Report on Early Warning for Fire and Other Environmental Hazards: I. INTRODUCTION

 

Report on Early Warning for
Fire and Other Environmental Hazards

 

I. INTRODUCTION

General Remarks on Fire Hazard

Recent Major Fire Events and Fire Losses

Impacts of Fire on the Environment

Early Warning Systems in Fire Management and Smoke Management

Relation to Other IDNDR Early Warning Working Group Reports

General Remarks on Fire Hazard

Fire is an important recurrent phenomenon in all forested and non-forested regions of the globe. In some ecosystems fire plays an ecologically significant role in biogeochemical cycles and disturbance dynamics. In other ecosystems fire may lead to the destruction of forests or to long-term site degradation. As a consequence of demographic and land use changes and the cumulative effects of anthropogenic disturbances many forest types adapted to fire, are becoming more vulnerable to high-intensity wildfire. Ironically, this is often due to the absence of periodic low-intensity fire. In other forest types, however, as well as many non-forest ecosystems e.g. in savannas and grasslands, fire plays an important role in maintaining their dynamic equilibrium productivity and carrying capacity (Goldammer, 1990; Goldammer and Furyaev 1996; van Wilgen et al. 1997).

In most areas of the world wildfires burning under extreme weather conditions will have detrimental impacts on economies, human health and safety, with consequences that are comparable to the severity of other natural hazards. In all ecosystem fire needs to be managed to balance the benefits derived from burning with the potential losses from uncontrolled fires.

Fires in forests and other vegetation produce gaseous and particle emissions that have impacts on the composition and functioning of the global atmosphere (Crutzen and Goldammer, 1993; Levine, 1991, 1996; van Wilgen et al. 1997). These emissions interact with those from fossil-fuel burning and other technological sources which are the major cause for anthropogenic climate forcing. Smoke emissions from wildland fires also cause visibility problems which may result in accidents and economic losses. Smoke generated by wildland fires also affect human health and in some cases contribute to the loss of human lives.

Fire risk modelling in expected climate change scenarios indicate that within a relatively short period of the next three to four decades, the destructiveness of human-caused and natural wildfires will increase. Fire management strategies which include preparedness and early warning cannot be generalized due to the multi-dimensional effects of fire in the different vegetation zones and ecosystems and the manifold cultural, social, and economic factors involved.

However, unlike the majority of the geological and hydrometeorological hazards included in the IDNDR Early Warning Programme, wildland fires represent a natural hazard which can be predicted, controlled and, in many cases, prevented.

Recent Major Fire Events and Fire Losses

Comprehensive reports with final data on losses caused by forest and other vegetation fires (wildland fires) are only occasionally available. The main reason for the lack of reliable data is that the majority of both the benefits and losses from wildland fires involve intangible non-use values or non-market outputs which do not have a common base for comparison, i.e. biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, erosion, etc. (González-Cabán, 1996).

Market values such as loss of timber or tourism activity have been calculated in some cases. The large wildfires in Borneo during the drought of 1982-83, which was caused by the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), affected a total of more that 5 million hectares of forest and agricultural lands (Goldammer et al., 1986). It resulted in the loss of timber values of ca. US$8.3 billion, and a total of timber and non-timber values and rehabilitation costs of US$ 9.075 billion (Schindele et al., 1989). The damages caused by the fire episode of 1997 in Indonesia are not yet known at the time of writing this report.

The 1988 fires in the Yellowstone area of the United States cost around US$ 160 million to suppress and caused an estimated loss of US$ 60 million in tourist revenues between 1988 and 1990 (Polzin et al., 1988). In the longer term, however, the increased biodiversity created by the fires in Yellowstone National Park may well yield benefits that outweigh these losses.

Australia’s Ash Wednesday Fires of 1983, which were also linked to the ENSO drought of 1982-83, resulted in a human death toll of 75, the loss of 2539 houses and nearly 300,000 sheep and cattle. In South Australia alone the estimated direct losses of agricultural output (sheep, wool, lambs, cattle, pasture, horticulture) of the Ash Wednesday fires were estimated AUS$ 5.7 million (on the basis of 1976-77 prices), and the estimated value of the net costs to the Government Sector of South Australia of the 1983 bushfires were AUS$ 33 million (Healey et al., 1985).

Wildfire damage to agricultural lands, particularly in the tropics, may have tremendous impact on local and regional famine. In 1982-83 the West African country Côte d’Ivoire was swept by wildfires over a total area of ca. 12 million ha (Goldammer, 1993). The burning of ca. 40,000 ha of coffee plantations, 60,000 ha of cocoa plantations, and some 10,000 ha of other cultivated plantations had detrimental impacts on the local economy. More than 100 people died during this devastating fire period.

The “Great Black Dragon Fire” of 1987 in the People’s Republic of China burned a total of 1.3 million hectares of boreal mountain forest, the houses of 50,000 inhabitants and resulted in a human death toll of 221, mostly caused by high carbon monoxide concentrations in the forest villages. The long-term statistics in China reveal that between 1950 and 1990 a total of 4,137 people were killed in forest fires (Goldammer, 1994).

The last large fire event occurred in Mongolia between February and June 1996. A total of 386 forest and steppe fires burned over an area of 2.3 million ha of forest and 7.8 million ha of pasture land, involving the loss of 25 human lives, more than 7000 livestock, 210 houses, 560 communication facilities, and 576 facilities for livestock; the preliminary damage assessment was ca. US$ 2 billion (Naidansuren, 1996).

Reliable statistical data on occurrence of wildland fires, areas burned and losses are available for only a limited number of nations and regions. Within the northern hemisphere the most complete data set on forest fires is periodically collected and published for the member states of the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE). It includes all Western and Eastern European countries, countries of the former Soviet Union, the U.S.A. and Canada. The last data set covers the period 1993-95 (ECE/FAO 1996). In the European Union a Community Information System on Forest Fires has been created on the basis of information collected on every fire in national databases. The collection of data on forest fires (the common core) has become systematic with the adoption of a Commission Regulation in 1994. The Community Information System on Forest Fires currently covers 319 provinces (departments, states) of Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Germany and Greece (European Commission, 1996; Lemasson, 1997). It contains information on 460,000 fires recorded between 1 January 1985 and 31 December 1995 involving a total of six million hectares. Other countries from outside the ECE/EU region report fire statistics in the pages of International Forest Fire News or are included in the FAO report on global wildland fires (FAO, 1992).

In many countries (e.g. Australia) where fire is used as a management tool by the indigenous population, graziers and managers of forests and natural areas it is impossible to discriminate between management fires and wildfires. Statistics for wildfires are usually available only for production forest and national park lands.

A global data set has been developed on the basis of active fires detected by the NOAA AVHRR sensor. The “Global Fire Product” of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme Data and Information System (IGBP-DIS; further details are provided below in the section on Global Fire Monitoring).

Impacts of Fire on the Environment

From the perspective of the IDNDR wildland fires may affect two basic environmental problem areas, (1) atmospheric pollution (direct impact of smoke on human health and economies; influence of gaseous and particle emissions on the composition and functioning of the atmosphere), and (2) biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, and landscape stability. These both can have deleterious consequences for the severity of other hazards.

Atmospheric pollution

Human fatalities and health

Smoke pollution generated by wildland fires occasionally creates situations during which human lives and local economies are affected. Fatalities in the general public caused by excessive carbon monoxide concentrations have been reported from various fire events, e.g. the large forest fires in China in 1987. Firefighters who are regularly subjected to smoke are generally at higher health risk.

The use of fire in forest conversion and other forms of land clearing and wildfires spreading beyond these activities are very common in tropical countries. In the 1980’s and 1990’s most serious pollution problems were noted in the Amazon Basin and in the South East Asian region. The most recent large smog episodes in the South East Asian region were in 1991, 1994 and 1997 when land-use fires and uncontrolled wildfires in Indonesia and neighbour countries created a regional smog layer which lasted for several weeks. In 1994 the smoke plumes of fires burning in Sumatra (Indonesia) reduced the average daily minimum horizontal visibility over Singapore to less than 2 km; by the end of September 1994 the visibility in Singapore dropped to as low as 500 metres. In the same time the visibility in Malaysia dropped to 1 km in some parts of the country. A study on asthma attacks among children revealed a high concentration of fire-generated carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and inhalable suspended particulate matter (PM10) was responsible for the health problems (ASEAN, 1995a). The smog situation in September 1997 caused the worst smoke pollution in the region, reflected by a value of 839 of the Pollutant Standard Index (PSI, for further details see the Section below on Atmospheric Pollution Warning) in the city of Kuching (Sarawak Province, Malaysia); the government was close to evacuating the 400,000 inhabitants of the city.

In the same regions, the smoke from fires caused disruption of local and international air traffic. In 1982-83, 1991, 1994 and 1997 the smog episodes in South East Asia resulted in the closure of airports and marine traffic, e.g. in the Strait of Malacca and along the coast and on rivers of Borneo. Smoke-related marine and aircraft accidents occurred during September 1997. The loss of an airplane and 234 human lives in September 1997 in Sumatra was partially attributed to air traffic control problems during the smog episode.

Wildfires burning in radioactively contaminated vegetation lead to uncontrollable redistribution of radionuclides, e.g. the long-living radionuclides caesium (137Cs), strontium (90Sr) and plutonium (239Pu). In the most contaminated Regions of the Ukraine, Belarus and the Russian Federation (the Kiev, Zhitomir, Rovmo, Gomel, Mogilev and Bryansk Regions), the prevailing forests are young and middle-aged pine and pine-hardwood stands with high fire danger classes. In 1992 severe wildfires burned in the Gomel Region (Belorussia) and spread into the 30-km radius zone of the Chernobyl Power Plant. Research reveals that in 1990 most of the 137Cs radionuclides were concentrated in the forest litter and upper mineral layer of the soil. In the fires of 1992 the radionuclides were lifted into the atmosphere. Within the 30-km zone the level of radioactive caesium in aerosols increased 10 times (for more details on resuspension of radioactive matter from forest fires, see Dusha-Gudym, 1996).

