CONFERENCES, SEMINARS AND CONSULTATIONS ORGANIZED BY GFMC
Fire in Ecosystems of Boreal Eurasia
Krasnoyarsk, Russian Federation, 29 June – 2 July 1993
Conveners: Johann Georg Goldammer and Valentin V. Furyaev
Global Fire Monitoring Center (GFMC), Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Germany, and
V.N. Sukachev Institute for Forest, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Krasnoyarsk, Russian Federation
The Conference Fire in Ecosystems of Boreal Eurasia and the associated Bor Forest Island Fire Experiment
In 1991 joint research initiatives between Western and Eastern countries have been designed to address a series of phenomena, problems and management solutions. In June/July 1993 two scientific events established a new platform of joint East-West fire research, the international scientific conference “Fire in Ecosystems of Boreal Eurasia” and the start of the Fire Research Campaign Asia-North (FIRESCAN) with the “Bor Forest Island Fire Experiment”.
The international scientific conference “Fire in Ecosystems of Boreal Eurasia” and the start of the Fire Research Campaign Asia-North (FIRESCAN) with the “Bor Forest Island Fire Experiment” were conducted between 29 June and 09 July 2003. The original draft agenda of the conference and the field research schedule are provided here – details of the sequence of events, however, were slightly changed due to fire-weather conditions on site:
- Draft conference agenda (English and Russian) (PDF)
- Draft field research program (English and Russian) (PDF)
Location of the Bor Forest Island Fire Experiment
A book volume presents the results of the conference, which aimed to compile, interpret, and discuss the state of knowledge of the role and impacts of fire in boreal ecosystems, with special emphasis on Eurasia. For the first time this publication makes available the in-depth knowledge in fire science achieved in the former Soviet Union and in the Russian Federation. Together with the contributions from Fennoscandia and boreal North America, this volume aims to stimulate a new era of pan-boreal fire research, especially considering the need to put basic and specific local aspects of fire ecology into the broader context of the newly emerging global fire science. The book is particularly aimed at supporting the upcoming IGBP Northern Eurasia Study, a joint effort of several IGBP Core Projects, the Biospheric Aspects of the Hydrological Cycle (BAHC), International Global Atmospheric Chemistry (IGAC) and Global Change and Terrestrial Ecosystems (GCTE) Projects.
Book order through Springer
The Bor Forest Island Fire Experiment – Fire Research Campaign Asia-North (FIRESCAN)
The concept of the Fire Research Campaign Asia-North (FIRESCAN) was first designed in 1991 as a bilateral initiative between Germany and the Soviet Union. It gradually developed into an “in tandem” exercise of a symposium with field campaign financed by the Volkswagen Foundation and co-sponsored by IGAC/BIBEX and the International Boreal Forest Research Association (IBFRA). In the first part of FIRESCAN the updated state of knowledge on the fire ecology of the Taiga was compiled and discussed in the international conference on “Fire in Ecosystems of Boreal Eurasia”.
The objective of the field campaign was the investigation of a high-intensity stand-replacement forest fire by using methods developed in the East and the West. The Bor Forest Island Fire Experiment took place in the Northern Krasnoyarsk Region on 6 July 1993. The lifetime of the research program was designed for 200 years (1993 to 2192). Besides the comparison of descriptive methods (e.g. vegetation classification, fuel quantification, fire behavior, etc.) attempts were made to recover historical fire and climate data (tree ring and lake sediment analyses). In addition trace gases and aerosols emitted from the experimental fire were measured by NASA, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry and the Novosibirsk Institute, using sampling devices mounted on Russian airborne platforms. Dimitri Odintsov, Deputy Chief of the Federal Forest Service of Russia, and Nikolay A. Andreev, Eduard P. Davidenko, and Nikolay A. Kovalev, all from the Aerial Forest Fire Protection Service Avialesookhrana, actively supported the organization and logistics of the conference and the international Bor Forest Island Fire Experiment, which took place on 6 July 1993, immediately after the conference.
