Food and Agriculture Organization Issues New Guidelines to Handle Rising Wildfire Threats Amid Climate Crisis

The FAO has revised its rules for managing wildfires, projecting a fifty percent rise in extreme wildfires by the end of the century. At the moment, 340–370 million hectares burn per year.

New guidelines have been released by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations to assist nations in managing the increasing risks associated with wildfires, which present serious hazards to human health and the environment. Updated two decades ago by the FAO, the "Integrated Fire Management Voluntary Guidelines: Principles and Strategic Actions" include new approaches to tackle the problems brought on by the current climate crisis.

By the end of the century, extreme wildfires are predicted to occur 50% more frequently. Climate change-related factors like increasing drought, higher temperatures, and stronger winds are predicted to lengthen and intensify fire seasons. At the moment, wildfires burn between 340 million and 370 million hectares of the Earth's surface annually. These intense burns have the potential to harm livelihoods, impede sustainable development, and release a significant amount of greenhouse gases. 

At the guidelines' launch during the 9th World Forest Week in Rome, Zhimin Wu, Director of the FAO's Forestry Division, emphasised the necessity for proactive initiatives and the need to change the emphasis from reactive reactions to prioritising prevention and preparedness.

The rules provide an integrated approach to fire control, encompassing pre-, during-, and post-fire operations. They emphasise how crucial it is to take into account the customs and expertise of local communities and Indigenous Peoples, whose site-specific knowledge is crucial for efficient fire management. Their involvement is essential to putting out wildfires, acting quickly when they do occur, and rebuilding areas damaged by large-scale fires. 

The guidelines also emphasise the significance of gender parity in fire safety, promoting the acceptance of varied perspectives, creative solutions for handling fires, and the expansion of effective practices.

Several nations have benefited greatly from the FAO guidelines' assistance in creating public policies and training initiatives since they were initially released about 20 years ago. It is anticipated that even more countries would find great value in the revised edition.

The new recommendations are being released in tandem with the establishment of the Global Fire Management Hub by UNEP and FAO in 2023. The Hub seeks to enhance national capabilities for integrated fire management and bring the international community of fire managers together. With sponsorship from the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Portugal, South Korea, and South Korea, the Hub has been supported for around five million dollars.

The Canadian Forest Service, the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, the Korea Forest Service through the AFFIRM Mechanism, the Portuguese Agency for Integrated Rural Fire Management, the US Forest Service, and USAID were among the important partners that the Fire Hub highlighted during the side event. The worldwide commitment to lessening the damaging effects of wildfires on people, property, and the environment is demonstrated by this investment.