Fire emissions, atmosphere and climate

In recent years increasing attention has been given to the role of vegetation fires in biogeochemical cycles and in the chemistry of the atmosphere (Crutzen and Goldammer, 1993). According to recent estimates some 1.8-4.7 billion tons of carbon stored in vegetation may be released annually by wildland fires and other biomass burning (Crutzen and Andreae, 1990). It must be noted that not all of the biomass burned represents a net source of carbon in the atmosphere. The net flux of carbon into the atmosphere is due to deforestation (forest conversion with and without involving the use of fire) and has been estimated by Houghton (1991) to be in the range of 1.1-3.6 billion tons per year. Important contributions to the total worldwide biomass burning, which are included in the numbers mentioned above, are fires in savannas, shifting agriculture, agricultural waste burning and firewood consumption (Andreae and Goldammer, 1992).

Although the emissions from tropical vegetation fires are dominated by carbon dioxide [CO2], many products of incomplete combustion that play important roles in atmospheric chemistry and climate are emitted as well, e.g., a number of gases that influence the concentrations of ozone and hydroxyl radicals and thus the oxidation efficiency of the atmosphere, in particular NO, CO, CH4 and reactive hydrocarbons. The influence of these emissions affects especially the southern hemisphere during the dry (winter) season, i.e. during August – November, and manifests itself in strongly enhanced tropospheric ozone concentrations, extending from the regions regularly affected by biomass burning in Brazil and southern Africa across the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean all the way down to Tasmania (Andreae et al., 1993; Journal of Geophysical Research, 1996; van Wilgen et al., 1997). Other gases whose atmospheric concentrations are strongly dominated by biomass burning are CH3Cl and CH3Br, which together with CH4 play a significant role in stratospheric ozone chemistry (Manö and Andreae, 1994).

Biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, and landscape stability

The impacts of wildfires on the functioning and stability of ecosystems has been described widely in numerous publications, covering the full range of geographical, ecological, socio-cultural and economic conditions of the globe. The magnitude of phenomena resulting from wildfires prohibits any detailed review in the context of this report.

On the one hand fire is an integrated element which contributes to the stability, sustainability, high productivity and carrying capacity of many ecosystems. On the other hand wildfire, in conjunction or interaction with land use systems and exploitation of natural resources, leads to the loss of forest and agricultural products and can have negative impacts on biodiversity, ecosystem function and land stability. For example, in the dry forests of Australia low-intensity fire is regularly applied to maintain understorey plant species and habitat for native fauna as well as to reduce surface fuels to mitigate against the impacts of high-intensity wildfires. During the dangerous summer period all fires are suppressed as quickly as possible both to reduce damage to forest values and to reduce the chance of wildfire burning out of the forest and causing severe losses to houses and structures in the built environment.

Many plant and animal species, e.g. in the tropical lowland rain forest ecosystems and elsewhere, are susceptible to fire influence and are easily destroyed by fire and replaced by less species-rich communities. Human-induced fire regimes in tropical rain forests result in degraded vegetation types (grasslands, brushlands) which are less stable and productive, both from an ecological and economic point of view. Fires may also lead to the depletion of soil cover, resulting in increased runoff and erosion, with severe downstream consequences, e.g., mudflows, landslides, flooding or siltation of reservoirs.

Fires often interact with other disturbances, e.g. extreme storm events (hurricanes) or insect outbreaks. The extended rain forest fires of 1989 in Yucatan (Mexico) represent a typical example because they were a result of a chain of disturbance events. Hurricane “Gilbert” in 1987 opened the closed forests and increased the availability of unusual amounts of fuels. The downed woody fuels were then desiccated by the subsequent drought of 1988-89, and the whole of the forest area was finally ignited by escaped land clearing fires. None of these single three factors, the cyclonic storm, the drought, or the ignition sources, if occurring alone, would have caused a disturbance of such severity and magnitude on an area of 90,000 hectares (Goldammer, 1992).

In Krasnoyarsk Region, Russian Federation, a mass outbreak of the Siberian Gipsy Moth (Dendrolimus superans sibiricus) going on since 1989 has meanwhile affected a total of 1 million hectares of boreal forest (Baramchikov, 1997). It is expected that large wildfires will occur in the partially or completely killed stands within the next years.

Early Warning Systems in Fire Management and Smoke Management

Early warning (fire intelligence) systems are essential components of fire and smoke management . They rely on

  • evaluation of vegetation dryness and weather;
  • detection and monitoring of active fires;
  • integrating and processing of these data in fire information systems with other relevant information, e.g. vegetation cover and values at risk;
  • modelling capabilities of fire occurrence and behaviour; and
  • dissemination of information.

Early warning of fire and atmospheric pollution hazard may involve locally generated indicators, such as local fire-weather forecasts and assessment of vegetation dryness. Advanced technologies, however, which rely on remotely sensed data, evaluation of synoptic weather information and international communication systems (e.g., Internet) are now also available for remote locations.

In this report the large variety of standards, methods and technologies of fire and smoke management which are used in national programs cannot be described in detail. Generally speaking, however, it is obvious that, due to the lack of resources, fire management systems are disproportionately less available in developing countries.

In some industrialized countries, e.g. in Central and Northern Europe, wildfires have been largely eliminated due to high-intensity land use, improved accessibility of potentially threatened land and the availability of infrastructures and advanced fire management technologies. Regions with less developed infrastructures are found in densely populated lands (e.g., in the tropics and subtropics) and in sparsely inhabited regions (e.g., in the northern boreal forests) as well. They are equally subjected to high wildfire risk because of the abundance of human fire sources or the lack of human resources to control fires respectively.

Relation to Other IDNDR Early Warning Working Group Reports

Some of the issues described in this report are closely related to other IDNDR Early Warning Working Group reports, e.g. the reports on hydrometeorological hazards, on technological opportunities, and on local perspectives. The cross-cutting issues show that there are areas of potential common activities and programmes.

The conclusions of the most recent global wildland fire forum, the “Second International Wildland Fire Conference” (Vancouver, Canada, May 1997), clearly underscored the fact that unlike other natural disasters, fire is one of the few natural disturbances that can be forecast and mitigated (Anonymous, 1997). This fact may explain why forecasting fire events and the potential of mitigating fire impacts are comparably better developed as compared to other natural disasters. The description of the early warning systems for wildfires, which are available, in the development stage or proposed, may therefore serve as examples for other local, regional and international mechanisms of cooperation in disaster early warning and management.

Top
Table of Contents

 

/by

HEALTH GUIDELINES FOR FOREST FIRES EPISODIC EVENTS

 

Health Guidelines for Forest Fires Episodic Events

6 – 9 October 1998, LIMA – PERU

List of Participants

Secretariat

 

Dr. Dietrich Schwela
1211 Geneva, Switzerland
Telephone: 41-22-791-4261
Fax: 41-22-791-4127
Email: schwelad@who.int

 

Dr. Robert R. Romano
525 Twenty-third Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20037, USA Telephone: 202-974-3865
Fax: 202-974-3988
Email: romanoro@paho.org

 

Dr. Orman Simpson
Georgia Tech Research Corporation
400 Tenth St. NW Suite 270
Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0415 Telephone: 404-894-6900
Fax: 404-894-9728
Email: orman.simpson@gtrc.gatech.edu

 

Dr. Claude de Ville de Goyet
525 Twenty-third Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20037, USA Telephone: 202-974-3520
Fax: 202-775-4578
Email: devillec@paho.org

 

Dr. Jean Luc Poncelet
Av. Naciones Unidas 1084
Torre B, Oficina 309
Quito, Ecuador Telephone: 593-2-464-629
593-2-449-473
Fax: 593-2-464-630
Email: poncelej@ecnet.ec
pedecu@ecnet.ec

 

Dr. Etsuko Kita
1211 Geneva, Switzerland Telephone: 44-22-791-2615
Fax: 44-22-791-4844
Email: kitae@who.ch

 

List of Participants

 

Dr. Celso Bambarén Alatrista
Oficina Defensa NacionalMinisterio de Salud
Loma Verde 130, Surco, Lima 33 Telephone: 448-5430
Email: cbambaren@freenet.lima.net.pe

 

Dr. Michael Brauer  (Vice Chairperson, Working Group I)
University of British Columbia
Occupational Hygiene
2206 East Mall, Vancouver BC Canada Telephone: 604-822-9585
Fax: 604-822-9588
Email: brauer@unixg.ubc.ca

 

Ing. Sergio A. Caporali
Los Pinos 259
Urb. Camacho, La Molina, Lima 12 Telephone: 511-437-1077
Fax: 511-437-8289
Email: scaporal@cepis.org.pe

 

Mr. Hashim Daud
Department of Environment Malaysia
12th and 13th Floor
Wisma Sime Darby, Jalan Raja Laut
50662 Kuala Lumpur Telephone: 03-2947814
Fax: 03-2931044
Email: hd@jas.sains.my

 

Mr. Yudanarso Dawud, MD, MHA
Persahabatan Hospital, M.O.H.
Jl. Persahabatan Raya #1 – Jakarta Timur Telephone: 62-21-4891745
Fax: 62-21-4890778
        62-21-4711222
Email: doctjand@link.net.id

 

Ing. Harold Cáceres Deza
Dirección General de Salud Ambiental – DIGESA
Las Amapolas 350, 3er. Piso
Urb. San Eugenio, Lince, Lima 14 Telephone: 440-0399
Email: hcaceres@digesa.sld.pe
bbv-esolutions@blockbuster.com.pe

