation of management regime and finalisation of contracts;
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establishment of a management task force to steer the project and to discuss broader issues concerning forest protection in the Russian Federation;
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expatriate and local consultants have started their baseline reviews of institutional issues concerning forest protection, e.g., international obligations and international projects, policy, legislation, institutional and organisational structures;
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the consultants have started their assessment of the requirements for a forest fire management information system including reviews of the present forest fire response system at federal and regional level;
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participating in and hosting of meetings to foster and improve donor co-ordination in the field of forest management, especially forest fire management, and liasing with concerned international initiatives;
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hosting a workshop on fire ecology with expatriate and local ecologists to assess the national perception of the role of fires in ecosystems of the boreal forests;
(B) Technical Assistance Component:
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adapting existing satellite data acquisition and pre-processing software on the basis of sample data emulating the new receiving station;
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starting test of fire detection algorithms on the basis of existing NOAA data;
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development and implementation of a federal and regional GIS, i.e. installation of GIS shell, development of baseline and operational data updating functions; and
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assessment of communication lines and internet access options to develop a forest fire information network (completed in the Moscow region, ongoing in the Irkutsk region).
IV. Personnel and Contact Addresses
The project headquarters are located at Avialesookhranas Central Airbase in Pushkino.
Project Contact:
Matthias Rhein,
Project Manager
20 Gorki street, Pushkino, Russia 141200
Tel: 096-532-6752, Fax: 096-532-9220
E-mail: tacis@space.ru
The consortium of consulting companies contracted by the European Commission to implement the project is composed of three companies:
HTS Ltd.:
Graham Deane,
Director
Thamesfield House, Boundary Way, Hemel Hempstead,
Herts HP2 7SR, United Kingdom
Tel: +44-1442-231800, Fax: + 44-1442-219886
E-mail: graham.deane@htsconsult.co.uk
TAESCO GbR:
Dr. Hans Stroink,
Director
Rathausmarkt 8, 49356 Diepholz, Germany
Tel: +49-5441-927978, Fax: +49-5441-927979
E-mail: taescoeu@aol.com
HCG Oy:
Olli Saastamoinen,
Consultant
PO Box 111, FIN-80101 Joensuu Finland
Tel: +358-13251-3626, Fax: +358-13251-3590
E-mail: olli.saastamoinen@joensuu.fi
The project co-operates with the following Russian partner organisations:
International Forest Institute (Moscow):
Dr. Georgi N. Korovin
Tel: 095-332-2320, Fax: 095-332-2917
E-mail: korovin@cepl.rssi.ru
St. Petersburg Forest Research Institute:
Dr. Boris Romanyuk
Tel: 812-552-8019, Fax: 812-552-8042
E-mail: roman@forest.spb.su
Institute for Space Research (Moscow):
Dr. Evgeny Loupian
Tel: 095-333-53-13
E-mail: evgeny@d902.iki.rssi.ru
Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics (Irkutsk):
Dr. Nickolay Minko
Tel: 462557
E-mail: nick@iszf.irk.ru
IT Company (Moscow):
Dr. Andrey Slyusarenko
Tel: 095-974-7979, 974-7980, Fax: 095-974-7990
E-mail: ands@it.ru
TACIS Project Newsletter No.2: Improvement in Forest Fire Response System
Project Newsletter
ISSUE No 2, October 1999
Tacis Project ENVRUS9701:
“Improvement in Forest Fire Response System”
I. Main Results of 2nd Implementation Phase (July October 1999)
(A) Management Support Component:
- NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) satellite receiving stations for the Pushkino and Irkutsk airbases and hardware/software for system development have been procured. These will be installed at the airbases as soon as the tax clearing procedures are completed and equipment is released by the customs authorities. The remainder of the equipment required has been identified and the respective tender documents are being produced.
In considering the long-term information needs of a broader forest information system (e.g., periodic forest inventory), it would be desirable to procure satellite receiving stations able to acquire medium/high spatial resolution data in addition to low spatial resolution AVHRR (Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer) data. However, the required financial means to procure, install and operationalise such stations clearly exceeds the current projects budget. Nevertheless, assessment of the potential of high/medium spatial resolution imagery to improve fire response systems using test data has been included in the project to provide an option for the future integration of such data into the Forest Protection Information System.
- The Project Management Team plans to publish results of consultants working under this component under a bilingual Wildland Fire Management Series to be issued by the beginning of next year. The Wildland Fire Management Series aims to serve as a basis for a productive exchange of information and for discussion of wildfire fire management issues relevant to project objectives.
