A multi-agency forest fire early warning system for environment and biodiversity preservation in Ethiopia

Trucchia, A., Fiorucci, P., Massabò, M. et al.

A multi-agency forest fire early warning system for environment and biodiversity preservation in Ethiopia

Autores

Trucchia, A., Fiorucci, P., Massabò, M. et al.

Editor

FAO ;

Descripción

Forest fires affect the population and livelihood of Ethiopians. They also contribute to deforestation, increasing soil erosion, loss of nutrients in the soil, reduction in biodiversity and animal habitats. Climate Change will play a key role in future Forest Fire scenarios. Ethiopian forests provide an important natural and economic resource, threatened by fires. Forestry is one of the main pillars of Ethiopia's Climate Resilient and Green Economy Strategy (2011). However, deforestation is a major concern: forest loss contributes to soil erosion, loss of soil nutrients, reduction in biodiversity and habitats. Climate projections indicate an increase in the frequency of fire occurrence and their severity, related to increase in temperature and rainfall variance. Forest fire management in Ethiopia involves multiple agencies. Among the key national institutions, there are EFCCC, the lead public entity responsible for forest management and protection; the National Meteorological Agency (NMA), responsible for collection of national weather data and weather forecasts; NDRMC, the national entity responsible for the Early Warning products in Ethiopia. UNDRR, with the financial support of the Government of Italy and the technical and scientific support of CIMA Research Foundation is implementing a Forest Fire EW System at national level, through the development of tools and multi agencies procedures, to reduce the socio-economic and environmental impacts of forest fires. The proposed framework comprises of the forest fires forecasting model RISICO, coupled with ad hoc training and the development of Standard Operating Procedures. This procedure culminates with the issuing of a Forest Fire EW Bulletin. Every step of this procedure is realized through the open-source web platform myDewetra. A pervasive stakeholder mapping in order to ensure cross-sectoral cooperation has been performed. In particular, EFCCC, NDRMC and NMA contribute actively to the generation and dissemination of the bulletin, while many other stakeholders help in the data collection. The overall structure improved national and local coordination mechanisms for Forest Fire EW, enhancing prevention and preparedness at the national scale. Keywords: Biodiversity conservation, Policies, Deforestation and forest degradation, Monitoring and data collection, Sustainable forest management. ID: 3624013