A documentary produced by ZDF / Arte provides a detailed narrative of the experiment:
- The Bor Forest Island Fire Experiment (1993, English Version, mp4, 3.5 GB)
The most recent illustrated publication of the Bor Forest Island Fire Experiment is included in this book volume (available digitally online in low resolution, and as print version by the publishing house):
- Goldammer, J.G. (ed.) 2013. Prescribed Burning in Russia and Neighbouring Temperate-Boreal Eurasia. A publication of the Global Fire Monitoring Center (GFMC). Kessel Publishing House, 326 p. (ISBN 978-3-941300-71-2).
- Book order: http://forestrybooks.com/produkt/prescribed-burning-in-russia-goldammer-j-g-et-al/
- Extract of the Bor Forest Island Fire Experiment (PDF, 2.4 MB)
Follow-up in 2012 and 2013 In 2012, the first “International Fire Management Week” was organized under the joint umbrella of the Federal Forestry Agency ROSLEZKHOZ of Russia and the Global Fire Monitoring Center (GFMC), both cooperating partners under the bilateral Russian-German Agreement on Cooperation in Sustainable Forest Management under co-sponsorship of the German Federal Ministry for Food and Agriculture based on a decision of the German Bundestag, and under the framework of the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) and the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE).
- Website of the First International Fire Management Week-2012 (or click on the first picture below)
In 2013, the “Second International Fire Management Week – 2013: Post-Fire Natural Regeneration of Forests in Siberia and 20 Years Bor Forest Island Fire Experiment (1993-2013)” was held in Krasnoyarsk Krai with a participation of 50 scientists specialized in forest protection and regeneration from Russia, Germany, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Ukraine. The event included a revisit of Bor Forest Island Fire Experiment.
- Website of the Second International Fire Management Week 2013 (or click on second picture below)
In November 2013, the International Congress “Forest Fire and Climate Change: Challenges for Fire Management in Natural and Cultural Landscapes of Eurasia” was organized by GFMC in the IEC Novosibirsk Expo Center, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation. The congress followed up the scientific-technical and policy work of GFMC between 1993 and 2013:
English-Mongolian-Russian Fire Management Terminology
In preparation of the establishment of the Regional Central Asia Fire Management Resource Center (RCAFMRC) in 2015 and for the facilitation of the Mongolian-Russian cooperation in cross-border fire management a detailed fire management terminology in Mongolian language was developed and the Russian version upgraded by Mongolian and Russian fire specialists and the GFMC (2014). Printed copies are available upon request at the RCAFMRC in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
- Digital version (PDF, 3.3 MB)
Related History of Fire Research in the Circumpolar Boreal Zone
The International Boreal Forest Research Association (IBFRA) was founded in 1991 after a meeting of the International Panel on Boreal Forests and the International Symposium “Boreal Forests: State, Dynamics and Anthropogenic Influences“ in Archangelsk, Russia, in 1990:
- The White Sea Declaration (Arkhangelsk, USSR, July 1990) (PDF)
The Wildland Fire Working Group – originally called “Stand Replacement Fire Working Group” – was one of the first working groups created under the IBFRA, and to date, it has been the most active. Following an organizational meeting in Siberia in 1992, the Wildland Fire Working Group has strongly promoted and facilitated cooperative international and multi-disciplinary boreal forest fire research between Russia and western boreal countries of Europe and North America. A number of collaborative studies dealing with global and regional climate change / fire issues, remote sensing, fire behavior, fire danger rating, fire history and fire ecology and effects have been conducted.
Related NATO Workshop
In late 1993, the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences organized the workshop Science Policy: New Mechanisms for Scientific Collaboration between East and West under NATO’s Scientific and Environmental Affairs Division sponsorship. The Workshop was held in Novosibirsk on 22-25 November 1993. The first result of the Conference Fire in Ecosystems of Boreal Eurasia and the associated Bor Forest Island Fire Experiment. Details on this East-West fire research program is published in the NATO workshop proceedings:
More information on thematic cooperation between NATO and GFMC:
