UNECE United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization Economic Commission For Europe of the United Nations INTERNATIONAL FOREST FIRE NEWS No. 34 UNITED NATIONS ECE/TIM/IFFN/2007/1 United Nations Economic Commission For Europe Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations UNECE INTERNATIONAL FOREST FIRE NEWS No. 34 January – June 2006 UNITED NATIONS New York, Geneva 2008 NOTE The statements made in the articles are those of their authors and do not necessarily correspond to those of the secretariat or the official views of the author's home countries. Furthermore the designations employed and the presentation of the material of this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. ECE/TIM/IFFN/2007/1 UNITED NATIONS PUBLICATION ISSN 1020-8518 iii International Forest Fire News (IFFN) is an activity of the FAO/UNECE Team of Specialists on Forest Fire and the Global Fire Monitoring Center (GFMC). IFFN is published on behalf of UNECE Timber Committee and the FAO European Forestry Commission. Copies are distributed and available on request from: UNECE Trade Development and Timber Division Timber Branch Palais des Nations 1211 Geneva 10 SWITZERLAND Fax: +41-22-917-0041 E-mail: [email protected] The publication is edited and prepared by Johann G. Goldammer, Leader of the FAO/UNECE Team of Specialists on Forest Fire, at the Global Fire Monitoring Center (GFMC), Germany. Mailing address, telephone and fax numbers of the editor: Johann Georg Goldammer Fax: +49-761-80 80 12 The Global Fire Monitoring Center (GFMC) Tel: +49-761-80 80 11 Fire Ecology Research Group E-mail: [email protected] Max Planck Institute for Chemistry c/o Freiburg University / United Nations University (UNU) Georges-Koehler-Allee 75 79110 Freiburg GERMANY All current issues of IFFN are posted on the homepage of the GFMC and can be accessed at: http://www.fire.uni-freiburg.de/ All IFFN contributions published between 1990 and this current issue are accessible through 77 country folders and other special files on the GFMC website. Call for contributions Readers of the International Forest Fire News are warmly invited to send written contributions to the editor at the above address. These may be in the form of concise reports on activities in wildland fire management, research, public relations campaigns, recent national legislation related to wildfire, reports from national organizations involved in fire management, publications or personal opinions (letters to the editor). Photographs (black and white) and graphs, figures and drawings (originals, not photocopies, also black and white) are also welcome. Contributions are preferably received by e-mail. The deadlines for submitting contributions to the bi-annual issues are: 15 May and 15 November. iv INTERNATIONAL FOREST FIRE NEWS (IFFN) IS AN ACTIVITY OF THE TEAM OF SPECIALISTS ON FOREST FIRE OF THE UNECE TIMBER COMMITTEE, THE FAO EUROPEAN FORESTRY COMMISSION, AND THE GLOBAL FIRE MONITORING CENTER (GFMC) CO-SPONSORS OF IFFN AND / OR GFMC ARE: The U.S. Department of the Interior The UN International Strategy for Disaster Bureau of Land Management Reduction (ISDR) United Nations University (UNU) The World Conservation Union Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische The International Boreal Forest Research Zusammenarbeit Association (IBFRA) Fire Working Group The IGBP International Global Atmospheric The International Union of Forestry Research Chemistry Project (IGAC) Focus Impact of Organizations (IUFRO) Biomass Burning on the Atmosphere and Forest Fire Research Group 8.05 Biosphere "Biomass Burning Experiment" (BIBEX) v CONTENTS EDITORIAL ............................................................................................................................................. 1 PORTUGAL SPECIAL The Deep Roots of the 2003 Forest Fires in Portugal ....................................................................................... 2 Forest Fires in Portugal in 2005 – An Overview ............................................................................................... 22 The Portuguese National Plan for Prevention and Protection of Forest Against Fires: The First Step ................................................................................................................................................... 30 SOUTH ASIA SPECIAL Participatory Forest Fire Management: An Approach ....................................................................................... 35 Forest fire in the Terai, Nepal. Causes and Community Management Interventions ........................................ 46 Fire Situation in Bhutan .................................................................................................................................... 55 Effects of Forest Fire Protection on Plant Diversity in a Tropical Deciduous Dipterocarp - Oak Forest, Thailand ............................................................................................................................................................ 64 Indian Forest Fire Response and Assessment System (INFFRAS) ................................................................. 72 CHINA SPECIAL Forest Fire Situation and Management in Northeast China .............................................................................. 78 Analysis of original causes of reed fires in Zhalong Nature Wetland Reserve in Heilongjiang Province ........... 85 COUNTRY REPORTS Fire Situation in Nigeria .................................................................................................................................... 89 Country Report for the United Kingdom ............................................................................................................ 94 Due of the time lag between editing and print/distribution of IFFN, readers interested in meeting announcements are kindly requested to visit the Internet version of this issue for update and short-term announcement of meetings (continuously updated) on http://www.fire.uni-freiburg.de vi Acknowledgements The Secretariat takes this opportunity to thank the editor of the IFFN, Professor Johann Georg Goldammer of the Global Fire Monitoring Center (GFMC) and his team for preparing this issue of IFFN. The Secretariat also wishes to express its appreciation to the national and international agencies who work together and are co-sponsoring the IFFN and GFMC: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit, the International Boreal Forest Research Association Fire Working Group, the International Global Atmospheric Chemistry Project, the International Union of Forestry Research Organizations, the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, the United Nations University, the U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management, and the World Conservation Union. 1 EDITORIAL – PORTUGAL AND ASIA SPECIAL ISSUE Dear IFFN reader: How would you respond if an analysis of the fire situation in your country would state: - The easy aptitude of forests to burn has always been used as weapon on discord. Recently it is also a weapon of various economical interests. - Successive burning may be used to force down the forestry profile of land into other uses. This may be the case of urban or tourism interests. - Changes on the type of the species cover are also part of the economic causes for arson. Despite of the law, which rules that forest land cannot be occupied for other uses during ten years after a fire, this “quarantine” is not dissuading investors from setting fire. - Despite the legal impediments to cut certain tree species, it is possible to remove them once they are dead, e.g. due to fire. Thus, your forest can be liberated from these species and afforested by the fast-growing ones … - Wood traders are profiting from cheap wood harvested post-fire: Properly debarked salvage- logged timber can be sold as non-burned wood – increasing the profit margin… - Private companies specialized in fire combat are to be added to the horde of the potential beneficiaries of forest fires. Episodes of commanders of fire brigades that simultaneously own business of fire combat equipment are being reported by the media. - Forest fires are dramatic media events. Fearing electoral punishment any government gives ground to a panoply of cabinets, committees, task forces, seminars, etc. which pace of grow is dictated by the dimension of the forest fires of the previous year. - The academic lobby is another one to be included in the horde of forest fire beneficiaries: The “fire industry” ends up to be an extra source of financing, especially in universities, that gives justification for cathedra posts and pays for research projects, studies, publication, etc. … - In a country with a fragile economy any uncertainty of employment, even temporary jobs, attract sympathy of the common citizen. - The subtle beneficiaries of the “fire industry”, which honestly and clean is based on fire- created jobs, is finally infecting the society with an imperceptible feeling of indifference upon the fire devastation. To feel in peace requires nothing more than being certain of not having set any fire. - Indeed like the fire-adapted species, for a part of the society forest fires are not a factor of destruction, rather an active economic sector. - If wildfires become a rule,