(B) Remote Sensing Component:
- The adaptation of existing satellite data acquisition and pre-processing software to the new receiving stations, the development of archiving procedures and the enhancement of data transmission procedures are nearing completion. New procedures have been added in accordance with the specifications of the new receiving stations.
A detailed description of the satellite data acquisition and processing chain is being prepared.
- Several multi-threshold and contextual fire detection algorithms will be optimised during the next fires season so as to minimise the rates of false alarms and fires missed. Preliminary tests have shown that there will be no single optimal fire algorithm for the entire Russian Federation, but that fire detection algorithms have to be adapted to local and seasonal context in order to produce optimal results.
- Monitoring of spreading fires is based on the analysis of multi-temporal sets of satellite images with rather high requirements regarding their geometric accuracy. Orbital data direct from NOAA satellites have proven insufficient to meet these requirements. A method to improve the geometrical accuracy of satellite images utilising a water mask produced from data sets of the Digital Chart of the World (DCW) and the World Vector Shoreline (WVS) was developed and is now at the stage of testing. This will improve monitoring of large forest fires and will also benefit other image analysis procedures.
- A preliminary image analysis of fire scars in the Far East after the 1998 fire season revealed the necessity to work out a method, which incorporates local criteria into the analysis, so as to improve the mapping accuracy.
- A comparative analysis of five large forest fires in the Irkutsk region using data from the MSU-SK (Resurs) and AVHRR sensors to ascertain the area burned was conducted. Preliminary results show that after geometric image correction, the co-ordinates of hot spots detected by means of AVHRR data (during active fires) coincide well with the slashes classified after fires. Areas ascertained by means of the AVHRR sensor underestimated the area burned by 10-15% as compared to areas ascertained by means MSU-SK data, which are assumed to produce results with higher accuracy and precision due to their higher spatial resolution. (Verification of exact area burned by means of aerial photography or terrestrial survey was precluded by budget constraints.)
(C) Forest Protection Information System (FPIS) Component:
- At present there are two prototype GIS systems – one at the federal, the other at the regional level – which are under development and, eventually, will be integrated into a single system.
Most of the specified procedures for baseline and operational data updating, processing, data dissemination, access and reporting have been developed and automated for both systems. Work on the design and development of derived products and decision support tools, such as a fire threat rating system component, which will allow FPIS users to prioritise initial attacks and improve the allocation and deployment of suppression resources, has commenced.
- In order to ensure efficient integration of data between the regional and federal functionality and between the producers of data who are working in various locations, common data formats, projections for geographic data and a common core database structure are now being defined. A detailed system design for the FPIS is being prepared.
(D) System Integration Component:
- The specification of communication lines to allow the development of an effective and efficient forest protection information network is complete. It was decided that the project will assist Avialesookhrana in the implementation of the selected option. The establishment of a standing communication line for the Pushkino airbase is underway.
(E) Capacity Building Component:
- The workshop Fire on Ice in conjunction with the International Conference World Natural Forests and their Role in Global Processes was held in Khabarovsk at August 15 as a joint activity of the Global Fire Monitoring Centre (GFMC), the IGBP Northern Eurasia Study (IGBP-NES), the Biomass Burning Experiment (BIBEX of the IGBP Core Project International Global Atmospheric Chemistry (IGAC), the Fire Research Campaign Asia North (FIRESCAN), and the International Boreal Forest Research Association (IBFRA) Fire Working Group. The conference was supported by the project.
The workshop reviewed the state of knowledge in the interactions between climate variability, fire regimes, and permafrost in boreal circumpolar ecosystems with a focus on the Russian Federation. An in-depth discussion was held with representatives of the Russian Forest Service and the fire science community, jointly with the Executive Director of the IGBP, on a comprehensive strategic circumpolar science and policy plan which addresses the implications of regional circumpolar climate change, and socio-economic and land-use changes on fire regimes and fire effects and the required technical and technological solutions and programmes. A report of the workshop in the form of a strategic paper will be finalised after the participants have delivered their inputs.
- A SWOT workshop identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the present forest protection system was conducted by the project team on 2nd September with participants from federal and regional levels of Avialesookhrana and the Federal Forest Service.
II. Other Initiatives
The project has commissioned the Global Forest Fire Monitoring Centre (GFMC), headed by Dr. Johann Goldammer, to establish links between the project and relevant international initiatives on wildland fire management and to represent the projects interests in international working groups on wildland fires.