 

Dr. Michael Garstang
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, VA 22903 Telephone: 804-979-3571
Fax: 804-979-5599
Email: mxg@thunder.swa.com

 

Dr. Johann Georg Goldammer           (Conference Chairperson)
Max Planck Institute for Chemistry
The Global Fire Monitoring Center
Fire Research Group c/o Freiburg University, D – 79085/Freiburg Telephone: 49-761-808011
Fax: 49-761-808012
Email: jggold@ruf.uni-freiburg.de

 

Dr. William B. Grant
NASA Langley Research Center
MS 401A, Hampton, VA 23681 Telephone: 1-757-864-5846
Fax: 1-757-864-7790
Email: w.b.grant@larc.nasa.gov

 

Ms. Angelika Heil
German Technical Cooperation (GTZ)
Strengthening the Management Capacities
of the Indonesian Ministry of Foresty (SMCP)
Gedung Manggala Wanabakti
Block VII 6th Floor. CGIF Office
Jl. Gatot Subroto, Jakarta 10270
Telephone: 62-(0)21-5720214
Fax: 62-(0)21-5720193
Email: gtzsmcp@rad.net.id
angelika_heil@t-online.de

 

Dr. A. Bakar Jaafar
Dato’Alam Sekitar Malaysia Sdn. Bhd (ASMA)
Suite 13.04/05 Wisma Cycle Carri
Jalan Raja Laut, 50350 Kuala Lumpur Telephone: 603-294-6500
Fax: 603-294-6511
Email: drbakar@enviromalaysia.com.my

 

Dr. Liisa Jalkanen
41 av Giuseppe-Motta
CH-1211 Geneve, Switzerland Telephone: 41-22-7308-587
Fax: 41-22-7400-984
Email: jalkanen-l@gateway.wmo.ch

 

Mr. Roy A. Johnson
Department of Interior
Bureau of Land Management
3833 South Development Ave Boise, Id. 83706 Telephone: 208-387-5163
Fax: 208-387-5179
Email: r80johns@nifc.blm.gov

 

Dr. Yoram Kaufman
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Code 913, Greenbelt, MD 20771 Telephone: 301-286-4866
Fax: 301-486-1759
Email: kaufman@climate.gsfc.nasa.gov

 

Dr. Marcelo Korc
Los Pinos 259
Urb. Camacho, La Molina, Lima 12 Telephone: 511-437-1077
Fax: 511-437-8289
Email: mkorc@cepis.org.pe

 

Dr. Osamu Kunii
Bureau of International Cooperation
International Medical Center of Japan
1-21-1 Toyama, Shinjuku, Tokyo 162-8655 Telephone: 81-3-5273-6827
Fax: 81-3-3205-7860
Email: okunii@imaj.go.jp

 

Dr. Joel S. Levine (Vice-Chairperson, Working Group II)
Atmospheric Sciences Division
NASA – Langley Research Center
Hampton, VA 23681-0001 Telephone: 757-864-5692
Fax: 757-864-6326
Email: j.s.levine@larc.nasa.gov

 

Dr. Arlene S. Levine
Atmospheric Sciences Division
NASA – Langley Research Center
Hampton, VA 23681-0001 Telephone: 757-864-3318
Fax: 757-864-8197
Email: a.s.levine@larc.nasa.gov

 

Mr. Sze Fook, Lim
Malaysian Meteorological Service
Jalan Sultan, 46667 Petaling Jaya Telephone: 60-3-7569422
Fax: 60-3-7550964
Email: lim999@tm.net.my

 

Dr. Ooi Peng Lim
Ministry of the Environment
40 Scotts Road # 22-00
Singapore 228231 Telephone: 65-7319726
Fax: 65-7348287
Email: ooi_peng_lim@env.gov.sg

 

Prof. Carlos A. Llerena
Facultad de Ciencias Forestales
Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina
P.O. Box 456, Lima, Perú Telephone: 51-1-349-5647
51-1-349-5669
ext. 233
Fax: 51-1-349-2041
51-1-349-5648
Email: callerena@lamolina.edu.pe

 

Dr. Josephine Malilay
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
4770 Buford Hwy., NE (Mailstop F-46)
Atlanta, Georgia 30341 Telephone: 770-488-7295
Fax: 770-488-3506
Email: jym7@cdc.gov

 

Dr. David Mannino
Centers for Disease Control & Prevention
4770 Buford Highway (Mailstop F-39)
Atlanta, Georgia 30341 Telephone: 770-488-7313
Fax: 770-488-3507
Email: dmm6@cdc.gov

 

Dr. Mauricio Ilabaca Marileo
Director Servicio de Salud del Ambiente
Región Metropolitana – Ministerio de Salud
Av. Pdte. Bulnes N° 177 – Santiago de Chile Telephone: 562-674-4304
Fax: 562-699-3339
Email: sesma2@reuna.cl

 

Dr. Lidia Morawska
School of Physical Sciences
Queensland University of Technology
2 George St., Brisbane Q4001 Telephone: 61-7-38642616
Fax: 61-7-38641521
Email: l.morawska@qut.edu.au

 

Dr. Daniel Murdiyarso
Global Change Impacts Centre
Jl. Raya Tajur Km. 6
P.O Box 116, Bogor Telephone: 62-251-371655
Fax: 62-251-371656
Email: d.murdiyarso@icsea.or.id

 

Dr. Kanchanasak Phonboon
Health Systems Research Institute
Bangkok, Thailand Telephone: 662-951-1286-93
Fax: 662-951-1295
Email: kpvu@hsrint.hsri.or.th

 

Dr. Joseph P. Pinto
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
MD-52, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711 Telephone: 919-541-2183
Fax: 919-541-1818
Email: pinto.joseph@epamail.epa.gov

 

Dr. José G. Flores Rodas
Edificio Europa 2do. Piso
Colonia San Carlos
Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Telephone: 504-238-1475
Fax: 504-234-3238
Email: jflores@hondudata.hn

 

Dr. Alberto Setzer
INPE-DSR
C. Postal 515
S. J. Campos, SP 12201 Telephone: 12-345-6464
Fax: 12-345-6460
Email: asetzer@ltid.inpe.br

 

Dr. Goh Kee Tai
Institute of Environmental Epidemiology
Ministry of the Environment
Environment Building
40 Scotts Road
Singapore 228231 Telephone: 65-7319722
Fax: 65-7348287
Email: goh_kee_tai@env.gov.sg

 

Dr. Nigel J. Tapper
Environmental Climatology Group
Monash University
Wellington Road
Clayton, VIC 3168 Telephone: 61-3-99052931
Fax: 61-3-99052948
Email: nigel.tapper@arts.monash.edu.au

 

Dr. J. Hernán Ulloa-Pinto
3M Av. El Dorado N° 78 A 93
Telephone: 571-416-1655
Fax: 571-416-1677
Email: hulloa@mmm.com

 

Dr. Darold E. Ward
USDA – Forest Service
P.O. Box 8089
Missoula, MT 59807 Telephone: 406-329-4862
Fax: 406-329-4863
Email: pyroward@aol.com

 

Dr. Paulus Agus Winarso
Meteorological & Geophysical Agency
Jl. Angkasa J/8
P.O. Box 3540
Jakarta Telephone:62-21-424-63211
62-21-735-5442
Fax: 62-21-424-67031
62-21-735-5442
Email: awinarso@hotmail.com

Top
Back

/by

Report on Early Warning for Fire and Other Environmental Hazards: V. LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS

 

Report on Early Warning for
Fire and Other Environmental Hazards

 

V. LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS

Convener and first Author:

Dr. Johann G. Goldammer

Max Planck Institute for Chemistry
Biogeochemistry Department
Fire Ecology Research Group
c/o Freiburg University
D – 79085 Freiburg, Germany

Fax: 49-761-808012
Tel: 49-761-808011
e-mail: jggold@ruf.uni-freiburg.de

 

Contributors:

Dr. Robert E. Burgan

Research Forester
Rocky Mountain Research Station
Intermountain Fire Sciences Laboratory
PO Box 8089
Missoula, MT 59807, U.S.A.

Tel: 1-406-329-4864
Fax: 1-406-329-4825
e-mail: rburgan/int_missoula@fs.fed.us

 

Dr. Phil Cheney

CSIRO Division of Forestry and Forest Products
Bushfire Research Unit
Box E 4008
Kingston, A.C.T 2604 Australia

Fax: 61-6-281-8348
Tel: 61-6-281-8379
e-mail: phil.cheney@ffp.csiro.au

 

Dr. Michael A.Fosberg

Director, IGBP-BAHC Core Project Office
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)
Telegrafenberg
P.O.Box 60 12 03
D – 14412 Potsdam, Germany

Fax: 49-331-288-2547
Phone: 49-331-288-2649
e-mail: mike.fosberg@pik-potsdam.de

 

Prof. Vaino Kelha

Space Technology
VTT Automation
P.O.Box 13002
02044 VTT, Finland

Fax: 358-9-456-6475
Tel: 358-9-456 4330
e-mail: vaino.kelha@vtt.fi

 

Dr. John Roads

Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Experimental Climate Prediction Center
UCSD 0224
8605 La Jolla Shores DR., NH 441
La Jolla, CA 92093-0224 U.S.A.

