The second FIRE-ADAPT meeting, at the Mexico Study Hub, is about to start. 13 wildfire professionals, including researchers, from six European organisations of the consortium will travel to the Mexican state of Oaxaca to participate in the programme of activities prepared by the Comisión Nacional Forestal and the Mexico office of the World Resources Institute. The event will take place between 21 November and 9 December.
“With the activities of our Study Hub, we intend to identify opportunities to improve strategies and public policies of integrated fire management in Mexico, Europe, and other Latin American countries, to help reduce the negative impacts of fire, and use it as a tool to improve the conservation of forest ecosystems”, says José Iván Zúñiga Pérez-Tejada, Forest Landscapes Manager and responsible for the SAbERES project in the Mexico office of the World Resources Institute.
The event includes, among others, a series of in-person and hybrid workshops to discuss the progress of five work packages of the project: carbon dynamics, biodiversity conservation, (inter)cultural services and human well-being, modelling and forecasting, and integrated fire management (IFM) as a climate change adaptation approach; a visit to a burned area and initiatives of community-based forest management through IFM; an open day; and a Prescribed Fire Training Exchange (TREX).
35 technicians and firefighters from the Comisión Nacional Forestal, and another 34 wildfire professionals from Mexico, the United States, Spain, Costa Rica, France, and Chile will participate in this TREX, the first international training on prescribed burns that will take place in Mexico.
“With TREX we want to facilitate learning and exchanging experiences in the execution of prescribed burns as a tool for the management of ecosystems adapted to fire,” says César Alberto Robles Gutiérrez, Deputy Manager of Planning and Information on Fire Management at the Comisión Nacional Forestal.
At the impact level, the TREX is expected to strengthen the technical capacities of the participants in the use of prescribed fire under the organisational structure of the Incident Command System, establish plots for the evaluation of the effects of fires on the ecosystem, the publication of results in scientific journals, and disseminate the good use of fire in forest areas.
As for the open day, it will take place on 24 November at the headquarters of the Universidad de la Sierra Juárez, in Ixtlán de Juárez, and will be inaugurated by representatives of the Secretaría de Fomento Agroalimentario y Desarrollo Rural, the Secretaría de Medio Ambiente, Biodiversidad, Energías y Sostenibilidad del Gobierno de Oaxaca, the Unión de Comunidades Productoras Forestales Zapotecos-Chinantecos de la Sierra Juárez, the Universidad de la Sierra Juárez, the Comisión Nacional Forestal, and the Pau Costa Foundation. 12 speakers will talk about different aspects of fire management and 60 people will participate, including officials from the federal and state governments of Mexico, European and Latin American researchers and specialists, and forestry technicians from local communities in the state of Oaxaca. The conference will focus on the exchange of IFM experiences in Mexico, at local, regional and state levels, and Europe, and on the search for synergies between the participating organisations.
“The forum seeks to exchange research, knowledge, information and experiences between European and Latin American specialists that help to improve national IFM strategies and policies,” adds José Iván Zúñiga Pérez-Tejada.
The organisation of the activities at the Mexico Study Hub has been possible thanks to the collaboration of the Comisión Nacional Forestal, the World Resources Institute, the Pau Costa Foundation, Bienes Comunales, the Ixtlán de Juárez Municipality, the Universidad de la Sierra Juárez, the Government of the State of Oaxaca, the Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales, The Nature Conservancy, the Fondo Mexicano para la Conservación de la Naturaleza, the US Forest Service and Vallfirest.
The next FIRE-ADAPT gathering will take place at the Brazil Study Hub in June 2024. The topic will focus on the implementation of IFM policies in Brazil over the last 15 years. In addition, it will allow participants to learn about three types of biomes and their relationship with fire: Cerrado (Brazilian savannah), Pantanal (wetland), and Amazonia (tropical forest).