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Partnership is creating change - Joining forces to develop forest and grassland fire management in Armenia
Summary:
Wildfires are posing an increasing risk under changing climate conditions threatening ecosystems, livelihoods and even human health. Changes in land-use practices and deficiencies in fire management are creating conditions for devastating fires, majority of which are human caused. Mutual endeavours of various organisations are required to improve forest and grassland fire prevention, pre-suppression and suppression in Armenia. The United Nations Development Programme partnered up with other organisation having shared goals in 2011 to find synergies in developing forest and grassland fire management in Armenia. The joint venture of the parties is setting a good example on how partnership can create change beyond individual efforts.
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Adaptation Experience:
Identifying the problems
Global wildfire trends
Both the frequency and size of forest and grassland fires is increasing in many areas around the world. Changes in land-use practices and deficiencies in forest and grassland fire management are allowing more fires to ignite and run their course leading to severe impacts on ecosystems, livelihoods and human health.
Global climate change is contributing significantly to the increasing incidence of wildfires. Large wildfires are recorded during heat waves coinciding with low precipitation and strong winds. Increasing temperatures and reduced relative humidity affect the moisture content of fuel and thus, for example, also fire frequency, intensity and severity. Additionally changing climate conditions can increase fuel levels through disturbances, such as pest outbreaks and wind-storms as well as through increased productivity of vegetation in regions with sufficient precipitation. Fire behaviour responds immediately to these changes making fire activity very sensitive to climate change. Increasing frequency and size of wildfires in combination with other extreme weather events, such as heavy rainfall, can lead to severe secondary disasters like flooding, erosion and loss of soil fertility.
Nevertheless, even if changes in land-use and climate are creating the conditions for grassland and forest fires, the overwhelming cause for wildfires is human behaviour. For example traditional practices on agricultural lands, particularly at forest’s edge, activities in forests, careless handling and deliberate ignition of fires cause as much as 95% of wildfires around the world.
Forest and grassland fires in Armenia
The wildfire situation in Armenia is no different to that of many other parts of the world. The number of wildfires has increased during the past decade and especially the extremely hot and dry year of 2010 led to a significant increase in the area burned by wildfires. In 2010 fires broke out also in more humid areas of the country where severe fire seasons are not often experienced. In some regions a 10-fold increase in the number of grassland fires was observed in 2010 compared to the 2006-2009 average. In the whole country, the number of grassland fires in 2010, just under 2700 incidents, was over four times the 2006-2009 average. Furthermore, the number of and area affected by forest fires also increased significantly in 2010. The area burned by forest fires in 2010 totalling 852 hectares was nearly 9-fold higher compared to the average of the previous four years.
Results and Learning:
Common goals bridging initiativesThe identification of the increasing threat posed by wildfires as well as the shortcomings of wildfire management has led to the establishment of projects and initiatives in Armenia and the larger South-Caucasus region with common objectives addressing national capacities in fire management and wildfire disaster risk reduction, as well as the national capacity to moderate, cope with and take advantage of the consequences of climate change. In 2011 the United Nations Development Programme, the Armenian Rescue Service, the OSCE office in Yerevan and the Global Fire Monitoring Center (Germany) decided to jointly organise a series of wildfire management events in Armenia to efficiently advance and fulfill shared objectives of their respective initiatives.Partnership is creating changeFollowing the jointly organised training, command-staff field exercise, conference and national round table, the consensus on the need to further develop stakeholder co-operation and enhance national capacities in forest and grassland fire management led to the formation of a permanent National Task Force to continue the progress initiated with the established partnerships.
Sustainability:
The national ownership to reverse the current negative impacts caused by wildfires on forest and grassland areas in Armenia evident in the active participation of national stakeholders, such as the Armenian Rescues Service, in the organisation of the events as well as the leadership shown by these organisations in the formation of the National Task Force on Wildfire Management following the collaboration are keys to the sustainability of the activities.
Replication:
The replication value of specific activities carried out by the donor organisations has already been demonstrated. During the course of the fire management events, forest fire early response equipment provided by the UNDP to foresters in target regions were seen in action proving their efficiency and their usefulness for the beneficiaries. The replication value of this activity was highlighted by the decision of the Armenian Rescue Service to provide similar equipment, such as firefighting backpack pumps, also to other fire and rescue detachments in Syunik and other regions of Armenia.
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