Fax: 1-619-534-8561
Tel: 1-619-534-2099
e-mail: jroads@ucsd.edu

 

Dr. Al Simard

Canadian Forest Service
580 Booth St., 7th floor
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0E4, Canada

Fax: 1-613-947-9090
Tel: 1-613-947-9023
e-mail: asimard@AM.NCR.FORESTRY.CA

 

Brian J. Stocks

Forest Fire Research
Great Lakes Forestry Center
Canadian Forest Service
Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario P6A 5M7, Canada

Fax: 1-705-759-5700
Tel: 1-705-949-9461
e-mail: bstocks@am.glfc.forestry.ca

Top
Table of Contents

 

/by

WHO Health Guidelines for Episodic Vegetation Fire Events

 

WHO Health Guidelines for EpisodicVegetation Fire Events

Draft Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. Air Pollution from Vegetation Fires and Health

    2.1 Introduction
        2.1.1 Global Fire Occurrence
        2.1.2 Hazard Assessment at the Basis of Fire Risk
        2.1.3 Fire-weather forecasts
    2.2 Source Characterization: Emission and Post-Emission processes
    2.3 Ground-based Monitoring
    2.4 Space Monitoring and Modeling of the Distribution of Fire Product
    2.5 Climate Monitoring and Modeling of the Distribution of Fire Products
    2.6 Emergency Response Procedures

3. Guidelines on Forest Fire Emergencies for Public Health Protection

    3.1 Introduction
    3.2 Health Effects
        3.2.1 Acute health impacts of biomass air pollution
        3.2.2 Acute health impacts of particulate air pollution
        3.2.3 Chronic health impacts
    3.3 Public Advisories
        3.3.1 Information to the public
        3.3.2 Information on ambient air quality
        3.3.3 Information on national action
        3.3.4 Information on health effects
    3.4 Mitigation measures
        3.4.1 Remaining indoors
        3.4.2 Use of air cleaners
        3.4.3 Use of masks
        3.4.4 Outdoor precautionary measures
        3.4.5 Evacuation to emergency shelters
    3.5 Guidance on Methodology for Assessment of Forest-Fire Induced Health Effects
        3.5.1 Important potential components of all studies
        3.5.2 Study Designs / acute Exposures
        3.5.3 Study Designs / chronic Exposures
        3.5.4 Evaluation of data
        3.5.5 Priorities
   3.6 Application of short-term air quality guidelines
        3.6.1 Risk management
        3.6.2 Application of WHO Air Quality Guidelines
   3.7 Factors Influencing Health Effects

4. Prevention of Future Health-Affecting Events

    4.1 The Source: Land-Use / Fire Policies, Cross-References to other Programmes
    4.2 Recommendations: Addressing gaps in knowledge, technologies, programmes

5. Appendices

Top
Back to WHO
Back to WMO

/by

Report on Early Warning for Fire and Other Environmental Hazards: III. RECOMMENDATIONS

 

Report on Early Warning for
Fire and Other Environmental Hazards

 

III. RECOMMENDATIONS

International Initiatives and Non-binding International Guidelines

Science and Technology Development

Recommendations by the IDNDR Early Warning Working Group on Fire and Other Environmental Hazards

The recommendations given by the IDNDR Early Warning Working Group on fire and other environmental hazards build on a series of previous international efforts which addressed the needs of international collaboration in providing and sharing information and technologies. In so doing, these efforts can create the institutional mechanisms necessary to fulfill the overall goals of the IDNDR as related to fire disasters. The recommendations are in agreement with, and legitimised by, international initiatives of scientific, management and policy institutions. They address a broad scale of fire management issues which will be mentioned because they are prerequisites for operational early warning systems. Summary recommendations of the IDNDR Early Warning Working Group are given at the end of this chapter.

International Initiatives and Non-binding International Guidelines

The methodologies, systems, and procedures in early warning of fire and atmospheric pollution, as in the preceding chapter, are not equally available worldwide. Furthermore, some information systems, such as the global fire data set, global coverage of fire-weather prediction, or real-time monitoring of active fires are still in the phase of being tested and further developed.

Several recent international initiatives in fire science and policy planning have developed concepts and visions for collaboration in fire science and management at international level. The recommendations of the UN FAO/ECE Seminar “Forest, Fire, and Global Change”, Shushenskoe, Russian Federation, August 1996 (ECE/FAO/ILO, 1996), acknowledged by the resolution of the International Wildland Fire ’97 Conference, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, May 1997 (Clevette, 1997; Anonymous, 1997), and presented at the 11th World Forestry Congress, Antalya, Turkey, October 1997 (Goldammer, 1997c), underscored the need of providing international agreements which address the following issues:

i) Quantifiable information on the spatial and temporal distribution of global vegetation fires is urgently needed relative to both global change and disaster management issues.

Considering the various recent initiatives of the UN system in favour of global environmental protection and sustainable development, the ECE/FAO/ILO Seminar on Forest, Fire and Global Change strongly urges the formation of a dedicated United Nations unit specifically designed to use the most modern means available to develop a global fire inventory, producing a first-order product in the very near future, and subsequently improving this product over the next decade. This fire inventory data will provide the basic inputs into the development of a Global Vegetation Fire Information System. The FAO should take the initiative and coordinate a forum with other UN and non-UN organizations working in this field, e.g. various scientific activities of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), to ensure the realization of this recommendation. (See also Recommendations of ECE/FAO and the international fire science community [Anonymous, 1995]).

ii) The development of a satellite dedicated to quantifying the geographical extent and environmental impact of vegetation fires is strongly supported.

iii) A timely process to gather and share information on ongoing wildfire situations across the globe is required.

iv) Mechanisms should be established that promote community self-reliance for mitigating wildfire damages and that would also permit rapid and effective resource-sharing between countries as wildfire disasters develop.

It is recommended that the UN prepare the necessary measures in this regard, which should follow the objectives and principles of the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR).

v) The unprecedented threat of consequences from fires burning in radioactively contaminated vegetation, and the lack of experience and technologies of radioactive fire management, requires a special, internationally concerted research, prevention and control programme.

The International Tropical Timber Organization of the UN took a first step in its development of “Guidelines on Fire Management in Tropical Forests” (ITTO, 1997). They provide comprehensive guidance targeted at the situation in the economically less developed regions of the tropics. Among other comments, the guidelines state:

“Assessment, prediction and monitoring of fire risk and means of quantification of forest fires and other rural fires are prerequisites for fire management planning purposes. Statistical data sets can also be used to call attention of authorities, policy makers and the general public. In the tropics such information is difficult to be gathered by ground based-methods. Air- and space borne sensors offer possibilities to monitor less accessible and sparsely populated land areas with inadequate ground-based infrastructures.”

Accordingly, ITTO recommends:

i) Seeking access to meteorological information from ground stations and space borne systems and the utilization of this information for fire intelligence (fire risk assessment).

ii) Use of existing orbital remote sensing systems for fire detection and prediction which provide real-time information on the geographic location of fires.

iii) ITTO member countries should join others in supporting the development of international mechanisms to predict wildfires (early warning systems).

iv) The United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) should ensure that in the implementation of Agenda 21 for forests, due attention is given to forest fires in relation to arrangements that may be developed to harmonize and promote international efforts to protect the world’s forests.

v) A UN-sponsored Global Fire Research and Management Facility which includes a Global Vegetation Fire Information System and the capabilities to provide support on request to any nation in fire management and prevention and management of wildfire disasters should be considered by the CSD.

The ITTO guidelines provide general recommendations which will need to be fine-tuned to meet specific national requirements. In Indonesia, for instance, ITTO is sponsoring the development of the “National Guidelines on Protection of Forests against Fire” which will be finalized in December 1997. This initiative is particularly important in light of the repeated smog episodes in South East Asia caused by land-use fires and wildfires. Other countries, such as Namibia, aim to base their national programmes on the ITTO guidelines.

The first regional initiative is underway in the region of member states of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). The resolution and recommendations of the ASEAN Conference on “Transboundary Pollution and the Sustainability of Tropical Forests: Towards Wise Forest Fire Management” in Kuala Lumpur, Dec. 1996, stated (ASEAN, 1997):

“The Conference recognised the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) Guidelines on Fire Management in Tropical Forests which has been adopted by most of the ASEAN member countries”.

It further recommended that,

“A collaborative meteorological and air monitoring information network and workable partnership in ASEAN should be further explored. The network would make use of up-to-date remote sensing and communication technologies in order to provide regional assessment of fire risk, fire and smoke events and early warning systems. The related existing national and regional institutions should form a core group of agencies that could be coordinated by a regional centre, such as the AIFM. This centre will take the lead in the organisation of such a network, and to assist the ASEAN Senior Officials on Environment (ASOEN) Haze Technical Task Force, as required in the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution.”

Another regional initiative is proceeding in the Baltic Basin. The First Baltic Conference on Forest Fire (4-8 May 1998, Poland) is designed to improve the cooperation in early warning of fire and fire management among the countries bordering the Baltic Sea; candidate warning and alert systems are described above in the section on Automatic Fire Alerts.

Science and Technology Development

Fire research and technology development have received considerable stimulation by scientific projects conducted under the umbrella of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) and other programmes devoted to global change research (see e.g. Andreae et al., 1993; Journal of Geophysical Research Special Issue, 1996; FIRESCAN Science Team, 1996; Malingreau and Justice, 1997; van Wilgen et al., 1997). While the scope of global change research is not necessarily directed towards requirements of operational management systems, e.g. early warning of natural hazards, the spin-offs of basic science nevertheless have a considerable potential for management solutions.

However, the application of existing technologies, methods, and procedures of information gathering, processing and distribution has revealed that many of the existing systems must be developed further in order to meet the requirements of precise and real-time application for early warning and management of fire and other environmental hazards.

Communication systems for early warning information dissemination are generally advanced since they rely on the technology progress in the civilian telecommunication sector. Space borne sensing and collection of real-time data for early fire warning purposes generally depend on systems which were not specifically designed for sensing fire precursors, active fires, and fire effects. Thus, a short overview is given below on the most important sensors which are currently designed or are in progress of construction.

New space borne sensors for early warning of fires and atmospheric pollution

In accordance with the analysis of Kendall et al. (1997) it is obvious that the remote sensing fire community, in addition to continuing experimentation and refinement of methods, needs to provide the operational monitoring data sets, at regional and global scales, to contribute to early warning of fire hazard, to fire and smoke management, and to earth system studies. The development of operational automated monitoring techniques and the provision of consistent long term data sets is a challenge that the remote sensing community is now facing. Issues associated with prohibitive data costs, computing resources, data management, data archival, and distribution need to be addressed.

Data set development is being undertaken with satellite sensing systems which were not designed for fire monitoring purposes. The current suite of sensors suitable for fire monitoring have problems such as calibration, saturation, spatial resolution, orbital overpass time, and coverage, which need to be taken into account in the data processing and data set compilation. It is critical that the user community fully understands the limitations of the data and its utility. New sensors are being designed and built which will reduce or eliminate some of these problems, but they will introduce new, and in some cases unanticipated, problems. The development of new satellite data sets is an iterative process and one which needs to be undertaken in close collaboration with the user community. The planned sensing systems will certainly provide a challenge to the remote sensing community in terms of data volume. The challenge will be to render the raw data to a volume and information content suited to the user community.

Some of the sensing systems which are in the planning and/or construction phase are facing financial constraints. The user community which requires new space borne technologies for early warning applications therefore underscores the need to realize these planned satellite programmes:

MODIS Imaging System

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) is planned for launch as part of NASA’s Earth Observing System (EOS) in 1998. This system will provide new capabilities over the currently utilized coarse resolution sensors. Thirty-six spectral bands are planned between 0.4ìm and 14.3ìm at resolutions ranging from 250m to 1000m. Currently, two MODIS instruments are planned with the first platform providing a 10:30 am and pm overpass and the second providing a 2:30 am and pm overpass. For fire monitoring, the one kilometre infrared channels at 3.96ìm and 11.0ìm bands will have increased saturation levels, 500K and 335K respectively, which will permit improved active fire monitoring. Full resolution MODIS fire products will have 1 km resolution, and the data will be summarized for coarser grids. In the post launch period, emphasis will be placed on validating the fire product and developing and testing automated burn scar detection techniques. The improved spatial and radiometric resolution of MODIS at 250m in the visible and near-infrared bands will permit more accurate area estimate of burn scars.

BIRD Satellite Observation

BIRD will be a small satellite mission for early warning of vegetation conditions and fires. Starting from their FIRES proposal (Jahn et al., 1996) the DLR (Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Luft- und Raumfahrt) had proposed a new approach in the design of a small satellite mission dedicated to hot spot detection and evaluation. The new approach is characterized by a strict design-to-cost philosophy. A two-channel infrared sensor system in combination with a Wide-Angle Optoelectronic Stereo Scanner (WAOSS) shall be the payload of a small satellite (80kg). The unique combination of a stereo camera and two infrared cameras gives the opportunity to acquire both more precise information about leaf mass and photosynthesis for the early diagnosis of vegetation condition and changes, as well as real time discrimination between smoke and clouds. The primary objectives of the planned BIRD mission are:

  • test of a new generation of infrared array sensors adapted to earth remote sensing objectives by means of small satellites;
  • detection and scientific investigation of hot spots, including forest fires, volcanic activities, burning oil wells or coal seams; and
  • thematic on-board data processing, and testing a neuronal network classificator in orbit.

Next generation geosynchronous satellites

The next generation of geosynchronous satellites will provide improved fire monitoring capabilities with continued high temporal coverage. This means that a better understanding of the diurnal cycle of fire in a range of ecosystems will be possible. For monitoring North and South America, the GOES NEXT (I-M) series of satellites was launched in 1994. The new GOES satellites offer greater radiometric sensitivity and spatial resolution along with improved geolocation. Preliminary results from GOES-I data indicate enhanced capabilities in the identification of fires and the quantification of associated haze. Geosynchronous coverage of Africa and Europe will also be improved in the coming years as the METEOSAT Second Generation (MSG) satellites are launched in 1998. MSG will offer a significant improvement in biomass burning monitoring capabilities through increased spectral coverage. The new sensors will provide 3 km scale coverage every fifteen to thirty minutes with a spectral range similar to that provided by the NOAA-AVHRR. With the addition of a middle-infrared channel (3.8ìm), an opportunity for thorough investigation of the diurnal cycle of fire in African ecosystems will be feasible at last.

Future Challenges: Multi-spectral and multi-temporal sensing of early warning parameters

Early warning, monitoring and inventory of wildfire needs to be accompanied by monitoring and inventory of those ecological characteristics which lead to fire. Disturbances, such as insect or disease outbreak, wind throw of trees, forestry practices and other land use activities frequently are precursors to fire events, fire patterns and resulting severity. Insects and disease stress ecosystems, resulting in partial mortality and production of dead materials, particularly foliage and other fine materials which are critical to fire ignition and behaviour. Post-fire vegetation recovery is important to predict fire-return intervals.

Advanced early warning systems will need to integrate these parameters into multi-layer fire information systems. Geographic information systems (GIS) technology, combined with decision support systems (expert systems), offer feasible, cost-efficient, and user-friendly solutions.

International fire research programmes

The fire research programmes conducted under the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) offer a suitable mechanism to provide the scientific perspectives for the IDNDR. As it is anticipated that the consequences of global change in general and climate change in particular will increase global natural hazards, the merging of joint interests between the IGBP and IDNDR communities seems to be advisable.

 

Recommendations by the IDNDR Early Warning Working Group on Fire and Other Environmental Hazards

In accordance with the conclusions and recommendations given by the various international initiatives, the IDNDR Early Warning Working Group on Fire and other Environmental Hazards comes to the following recommendations for priority activities:

i) A global fire inventory must be designed and implemented, producing a first-class product in the very near future, in order to provide a basis for early warning systems. Subsequently, this product then must be improved for standardized application over the next decade.

Fire inventory data is necessary to provide the basic inputs into the development of a future relational (geo-referenced) global fire database within the proposed Global Vegetation Fire Information System (GVFIS). FAO should take the initiative and coordinate a forum with other UN and non-UN organizations working in this field, including various scientific activities of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) and the mechanisms of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 1997).

ii) A timely process to gather and share real-time information about ongoing wildfire situations on a global basis is required.

This follows a proposal to create the World Fire Web in which a network of centres with facilities to receive and process fire observation data from satellites will be connected via the World Wide Web (WWW). Through the World Fire Web scientists, managers, and policy makers can have instant access to local, regional and world data so that they can can exchange experiences, methods and trouble-shoot with each other. The World Fire Web, in conjunction with the space borne evaluation of vegetation dryness, fire-weather forecasts and the possibility of forecasting fire danger and fire behaviour may provide a powerful early warning and disaster preparedness and management tool at national, regional and global scales. The information network should include the resource status by continuously monitoring the disposition of suppression resources. This includes the location and status of individual resources as well as potential availability for inter-agency and international mobilization.

iii) Technology transfer and information exchange on early warning and fire management decision support systems must be provided through international collaborative agreements or technical assistance programmes. Such programmes must support countries in fire-prone regions of the tropics and subtropics where advanced fire management systems are not yet fully available.

iv) The development of space borne sensor technologies devoted to the specific tasks of recognizing wildfire disaster precursors, fire activities, and the impacts of fire (ecological, atmospheric, chemical) must receive high priority.

v) Additional fire research is needed in those locations where existing early warning systems cannot be applied due to the particular relationships between vegetation, local/regional weather and prevailing socio-economic or cultural conditions which contribute to wildfires and their secondary damages, such as atmospheric pollution.

South East Asia is one of the less explored regions in which fire research must receive adequate attention as proposed by the ASEAN Transboundary Haze Pollution initiative as well as by the IGBP global-change oriented science programmes. These include the South East Asian Fire Experiment (SEAFIRE) and the SARCS Integrated IGBP/IHDP/WCRP Study on Land-use Change in Southeast Asia.

vi) Policies and agreements on environmental protection at international levels should ensure that in the implementation of Agenda 21 for forests, due attention is given to forests fires in relation to arrangements that may be developed to harmonize and promote international efforts to protect the world’s forests.

vi) The suggestion of ITTO to establish a UN-sponsored facility for global fire research and management is endorsed to facilitate the development of the proposed Global Vegetation Fire Information System. This is considered essential in order to provide support on request to any nation in early warning, prevention, management and mitigation of wildfire disasters.

Top
Table of Contents

 

/by

Report on Early Warning for Fire and Other Environmental Hazards: IV. REFERENCES

 

Report on Early Warning for
Fire and Other Environmental Hazards

 

IV. REFERENCES

Andreae, M.O., and J.G. Goldammer. 1992. Tropical wildland fires and other biomass burning: Environmental impacts and implications for land use and fire management. In: Conservation of West and Central African Rainforests (K.Cleaver et al., eds.), 79-109. World Bank Environ. Paper 1. The World Bank, Washington, D.C.

Andreae, M.O., J.Fishman, M.Garstang, J.G.Goldammer, C.O.Justice, J.S.Levine, R.J.Scholes, B.J.Stocks, A.M.Thompson, B. van Wilgen, and the STARE/TRACE-A/SAFARI Science Team. 1993. Biomass burning in the global environment: First results from IGAC/BIBEX field campaign STARE/TRACE-A/SAFARI-92. In: Global Atmospheric-Biospheric Chemistry (R.G.Prinn, ed.), 83-101. Plenum Press, New York.