1. News on technology developments
The currently available spaceborne fire sensors, such as the NOAA/AVHRR sensor exploited in the Forest Protection Information System, have limited capabilities to depict fires and fire effects. The project team therefore tracks and participates in new technology developments, which are relevant to project objectives.
These include: (i) The Bispectral Infra-Red Detection (BIRD) satellite, a project of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) with the GFMC. BIRD will be launched in 2000 or 2001. The instruments will be tested in Russia, both as spaceborne and airborne versions. The test programme will be conducted jointly with the Russian Forest Service, through Avialesookhrana and the Sukachev Institute, starting in 2001; and (ii) the FOCUS fire sensor, scheduled to be mounted on the International Space Station (ISS). FOCUS is also an instrument developed by DLR and tested by the GFMC. FOCUS validation will also be conducted in Russia.
2. News on international co-operation in fire emergencies
It was discussed with counterparts during the last Management Task Force Meeting to look into options for improving Avialesookhranas tight financial situation, thereby enhancing the prospect of sustainability of project results. Currently the GFMC is working on a concept of establishing an International Task Force on Fire (ITFF) which will be associated with the UN and other international organisations, e.g. the World Bank and the European Council (EUROPA Major Hazards Agreement). The ITFF will have an operational wing for assistance in fire emergencies. It is hoped to develop an agreement with Avialesookhrana, Emercom and a German-Russian consortium to establish a multinational fire response force in which Russian long-range aircraft, helicopters and Avialesookhrana fire specialists would be made available for international missions. Technical and organisational details will be discussed in December 1999. The project management team plans to conduct a workshop in February 2000, Pushkino, to inform project counterparts, partners and concerned stakeholders about these and other recent developments.
III. Contact Address
Matthias Rhein, Project Manager
c/o Central Airbase, AVIALESOOKHRANA
20 Gorki street, Pushkino, Russia 141200
Tel: (+7) 096-532-6752, Fax: (+7) 096-532-9220
E-mail: tacis@space.ru
Updates and details on the project can be obtained via the projects English website (https://gfmc.online/programmes/techcoop/tacis.htm) or the project contact stated above. Comments are welcome.
The ENVRUS 9701 Project is being carried out by a consortium headed by HTS Consultants and including TAESCO Europe and Helsinki Consulting Group under funding by the EU TACIS programme.
TACIS NEWSLETTER No 3
Project Newsletter
ISSUE No 3, March 2000
Tacis Project ENVRUS9701:
“Improvement in Forest Fire ResponseSystem”
Brief on the 3rd Implementation Phase (October 1999 February 2000)
(A) Management Support Component:
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After a lengthy and cumbersome process, the NOAA receiving stations and the hardware and software required for system development, purchased in September 1999, were eventually cleared by the Russian customs authorities at the beginning of March. The last tender comprising the remaining equipment shall be launched this month and, hopefully, completed by August.
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A discussion paper on the stratification of forest lands as a means to improve wildland fire management, titled “Wildland fire management priority functions: a suggested approach for forest fund lands, and other designated lands, within the Russian Federation“, has been published under the projects occasional Forest Fire Management Series. Further papers and reports are being prepared for publication during the following implementation periods.
(B) Remote Sensing Component:
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The development of the basic software modules required for the operation of a satellite data processing chain, including data reception, pre-processing and archiving as well as most data analysis procedures was completed. It is planned to complete the installation of the receiving stations in Pushkino and in Irkutsk by May. The hardware installed and the software modules transferred shall then be tested, debugged and fine-tuned during the coming fire season. Manuals are being prepared.
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The development of additional software modules for satellite data analysis, e.g., for fire risk and forest condition assessment, has commenced and shall be completed by August. A detailed design of the satellite data processing chain is being refined.
(C) Forest Protection Information System (FPIS) Component:
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The development of most software modules for baseline and operational data updating, data processing, dissemination, access, and reporting procedures was completed. Work on the design and development of derived products and decision support tools is ongoing. Manuals are being prepared. The new software modules will be installed, tested and fine-tuned during the next project period.
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In order to ensure the efficient integration of data between the regional and federal functionality and between the producers of data who are working in various locations, the definitions of common data formats, projections for geographic data and a common core database structure are being detailed and the FPIS design is being refined accordingly.
(D) System Integration Component:
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The specification of communication lines to allow the development of an effective and efficient forest protection information network was completed for the Pushkino and Irkutsk airbases. The Aerial Forest Fire Service completed its tender procedures for the Central Airbase in Pushkino and a contract was closed between the selected company and the contracter under a Direct Agreement “Local Shopping” procedure. Options for the installation of specified communication lines for the Irkutsk airbase are presently being evaluated to ensure their cost-effectiveness and sustainable operation.
