Status of building the Global Wildland Fire Network through regional wildland fire networks

The current state of wildland fire science and atmospheric sciences research of the last two decades potentially provide sufficient knowledge for fire management decision support and development of policies affecting the occurrence and consequences of human-caused fires. However, in many countries or localities, the requisite knowledge is either lacking or is not readily accessible for developing adequate measures in fire policies and management.

In response to the strategic goals of the UN Convention on Combat of Desertification (CCD), Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands the UN Forum on Forests (UNFF), the Millennium Declaration of the UN General Assembly, and the objectives of the work of the Global Fire Monitoring Center (GFMC) and the World Conservation Union (IUCN), the UN-ISDR Inter-Agency Task Force for Disaster Reduction in 2001 established a Working Group on Wildland Fire. This Working Group was coordinated by the GFMC.

One of the priority fields addressed by the Working Group on Wildland Fire was the establishment of, and operational procedures for, a global network of regional- to national-level focal points and network structures for early warning of wildland fire, fire monitoring and impact assessment, aimed at enhancing existing global fire monitoring capabilities and facilitation of international cooperation in fire management.  This document elaborates upon this process.