Andrews, P.L. 1991. Use of the Rothermel fire spread model for fire danger rating and fire behaviour prediction in the United States. In N.P. Cheney and A.M. Gill Eds.Conference on Bushfire Modelling and Fire Danger Rating Systems. Proc. 11-12 July 1988, CSIRO Canberra, 1-7.

Anonymous 1995. Forest fire statistics and Declaration on Global Vegetation and Fire Inventories. Int. Forest Fire News No.13, 29-31.

Anonymous 1997. 2nd Wildland Fire Conference ’97. Recommendations. Int. Forest Fire News No.17, 47-48.

ASEAN 1995a. ASEAN Meeting on the Management of Transboundary Pollution, Kuala Lumpur, 14-17 June 1995. ASEAN Secretariat, Jakarta (mimeo).

ASEAN 1995b. ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution. ASEAN Secretariat, Jakarta, 18. p.

ASEAN 1997. Resolution and Recommendations of the ASEAN/AIFM Conference on “Transboundary Pollution and the Sustainability of Tropical Forests: Towards Wise Forest Fire Management” (Kuala Lumpur, Dec. 1996). Proceedings in press. Preprint in: International Forest Fire News No. 16, 55-56.

Baramchikov, Y.N. 1997. Siberian forest insects: Ready for export. In: Exotic pests of eastern forests. Proceedings of a conference, held in Nashville, Tennessee, 8-10 April 1997 (in press).

Brivio, P.A., J.-M. Grégoire, B. Koffi, and G. Ober. 1997. Use of the rose-diagram method for vegetation fire patterns analysis at regional scale in Africa. In: Geoscience and water resources: Environmental data modelling (C. Bardinet and J.J. Royer, eds.), 159-164. Springer-Verlag, Berlin-Heidelberg.

Burgan, R.E., and R.A. Hartford. 1993. Monitoring vegetation greenness with satellite data. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-297. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station. 13 p.

Burgan, R.E., R.A. Hartford, and J.C. Eidenshink. 1996. Using NDVI to assess departure from average greenness and its relation to fire business. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-333. Ogden, Utah, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station. 8 p.

Burgan, R.E., and R.A. Hartford. 1996. Live vegetation moisture calculated from NDVI and used in fire danger rating. In press: 13th Conference on Fire and Forest Meteorology, Lorne, Australia, October 27-31, 1996.International J. Wildland Fire (in press).

Burgan, R.E., R.W. Klaver, and J.M. Klaver. 1997. Fuel models and fire potential from satellite and surface observations (in prep.).

Carlson, J.D., R.E. Burgan, and D.M. Engle. 1996. Using the Oklahoma mesonet in developing a near real-time, next-generation fire danger rating system. In: 22nd Conference on Agricultural & Forest Meteorology with Symposium on Fire & Forest Meteorology and the 12th Conference on Biometeorology and Aerobiology, Atlanta, Georgia, January 28-February 2, 1996, 249-252. American Meteorological Society, Boston, Massachusetts.

Caya, D., R. Laprise, M. Giguere, G. Bergeron, J.P. Blanchet, B.J. Stocks, G.J. Boer, and N.A. McFarlane. 1995. Description of the Canadian Regional Climate Model. In: boreal forests and global Change (M.J. Apps, D.T. Price, and J. Wisniewski, eds.), 477-482. Kluwer Acad. Pub., Netherlands.

Chandler, C., N.P. Cheney, P. Thomas, L. Trabaud, and D. Williams. 1983. Fire in forestry. Vol. I Forest Fire behaviour and effects. John Wiley & Sons, New York, 450 p.

Cheney, N.P. 1991. Models used for fire danger rating in Australia. In: Conference on Bushfire Modelling and Fire Danger Rating Systems. Proc. 11-12 July 1988 (N.P. Cheney and A.M. Gill, eds.), 19-28. CSIRO Canberra.

Chuvieco, E. (ed.) 1995. EARSeL Workshop on Remote sensing and GIS applications to forest fire management. Proceedings of a Workshop held at the University of Alcalá de Henares, Spain, 7-9 September 1995. EARSeL Advances in Remote Sensing Vol.4 No.4, 176 p. + app.

Clevette, R. 1997. 2nd International Wildland Fire Conference. Conference Report. Int. Forest Fire News No.17, 46-47.

Crutzen, P.J., and M.O. Andreae 1990. Biomass burning in the tropics: Impact on atmospheric chemistry and biogeochemical cycles. Science 250, 1669-1678.

Crutzen, P.J, and J.G.Goldammer (eds.) 1993. Fire in the environment: The ecological, atmospheric, and climatic importance of vegetation fires. Dahlem Workshop Reports. Environmental Sciences Research Report 13. John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, 400 p.

Deeming, J.E., R.E. Burgan, and J.D. Cohen, J.D. 1977. The national fire danger rating system – 1978. USDA For. Serv., Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station, Ogden, Utah, Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-38, 63 p.

Dowty, P.R. 1993. A theoretical investigation of fire detection with AVHRR data. M.S. Thesis, University of Virginia, Charlottesville

Dozier, J. 1981. A method for satellite identification of surface temperature fields of subpixel resolution. Remote Sensing Environ. 11, 221-229.

Dusha-Gudym, S.I. 1996. The effects of forest fires on the concentration and transport of radionuclides. In: Fire in ecosystems of boreal Eurasia (J.G.Goldammer and V.V.Furyaev, eds.), 476-480. Kluwer Acad. Publ., The Hague, 528 p.

ECE/FAO 1996. Forest fire statistics 1993-1995. Timber Bulletin, Vol. XLIX (1996), No.4. ECE/TIM/BULL/49/4, New York, Geneva, 19 p.

ECE/FAO/ILO 1996. Seminar on forest, fire and global change. Report of the seminar held in Shushenskoe (Russian Federation), 4-10 August 1996. TIM/EFC/WP.1/SEM.44/2, Geneva, 18 p.

Eidenshink, J.C., and J.L. Faundeen. 1994. The 1 km AVHRR global land data set: first stages in implementation. Int. J. Remote Sensing 15, 3443-3462.

Environment Canada. 1995, The state of Canada’s climate: monitoring change and variability, SOE Report No. 95-1, Ottawa, Canada.

Epstein, E.S. 1988. Long range weather prediction: Limits of predictability and beyond. Weather and Forecasting 3, 69-73.

European Commission 1996. Forest fires in the south of the European Union 1989-93. Pilot project in preparation for setting up the community forest-fire information system (Regulation EEC No. 2158/92, on protection of forests against fire). European Commission, Directorate General for Agriculture, Brussels-Luxembourg, 61 p.

FAO 1986. Wildland fire management terminology. FAO Forestry Paper 70, FAO, Rome, 257

FAO 1992. Global wildland fire statistics 1981-1990. FO: MISC/92/4. FAO Forestry Department, Rome, 48 p.

FIRESCAN Science Team. 1996. Fire in ecosystems of boreal Eurasia: The Bor Forest Island Fire Experiment, Fire Research Campaign Asia-North (FIRESCAN). In: Biomass burning and global change. Vol. II (J.S.Levine, ed.), 848-873. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

Flannigan, M.D., and C.E. Van Wagner. 1991. Climate change and wildfire in Canada. Can. J. For. Res. 21, 66-72.

Forestry Canada Fire Danger Group. 1992. Development and structure of the Canadian forest fire behaviour prediction system. Forestry Canada, Ottawa Ontario. Information Report ST-X-3. 63.

Fosberg, M.A., and F.M. Fujioka. 1987. Medium- and extended-range fire severity forecasting: A national research plan. Preprints of the Ninth Conference on Fire and Forest Meteorology, San Diego, American Meteorological Society, 273-277.

Fosberg, M.A., J.G. Goldammer, D. Rind, and C. Price. 1990. Global change: effects on forest ecosystems and wildfire severity. In: Fire in the tropical biota. Ecosystem processes and global challenges (J.G. Goldammer, ed.), 483-486. Ecological Studies 84, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 497 p.

Fosberg, M.A., B.J. Stocks, and T.J. Lynham. 1996. Risk analysis in strategic planning: fire and climate change in the boreal forest. In: Fire in ecosystems of boreal Eurasia (J.G. Goldammer and V.V. Furyaev, eds.), 495-505. Kluwer Academic Publ., Dordrecht, 528 p.

Goldammer, J.G. (ed.) 1990. Fire in the tropical biota. Ecosystem processes and global challenges. Ecological Studies 84, Springer-Verlag, Berlin-Heidelberg-New York, 497 p.

Goldammer, J.G. 1992. Tropical forests in transition: Ecology of natural and anthropogenic disturbance processes: An introduction. In: Tropical forests in transition: Ecology of natural and anthropogenic disturbance processes (J.G.Goldammer, ed.), 1-16. Birkhäuser-Verlag, Basel-Boston, 270 p.

Goldammer, J.G. 1993. Feuer in Waldökosystemen der Tropen und Subtropen. Birkhäuser-Verlag, Basel-Boston, 251 p.

Goldammer, J.G. 1994. International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR). Int. Forest Fire News No.11, 31-37.

Goldammer, J.G. 1997a. Overview of fire and smoke management issues and options in tropical vegetation. In: Proceedings, AIFM Conference on Transboundary Pollution and the Sustainability of Tropical Forests: Towards Wise Forest Fire Management, 2-4 December 1996, Kuala Lumpur. ASEAN Institute for Forest Management, Kuala Lumpur (in press).

Goldammer, J.G. 1997b. The ASEAN Fire Forum: Initial thoughts towards cooperation in fire and smoke research and management in the ASEAN region. In: Proceedings, AIFM Conference on Transboundary Pollution and the Sustainability of Tropical Forests: Towards Wise Forest Fire Management, 2-4 December 1996, Kuala Lumpur. ASEAN Institute for Forest Management, Kuala Lumpur (in press).

Goldammer, J.G. 1997c. Fire research, management and policy: Achievements and needs in global cooperation. Special report presented at the 11th World Forestry Congress, Antalya, October 1997 (in press).

Goldammer, J.G., and V.V.Furyaev (eds.) 1996. Fire in ecosystems of boreal Eurasia. Kluwer Academic Publ., Dordrecht, Netherlands, 528 p.

Goldammer, J.G., B.Seibert, and W.Schindele. 1996. Fire in dipterocarp forests. In: Dipterocarp forest ecosystems: Towards sustainable management (A.Schulte and D.Schöne, eds.), 155-185. World Scientific Publ., Singapore-New Jersey-London-Hong Kong, 666 p.

Goldammer, J.G., and C.Price. 1997. Potential impacts of climate change on fire regimes in the tropics based on MAGICC and a GISS GCM-derived lightning model. Climatic Change (in press).

Gonzáles-Cabán, A. 1996. Fire damage assessments: economic and ecological perspectives. Paper presented at the Seminar on “Forest, Fire, and Global Change”Shushenskoye (Russian Federation), 4-9 August 1996

Goward, S.N., B. Markham, D.G. Dye, W. Dulaney, and J. Yang. 1990. Normalized difference vegetation index measurements from the advanced very high resolution radiometer. Remote Sensing of the Environment 35, 257-277.

Grégoire, J.-M., P. Barbosa, E. Dwyer, H. Eva, S. Jones, B. Koffi, and J.P. Malingreau. 1996. Vegetation fire research at the Monitoring Tropical Vegetation Unit: Product availability – June 1996. EC Joint Research Centre Publ. EUR 16433 En. ECSC-EC-EAEC, Brussels-Luxembourg, 84 p.

Gullett, D.W., and W.R. Skinner. 1992, The state of Canada’s climate: temperature change in Canada 1895-1991, Environment Canada SOE Report No. 92-2, Ottawa, Canada.

Häme, T., and Y. Rauste. 1995. Multi-temporal satellite data in forest mapping and fire monitoring. EARSeL 4 (3), 93-101.

Healey, D.T., F.G. Jarret, and J.M. McKay. 1985. The economics of bushfires: The South Australian experience. Oxford University Press, Melbourne, Australia, 152 p.

Holben, B.N. 1986. Characteristics of maximum-value composite images from temporal AVHRR data. Int. J. Remote Sensing 7, 1417.

Houghton, R.A. 1991. tropical deforestation and atmospheric carbon dioxide. Climatic Change 19, 99-118.

IGBP (International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme) 1992. Improved global data for land applications: a proposal for a new high resolution data set. IGBP Report 20, Stockholm, 87

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). 1995. Climate change 1995: impacts, adaptations and mitigation of climate change: scientific-technical analysis (R.T. Watson, M.C. Zinyowera, and R.H. Moss, eds.). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). 1997. Draft report on emissions and uptake as a result of biomass burning. IPCC/OECD/IEA Programme on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories. Expert Group Meeting on Biomass Burning and Land-use Change and Forestry, Rockhampton, Australia, 15-18 September 1997 (in press).

International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) 1997. ITTO Guidelines on Fire Management in Tropical Forests. ITTO Policy Development Series No.6. ITTO, Yokohama, 40 p.

Jahn, H., K. Brieß, and A. Ginati. 1996. FIRES – A small satellite mission for fire detection from space. Proc. IAA Symp. on Small Satellites for Earth Observation, Berlin 1996, IAA-B-905P.

Juang, H.-M.H., and M. Kanamitsu. 1994. The NMC nested regional spectral model. Monthly Weather Review 122, 3-26.

Journal of Geophysical Research (JGR) Special Issue 1996. Southern Tropical Atlantic Regional Experiment (STARE): TRACE-A and SAFARI. J. Geophys. Res. 101, No. D19, 23,519-24,330.

Justice, C.O. (ed.) 1986. Monitoring the grasslands of semi-arid Africa using NOAA AVHRR data, Special Issue, Int. J. Remote Sensing 7, 1383-1622

Justice C.O., and P.R. Dowty. 1994. Technical Report of the IGBP-DIS Satellite Fire Detection Algorithm Workshop. NASA/GSFC Greenbelt, MD, Feb/93 IGBP, Paris.

Kalnay, E., M. Kanamitsu, R. Kistler, W. Collins, D. Deaven, J. Derber, L. Gandin, S. Saha, G. White, J. Woolen, Y. Zhu, M. Chelliah, W. Ebisuzaki, W. Higgins, J. Janowiak, K. C. Mo, C. Ropelewski, J. Wang, A. Leetmaa, R. Reynolds, and R. Jenne. 1996. The NMC/NCAR Reanalysis project. Bull. Amer. Met. Soc. 77, 437-471.

Kaufman, Y.J. 1987. Satellite sensing of aerosol absorption. J. Geophys. Res. 92, 4307-4317.

Keetch, J.J., and G.M. Byram. 1968. A drought index for forest fire control. USDA Forest Service, Southeastern Forest Exp. Sta. Res. Pap. SE-38.

Kendall, J.D., C.O.Justice, P.R.Dowty, C.D.Elvidge, and J.G.Goldammer. 1996. Remote sensing of fires in Southern Africa during the SAFARI 1992 campaign. In: Fire in Southern African savannas. Ecological and atmospheric perspectives (B.van Wilgen, M.O.Andreae, J.G.Goldammer, and J.Lindesay, eds.), 89-133. The University of Witwatersrand Press, Johannesburg, South Africa, 256 p.

Kidwell, K.B. 1991. NOAA Polar Orbiter Data (TIROS-N, NOAA-6, NOAA-7, NOAA-8, NOAA-9, NOAA-10, NOAA-11 & NOAA-12) User’s Guide. NOAA, Washington, D.C.

Klaver, R.W., J.M. Klaver, and R.E. Burgan. 1997. Using GIS to assess forest fire hazard in the Mediterranean region of the U.S. 17th Annual ESRI Users Conference, San Diego, CA, July 8-11, 1997.

Klein, W.H. 1985. Space and time variations in specifying monthly mean surface virtual temperature from the 700 mb height field. Monthly Weather Rev. 113, 277-290.

Klein, W.H., and H.J. Bloom. 1987. Specification of monthly precipitation over the United States from the surrounding 700 mb height field. Monthly Weather Rev. 115, 2118-2132.

Kurz, W.A., M.J. Apps, S.J. Beukema, and T. Lekstrum. 1995. 20th century carbon budget of Canadian forests, Tellus 47B, 170-177.

Lemasson, M. 1997. Forest fire in the European Union. A Community scheme to protect forests against fires. Int. Forest Fire News 17, 24-28.

Levine, J.S. (ed.). 1991. Global biomass burning. MIT Press, Cambridge, 569 p.

Levine, J.S. (ed.). 1996. Biomass burning and global change. Vol.I+II. MIT Press, Cambridge.

Loveland, T.R., J.W. Merchant, D.O. Ohlen, and J.F. Brown. 1991. Development of a land-cover characteristics database for the conterminous U.S. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing 57, 1453-1463.

Malingreau, J.P. 1996. World Fire Web. Introducing a new paradigm in global monitoring. Unpubl. draft proposal, The Monitoring of Tropical Vegetation Unit of the Space Applications Institute at the EC Joint Research Centre (August 1996).

Malingreau, J.P., and J.-M. Grégoire. 1996. Developing a Global Vegetation Fire Monitoring System for global change studies: A framework. In: Biomass burning and global change (J.S.Levine, ed.), 14-24. The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Malingreau, J.P., and C. Justice (eds.) 1997. Definition and implementation of a global fire product derived from AVHRR data. 3rd IGBP-DIS Fire Working Group Meeting Report, Toulouse, France, 13-15 November 1996. IGBP DIS Working paper No. 17, IGBP DIS Office, Toulouse, August 1997, 35 p.

Manö, S., and M.O. Andreae. 1994. Emission of methyl bromide from biomass burning. Science 263, 1255-1257.

McArthur, A.G. 1966. Weather and grassland fire behaviour. For. Timb. Bur. Aust., Leaflet No. 100, 23 p.

McArthur, A.G. 1967. Fire behaviour in eucalypt fuels. For. Timb. Bur. Aust., Leaflet No. 107, 36 p.

Mount, A.B. 1972. Derivation and testing of soil dryness index using run-off data. For. Comm. Tas., Bull.4, 31 p.

Naidansuren, E. 1996. Mongolia fire update. Int. Forest Fire News No.15, 34-35.

Polzin, P.E., M.S.Yuan, and E.G.Schuster. 1993. Some economic impacts of the 1988 fires in the Yellowstone area. Research Note INT-418, Intermountain research Station, USDA Forest Service, Missoula, Montana, 13 p.

Price, C., and D. Rind. 1994. Possible implications of global climate change on global lightning distributions and frequencies. J. Geophys. Res. 99, 10823.

Pyne, S.J., P.L. Andrews, and R.D. Laven. 1996. Introduction to Wildland Fire, 2nd edition. John Wiley and Son Inc. New York, 769 p.

Rauste, Y. 1996. Forest fire detection with satellites for fire control. International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXI Part 7B, 584-588. Proc. XVIII Congress of ISPRS, Vienna, Austria, 9-19 July 1996, published by the Committee of the XVIII International Congress for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing.

Roads, J.O., K. Ueyoshi, S.-C. Chen, J. Alpert, and F. Fujioka. 1991. Medium-range fire weather forecasts. J. Wildland Fire 1, 159-176.

Roads, J.O., S.-C. Chen, F.M. Fujioka, H. Juang, and M. Kanamitsu. 1997. Global to Regional Fire Weather Forecasts. Int. Forest Fire News No.17, 33-37.