(E) Capacity Building Component and Others:
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Training of selected staff in the operation of the satellite data processing chain will commence with the installation of the receiving stations and the transfer of the developed software modules.
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Options for establishing an International Task Force on Fire (ITFF) as an integral part of the UN system and other international organisations, e.g. the World Bank or the European Council (EUROPA Major Hazards Agreement), has been presented to and discussed with the Federal Forest Service. There exists consensus that the ITFF will generate significant mutual benefits by mitigating disasters in countries requiring assistance in emergency situations, while enhancing the prospects of agencies actively participating in the task force. An example of a successful operation of an international task force in Ethiopia can be found at https://gfmc.online/iffn/country/et/et_2.htm.
Contacts
The project beneficiary is the Russian Federal Forest Service, the project partner the Aerial Forest Fire Service.
A consortium headed by HTS Consultants and including TAESCO Europe and Helsinki Consulting Group under funding by the EU TACIS programme assists the project beneficiary in the implementation of the project.
Local contractors of the above consortium are: (i) the International Forest Institute, Moscow; (ii) the Institute for Space Research, Moscow; (iii) the St. Petersburg Forest Research Institute, St. Petersburg; (iv) the Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics, Irkutsk; and (v) the IT Company, Moscow.
The project is associated with the Global Fire Monitoring Centre, Freiburg, Germany (https://gfmc.online/).
Updates and details on the project can be obtained via the projects English website (https://gfmc.online/programmes/techcoop/tacis.htm) or the projects local contact address stated below:
Matthias Rhein, Project Manager
c/o Aerial Forest Fire Service, Central Airbase
20 Gorki street, Pushkino, Russia 141200
Tel: (+7) 096-532-6752, Fax: (+7) 096-532-9220
E-mail: tacis@space.ru
GFMC: International Technical Cooperation Projects in Fire Management and Research
International Technical CooperationProjects in Fire Management and Research
In the recent years an increase of bilateral and multilateral technical development and fire research projects is noted. It is intended to provide a complete list of such projects on this site in order to allow the projects to share expertise and create synergistic effects through learning from each other.
To avoid duplication the projects and programmes listed under South East Asian Fire Monitoring – Projects and Programmes are not repeated here.
The incompletness of this list may encourage other projects and organizations to include their projects (to be addressed to the GFMC fire@uni-freiburg.de.)
- Namibia-Finland Forestry Programme: Integrated Forest Fire Management Project (Caprivi)
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USDA Forest Service International Fire Management Programmes
FORFAIT
Forest Fire Risk and Hazard Assessment (FORFAIT)
FORFAIT will develop a Decision Support System (DSS) which can be used by planners, educationalists, regulators and industry to aid in decision making relating to risks from forest fires. It will be designed to be generally applicable across Europe, but capable of being applied on a site-specific basis to assess risks to humans, the environment and to commercial enterprise. At the heart of the system will sit a central decision engine, incorporating an extensive Fire Management Knowledge Base, and utilising the latest Fire Propagation and Mitigation Models. The Decision Support framework places emphasis on effective communication, collaboration and negotiation between stakeholders and allows the problem to be approached from an integrated, quantitative and holistic perspective. Inputs to the system will take the form of local, site specific data collected in the field, and timely satellite derived information. By making use of such Remotely Sensed data, the system is able to exploit unique indices of fire-related information sources, which can be created and updated rapidly. The user interface and system outputs will build upon the growth of Geographical Information System (GIS) technology to present a map-based view of social, environmental and economic risk.
For more information see: http://www-cesia.iata.fi.cnr.it/forfait/index.htm
TACIS-ISEAM-PROJECT
EU-TACIS Project
– Information System for Environment and Agriculture Monitoring (ISEAM)
Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia
The overall objective of the interstate ISEAM project (TACIS Project FDREG 9701, 1999-2001) is to set up a multi-country network to assist Government authorities to develop national information systems for improved agricultural and environmental monitoring, planning and management. This is to be primarily achieved through the transfer of integrated earth observation and geographic information system (GIS) technology, as available in the European Union, adapted to specific local conditions. The project will be initially implemented in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia. It includes the elaboration of a fire monitoring system in Mongolia and Kazakhstan. The project is implemented by the Company for Applied Remote Sensing GAF), Munich, Germany, in association with Environmental Resources Management Ltd. (ERM), London, UK. The ISEAM Website contains detailed information on the fire monitoring components in Mongolia and Kazakhstan.