After 2 decades, FAO updated its IFM voluntary guidelines for managing wildfire risks.
- The new guidelines are prepared by Global Fire Management Hub (GFMH) which was launched by FAO and UNEP in 2023.
Key Principles of IFM
- Economic: Maximize benefits and minimize wildfire losses by implementing an efficient IFM program.
- Environmental: Consider interactions between climate change, vegetation, and fire regimes in fire planning and management.
- Equity: Consider the impacts of fire from all stakeholder perspectives, including gender, as wildfires can affect them differently.
- Human health: Use early detection and warning systems to reduce health impacts and adapt fire danger ratings with reliable weather forecasts.
Key Strategic Action of IFM
- Integrated Fire Management: Take action before, during, and after a fire while avoiding the introduction of invasive species through fire suppression and equipment.
- Planned fire: It is a component of wildfire prevention and involves allowing some fires to burn within defined parameters in fire-dependent ecosystems.
- Fire Awareness Programmes: Develop programs that respect cultural and social norms, including the use of fire for agriculture, forestry, and traditional purposes.
- Knowledge transfer: Collaborate with scientists, Indigenous Peoples, and local experts to enhance policies, regulations, and practices.
