STATE OF THE WORLD's FoRESTs 2001 Indonesia, Mongolia and Namibia. These (SDR). GFMC monitors, forecasts and archives participatory projects involve farmers and villagers information on vegetation fires at the global in efforts to improve their use of fire (in level; provides early warning and fire agricultural land clearing, for example) and in fire monitoring services; and offers advice to prevention and suppression tasks. The successful policy-makers around the world. experience of the Gambia(see Box 1)suggests that The Fire Hazard Team, established in community-based natural resources management December 1999 by the Disaster Management may be a promising alternative to traditional fire Support Group of the Committee on Earth control methods Observation Satellites(CEOS). Comprising Many countries do not have policies or major institutions around the world that are systematic fire management strategies that enable active in the field of remote sensing of them to respond quickly or aggressively to vegetation fire occurrence and fire effects, the outbreaks of fires, although the situation is starting team will advance the use of remote sensing to change. Increasingly, countries are developing in wildland fire management. policies and practices to improve their institutional In 2000, ISDR conducted a global public capacities to prevent, prepare for and combat awareness campaign on disaster reduction, forest fires. Since the disastrous 1998 fire season the theme of which “ Disaster prevention the ministries of the environment and of Youth and education wildfires griculture in Mexico, for example, have Policy-makers are beginning to realize that a collaborated to reduce the threat of agricultural continued emphasis on emergency response will burning to forests. In Brazil, measures have been not prevent large and damaging fires in the future taken to support fire prevention programmes with The way out of the emergency response trap is to the public and to train farmers in improved couple emergency preparedness and response agricultural burning practices. Early in 2000, in with more sustainable land use Indonesia a new Directorate of Forest and Estate policies and practices. Actively working towards Fire Operations was set up under the Ministry of more sustainable forestry practices is an important Forestry and Estate Crops to strengthen the part of the strategy for improving the conservation countrys fire management capabilities. of natural resources and reducing the impacts of Recent initiatives have also been launched to wildfires promote better regional cooperation in forest fire control. For example, a new pan-Baltic forest fire Windstorms in Europe. Severe windstorms swept initiative was begun in 1998, involving the through Europe in December 1999. The first storm preparation of mechanisms for mutual assistance hit Denmark and Sweden on 3 and 4 December, in large fire emergencies. The Association of and two subsequent storms struck further south Southeast Asian Nations(ASEAN) set up the between 26 and 28 December, centred on france, Forest Fire Management Centre in Thailand in the germany and Switzerland. These five countries wake of the 1997-1998 fires to provide fire were the most severely affected, but many other management training and research for the asean countries sustained substantial damage. In these countries few days, the storms wreaked destruction on Several international initiatives related to forest lands and uprooted thousands of trees wildland fire awareness, prevention, preparedness, outside forests, leaving a changed landscape in management and response were initiated over the their wake. An estimated 193 million m of last two years. material was felled, and windfalls in some Three notable examples are: countries equalled several years harvests. In total, The Global Fire Monitoring Center(GFMC) established in October 1998 in Freiburg, Much of the information in this dis Germany as an activity of the UN ECE/FAO 2000a and the UN-ECE Timber Section Web site. at International Strategy for Disaster Reduction www.unece.org/trade/timber/storm/stormhtm.4 STATE OF THE WORLD’S FORESTS 2001 Indonesia, Mongolia and Namibia. These participatory projects involve farmers and villagers in efforts to improve their use of fire (in agricultural land clearing, for example) and in fire prevention and suppression tasks. The successful experience of the Gambia (see Box 1) suggests that community-based natural resources management may be a promising alternative to traditional fire control methods. Many countries do not have policies or systematic fire management strategies that enable them to respond quickly or aggressively to outbreaks of fires, although the situation is starting to change. Increasingly, countries are developing policies and practices to improve their institutional capacities to prevent, prepare for and combat forest fires. Since the disastrous 1998 fire season, the Ministries of the Environment and of Agriculture in Mexico, for example, have collaborated to reduce the threat of agricultural burning to forests. In Brazil, measures have been taken to support fire prevention programmes with the public and to train farmers in improved agricultural burning practices. Early in 2000, in Indonesia a new Directorate of Forest and Estate Fire Operations was set up under the Ministry of Forestry and Estate Crops to strengthen the country’s fire management capabilities. Recent initiatives have also been launched to promote better regional cooperation in forest fire control. For example, a new pan-Baltic forest fire initiative was begun in 1998, involving the preparation of mechanisms for mutual assistance in large fire emergencies. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) set up the Forest Fire Management Centre in Thailand in the wake of the 1997-1998 fires to provide fire management training and research for the ASEAN countries. Several international initiatives related to wildland fire awareness, prevention, preparedness, management and response were initiated over the last two years. Three notable examples are: • The Global Fire Monitoring Center (GFMC), established in October 1998 in Freiburg, Germany as an activity of the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR). GFMC monitors, forecasts and archives information on vegetation fires at the global level; provides early warning and fire monitoring services; and offers advice to policy-makers around the world. • The Fire Hazard Team, established in December 1999 by the Disaster Management Support Group of the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS). Comprising major institutions around the world that are active in the field of remote sensing of vegetation fire occurrence and fire effects, the team will advance the use of remote sensing in wildland fire management. • In 2000, ISDR conducted a global public awareness campaign on disaster reduction, the theme of which was “Disaster Prevention – Youth and Education: Wildfires”. Policy-makers are beginning to realize that a continued emphasis on emergency response will not prevent large and damaging fires in the future. The way out of the emergency response trap is to couple emergency preparedness and response programmes with more sustainable land use policies and practices. Actively working towards more sustainable forestry practices is an important part of the strategy for improving the conservation of natural resources and reducing the impacts of wildfires. Windstorms in Europe. 3 Severe windstorms swept through Europe in December 1999. The first storm hit Denmark and Sweden on 3 and 4 December, and two subsequent storms struck further south between 26 and 28 December, centred on France, Germany and Switzerland. These five countries were the most severely affected, but many other countries sustained substantial damage. In these few days, the storms wreaked destruction on forest lands and uprooted thousands of trees outside forests, leaving a changed landscape in their wake. An estimated 193 million m3 of material was felled, and windfalls in some countries equalled several years’ harvests. In total, 3 Much of the information in this discussion is based on UN￾ECE/FAO, 2000a; and the UN-ECE Timber Section Web site, at: www.unece.org/trade/timber/storm/storm.htm