Destructive wildfires have been increasing in occurrence across global temperate and boreal zones during the past two decades. These fire outbreaks are the result of increasing human populations and land-use change. Conversely, societies have become more vulnerable to the direct damages caused by wildfires and the consequences of secondary disasters occurring after forest destruction by fire.
On the other hand, it has become common knowledge that, in the history of boreal forests and in some temperate forest types, natural (lightning) fires and traditional burning practices of humans have significantly shaped stable forest ecosystems. Changing fire regimes as a consequence of forest use are often associated with forest and site degradation.
In addition, burning of forests and other vegetation exert impacts at different levels on local, regional, and global environments. Smoke from large-scale wildfires also reduces the safety of air, land and coastal marine traffic, with attendant human health problems. Fires in the interface between wildlands and residential areas often cause the loss of human lives, property, and other values-at- risk.
The primary concerns of forest managers and policy makers focus on questions concerning the local to global impacts of excessive and uncontrolled burning, broad-scale trends over time, and the options for instituting protocols that will lead to improved control. Other key questions involve determining in what circumstances fires pose a sufficiently serious problem to require action; what factors govern the incidence and impacts of fires in such cases; and what might be the relative costs and benefits of different options for reducing adverse impacts?
The majority of nations in the temperate and boreal zone have systems in place that permit appropriate fire management actions. However, in some countries there is still a deficiency in systematic approaches to fire management due to a lack of guiding policies or shortcomings in funding. In other places, traditional misconceptions in fire prevention are inefficient or expensive. Unchecked rural human population shifts, urbanization, and civil and frontier wars have also been identified in developing countries as significant contributors to degrading practices and increased fire risk in temperate forests. There are large forest areas in which natural or human-set fires have beneficial effects and improve ecosystem stability and diversity. The exclusion or suppression of fires in these ecosystems may have detrimental consequences, particularly because of a build-up of fuels and an increase in wildfire hazard. As a consequence, high-intensity and high–severity wildfires occur that are often difficult or even impossible to control.
These fire management guidelines are designed to provide a base for policy makers and managers at various levels to develop programs and projects in which the specific national, socio-economic, and natural problems related to fire in temperate and boreal natural and planted forests will be addressed. The scope of the guidelines is to assist countries in developing programs for reducing damage caused by fire; and to help forest managers and rural residents to safely use and take advantage of the beneficial effects of fire in land-use systems. The guidelines are in accordance with the FAO policy and take into account the recommendations of the FAO Meeting on Public Policies Affecting Forest Fires (FAO 1999) and the FAO/ITTO International Expert Meeting on Forest Fire Management (FAO 2001a) and Legal Frameworks for Forest Fire Management: International Agreements and National Legislation (FAO 2002a).
The guidelines also address the objectives of the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) that has been established by the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN 1999), particularly the ISDR Interagency Task Force on Natural Disaster Reduction, Working Group on Wildland Fire. The Working Group on Wildland Fire supports the UN and other international stakeholders by providing an inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary global platform for policy support.
The guidelines recognize that many forest fires originate in agricultural and pastoral systems; and in degraded vegetation, outside of forest areas. Therefore, fire management on former and degraded forest lands may help to re-establish productive forests and to safeguard the success of reforestation programs.
The FAO Guidelines are complementary to:
• the ITTO Guidelines on Fire Management in Tropical Forests (ITTO 1997)
• the FAO Handbook on Forest Fire Protection as a Technical Guide For The Mediterranean Basin <FAO/Cemagref: Guide technique international Protection des forêts contre l'incendie. Fiches techniques pour les pays du Bassin Méditerranée> (FAO 2002b)
• the WHO/WMO/UNEP Health Guidelines for Vegetation Fire Events (Schwela et al. 1999)
The FAO guidelines have been drafted by Johann G. Goldammer (Global Fire Monitoring Center, Germany), Cornelius de Ronde (SILVA Forest Services, South Africa), Brian J. Stocks (Canadian Forest Service), and Eduard P. Davidenko (National Aerial Forest Fire Center Avialesookhrana, Russian Federation). The following scientists contributed to the Fire Management Options tables in ANNEX III: Norman L. Christensen (Duke University, U.S.A.), Stanislav N. Sannikov (Institute of Forest, Ural Division of Russian Academy, Russian Federation), Valentin V. Furyaev, Anatoly I Sukhinin, Peter Tsvetkov and Luda Zlobina (Forest Fire Laboratory, Sukachev Institute for Forest, Russian Academy of Sciences, Siberian Branch). Some of the materials used in the guidelines are based on the "Sub-Sahara Africa Forest Fire Management Handbook" (J. G. Goldammer and C. de Ronde, eds.) which had been in preparation at the same time these guidelines were prepared.