Schindele, W., W. Thoma, and K. Panzer. 1989. The forest fire in East Kalimantan. Part I: The Fire, the effects, the damage and technical solutions. FR-Report No.5.

Sneeuwjagt, R.J., and G.B. Peet. 1985. Forest fire behaviour tables for Western Australia. Dept. Cons. & Land Man., 59 p.

Stocks, B.J., and T.J. Lynham. 1996. Fire weather climatology in Canada and Russia. In: Fire in ecosystems of boreal Eurasia (J.G. Goldammer and V.V. Furyaev, eds.), 481-487. Kluwer Academic Publ., Dordrecht.

Stocks, B.J., M.A. Fosberg, T.J. Lynham, L. Mearns, B.M. Wotton, Q. Yang, J.-Z. Jin, K. Lawrence, G.R. Hartley, J.A. Mason, and D.W. McKenney. 1997. Climate change and forest fire potential in Russian and Canadian boreal forests. Climatic Change (in press).

Swiss Re 1992. Phänomen Waldstadtbrand. Schweizer Rückversicherung, Zürich, 28 p.

Tucker, C.J. 1977. Asymptotic nature of grass canopy spectral reflectance. Applied Optics. 16, 1151-1156.

Tucker, C.J. 1980. Remote sensing of leaf water content in the near infrared. Remote Sensing of the Environment 10, 23-32.

Tucker, C.J., J.R.G.Townshend, and T.E. Goff. 1985. Continental land cover classification using NOAA-7 AVHRR data. Science 227, 369-375.

Tucker, C.J., and P.J. Sellers. 1986. Satellite remote sensing of primary production. Int. J. Remote Sensing 7, 1395-1416.

Tucker, C.J., and B.J. Choudhury. 1987. Satellite remote sensing of drought conditions. Remote Sensing of the Environment 23, 243-251.

Van Wagner, C.E. 1987. Development and structure of the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index System, Can. For. Serv., Ottawa, For. Tech. Rep. 35.

van Wilgen, B., M.O.Andreae, J.G. Goldammer, and J. Lindesay (eds.) 1997. Fire in Southern African savannas. Ecological and atmospheric perspectives. The University of Witwatersrand Press, Johannesburg, South Africa, 256 p.

Wagner, A.J. 1989. Medium- and long-range forecasting. Weather and Forecasting 4, 413-426.

Top
Table of Contents

 

/by

WHO Workshop on Health Impacts of Haze-related Air Pollution Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 1-4 June 1998

WHO Workshop on Health Impacts of Haze-related Air Pollution,

1-4 June 1998, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Summary Report

Objectives of the workshop

The Bi-regional Workshop on Health Impacts of Haze-related Air Pollution was conducted in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 1 to 4 June 1998 by the World Health Organization Regional Offices for South-East Asia and the Western Pacific. The objectives of the workshop were:

  1. Review and summarize research findings and other relevant information concerning the impacts of haze-related air pollution on health;
  2. Identify needs for further technical information and research to support future haze-related decision-making; and
  3. Develop draft health impact reduction measures and strategies, addressing intercountry cooperation issues, for consideration by affected countries and external support agencies.

The workshop was attended by 17 participants and five observers from seven countries of South-East Asia and Papua New Guinea; four temporary advisers; ten representatives from seven international partner agencies; and four WHO staff serving as the workshop secretariat. The proceedings comprised presentations of country reports and haze-related health effects research activities by the participants; presentations of working papers by temporary advisers and representatives of international partner agencies; and plenary and group discussions on future research needs, health impact reduction measures, and intercountry cooperation.

The workshop deliberations produced conclusions in the following four major areas:

A) Conclusions in relation to haze-related air pollution problems and research findings

  1. The haze episodes in South-East Asia in 1997 and early 1998 constituted a substantial health risk to the public.
  2. The main constituent of the haze that adversely affects health is particulate matter.
  3. From the existing body of knowledge that associates a range of adverse, non-cancer health impacts with urban particulate air pollution mixtures, there is no evidence that particles from different combustion sources have different impacts on health.
  4. The risk of long-term health effects due to a single air pollution episode is difficult to detect, but repeated exposures to haze episodes merit attention.
  5. To help ensure data comparability, it is desirable that consistent protocols be followed in relation to health effects monitoring, ambient air quality monitoring, and data analysis
  6. There are a number of valuable health-related research studies currently being carried out in the region.

B) Conclusions in relation to further research needs

In addressing priority environmental health research needs, underlying emphasis always needs to be placed on research and public health monitoring capacity building. The priority needs identified in the region include:

1 – Research on new mitigation approaches:

  • Assessment the feasibility of different arrangements for “haze shelters”
  • Evaluation of the most effective approaches to management of a future haze emergency in terms of arranging transport to “haze shelters” for vulnerable groups, and other mitigation methods;
  • Evaluation of the effectiveness of remaining indoors; and
  • Evaluation of the effectiveness of early health care interventions, as well as public information and awareness efforts, in reducing health impacts.

2 – Research on the impacts of the 1997 haze, primarily using data that has been routinely collected:

  • Evaluation of short-term health impacts, including the identification of susceptible population groups;
  • A regional study of short-term health impacts using standardized methodologies and routinely-collected data;
  • Assessment of any long-term effects in selected groups of exposed people in areas where comprehensive mortality and morbidity data are continuously maintained and
  • Identification of sources of particulate air pollution exposure, especially the relative contributions of biomass and motor vehicle-related urban air pollution mixture sources.

3 – Future research requiring the development of substantial new data:

  • Assessment of the real effectiveness of the use of dust masks by the general population;
  • Investigation of the availability of alternatives to masks which could be effective as personal protective equipment in mitigating health impacts;
  • Delineation of the health impact mechanisms associated with biomass air pollution; and
  • Evaluation of the impact of specific pollutants on health (e.g., specific aspects of particulate composition, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and volatile organic compounds).

C) Conclusions in relation to health impact reduction measures/strategies

Priority emphasis must be given to preventing and extinguishing fires.

  1. With regard to air quality monitoring and episode forecasting, from the health sector’s perspective, information on the nature and extent of human exposure to environmental pollutants is essential to impact assessment.
  2. With regard to environmental control, for rural areas, individuals should reduce their level of physical activity and use masks when outdoors in the absence of other available measures. If possible, the infiltration of outdoor air should be reduced by closing windows, doors, etc.
  3. With regard to personal protection, properly sized and fitted respirators can provide protection for essential workers who must remain outdoors for extended periods of time during haze episodes. However, the use of masks for the general population should be the lowest priority in terms of health mitigation measures.
  4. Public health monitoring needs to be considered as a routine component of health sector operations during and after haze episodes.

D) Conclusions in relation to intercountry and inter-organizational cooperation and coordination

  1. Intercountry cooperation needs to be implemented through existing regional coordination mechanisms.
  2. Areas in which regional cooperation is suggested include the following:
  • the development of air pollution epidemiology guidelines to harmonize research methodologies and data collection and analysis;
  • the implementation of joint studies on the health impacts of the 1997 haze, including the assessment of needs for air quality monitoring data from a public health point of view;
  • the strengthening of human resources and national capacity in air pollution epidemiology and air pollution and public health monitoring;
  • the establishment of a regional information clearing house on haze-related health impact research; and
  • the organization of regional forums and participation in international meetings.

3. Proposals for specific projects in the above areas of cooperation will be prepared by participants from countries with interest and expertise.

4. International and bi-lateral partner agencies are encouraged to take up and support, in a coordinated fashion, the issues reflected in the deliberations of this meeting and summarized in these conclusions.

Top
Back to WHO
Back to WMO

/by

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

https://i0.wp.com/gfmc.online/wp-content/uploads/fao-1.gif?resize=80%2C80&ssl=1

 

FAO/ITTO International Expert Meeting on Forest Fire Management

FAO/ITTO International Expert Meeting on Forest Fire Management
A FAO/ITTO International Expert Meeting on Forest Fire Management was held in Rome, Italy, 7-9 March 2001. The meeting was held in follow-up to the FAO meeting on Public Policies Affecting Forest Fires, held in Rome in October 1998, which identified the need for support to the development of regional and bilateral Agreements for collaboration in forest fire management, including identification of technical and financial inputs; improved sharing of information and knowledge, and support to strengthened technical cooperation among developing countries i.a. through networking and twinning; and identification of the roles which FAO and other international organisations could play in this regard, including technical assistance, institutional support and capacity-building.

 

Back

/by

Russian Far East Forest Fires Required Urgent International Assistance

R e l i e f W e b


http://www.reliefweb.int
Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
Date: 20 Oct 1998

Russian Far East Forest Fires Required Urgent International Assistance

I. FIRE FIGHTING

BASIC FIRE FIGHTING EQUIPMENT
Various (except pumps): Total cost US$ 250,000

SMALL FIRE FIGHTING EQUIPMENT

Various :Total cost US$ 50,000

PUMPS

207 units: Total cost US$ 352,000

CHAIN-SAWS

50 units: Total cost US$ 25,000

PROTECTION CLOTHES

3000 units (various): Total cost US$ 150,000

SUPPORT MATERIALS

Spare parts for heavy machinery: Total cost US$ 500,000

Tents

420 units: Total cost US$ 33,600

Sleeping bags

200 units: Total cost US$ 5,000

II. TELECOMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT

Stationary

75 units: Total cost: US$ 150,000

Mobile

227 units: Total cost: US$ 159,000

Portable

100 units: Total cost US$ 30,000

III. EARLY WARNING SUPPORT TO AERIAL SURVEILLANCE

Spare parts: Total cost: US$ 500,000

Fuel: Total cost US$ 230,000

GRAND TOTAL US$ 2.434,600

Top
Back

/by