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Summit
Following the 3rd International Wildland Fire Conference in Sydney, Australia in October 2003, a one-day summit will be held between representatives from all regions of the globe to develop a strategy for the improvement of wildland fire management. Also attending will be invited representatives of those countries and international agencies most able to assist, or having a significant stake in the situation. The participants will meet to collectively plan both short and medium term pragmatic solutions to the problems being confronted in wildland fire management. This summit will seek agreement for the implementation of a five-year wildland fire strategy.
Sydney, Australia will host the 3rd International Wildland Fire Conference
and Exhibition on 3rd to 6th October 2003. This conference will bring
together representatives of those countries most severely impacted
by forest fires as well as international agencies that are in a position,
either because of their charter or because they have both the resources
and the will to assist.
While the conference will provide the opportunity to exchange ideas
and disseminate new information about wildland fire management, it
needs a summit to provide the forum where commitments to action can
be sought and attained.
All countries attending the Sydney conference are searching for pragmatic and sustainable answers to the mitigation of risks to health and safety of communities, and the environmental, ecological and economic damage caused by uncontrolled wildland fires. Each country has valuable contributions for providing synergistic solutions. Many countries and international agencies, especially those with well developed wildland fire management systems or with resources available to share, are in the position to assist others that are in need of help.
The participants at the Summit have an unprecedented opportunity to
consider the key issues and to help identify solutions and ways to
commit to global action. All communities around the world afflicted
by wildland fires can benefit from initiatives taken at this Summit.
The summit will recommend a series of strategies for a concerted international forest fire management program. To this end the summit will:
1.Reflect on the Political Declaration and Plan of Implementation of the World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD), international conventions and the outcomes of previous key conferences on wildland fires and identify outcomes and develop strategies to support and enhance the knowledge shared and networks developed at the 3rd International Wildland Fire Conference;
2. Determine appropriate mechanisms to improve global communication and knowledge sharing on wildland fire management;3. Call for commitment-in-principle from participants to immediate pragmatic actions which can be taken to assist in the management of wildland fuels and fires; and
4. Call for commitment-in-principle from participants to a global plan of action over the forthcoming five-year period that will result in positive outcomes in the reduction of the damage caused by wildland fires.
The theme of the summit is:
Fire Management and Sustainable Development: Strengthening international
cooperation to reduce the negative impacts of wildfires on humanity
and the global environment.
As a result of the summit, participants will be invited to consider the following position papers:
1. An agreement on the principles that should apply to international wildland fire management projects. (To be prepared by Gary Morgan, Larry Hamilton and Jerry Williams).
2. An agreement on a template document that can be used by countries wishing to form a cooperation arrangement with one or more other countries for mutual assistance with wildfire management. (To be prepared by Tom Frey and Ricardo Velez)
3. An agreement that the Incident Command System, (ICS) will become the international standard for all wildfire incident management; For this purpose we will need to develop easy-to-handle “International ICS Guidelines” that can be used by countries with limited infrastructures and personnel capabilities. (To be prepared by Buck Latapie and Murray Dudfield)
4. An agreement to a strategy for future development of the issues and international responses to wildland fires, including commitments to a series of regional conferences, an international wildland fire congress (Global Wildland Fire Summit), a 4th International Wildland Fire Conference in 2007, and cooperation between nations on wildland fire research. The strategy will explore the availability of the UN to offer Geneva as a platform for the global follow up. The strategy will also propose an organisational structure for management of international liaison in wildland fire issues, based on an expansion of the role of the International Liaison Committee and the provision of secretarial support. The strategy will also give attention to the question of ongoing funding. (To be prepared by Johann Goldammer and Denny Truesdale)
Participants invited to the summit will include heads of government agencies within the countries most affected by forest and wildland fires who would be regional representatives from each of the ten regions listed above, United Nations agencies with a mandate in relation to wildland fires and their impacts, international agencies with the capacity and commitment to assist and NGO representatives with the capacity to influence key outcomes. Participants would be sufficiently senior to commit their governments or agencies to the courses of action and undertakings being proposed by the summit. United Nations agencies with strong mandates in the area of wildland fires would be represented at the summit, for example FAO, ISDR, UNEP, OCHA, WMO, and WHO. Development agencies would include WB, ADB, USAID, CIDA, EU, JICA, GTZ, AusAID, and others. NGOs would include TNC, IUCN, WWF, and others. (see appendix).
Nomination of participants from the ten regions has been delegated to the following ILC members:
1. North America |
Allan Jeffrey (Canada) |
The host for the Summit is the New South Wales Minister for Emergency Services The Hon Tony Kelly MLC. The Summit will be chaired and moderated by The Hon Neville Wran QC, former Premier of NSW, Australia.
In recognition of the United Nations International Day for Disaster Reduction, which is 8th October 2003, a message will be provided by Mr. Jan Egeland, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, and read by the Mr Juan Carlos Brandt, Director of the UN Information Centre in Sydney.
The summit will include approximately 60 key players and a limited number of invited observers and advisors.
Papers setting out the commitments and undertakings to be considered by the summit will be circulated to the participants during the third quarter of 2003.
The summit will be conducted in English.
The meeting will take account of the principles and strategic goals
of the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction
(ISDR), Working Group on Wildland Fire.
Pre-Summit
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Preparation of position papers on the four proposals for inclusion in the communiqué.
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Preparation of Summit presentations by authors and by 2 regional representatives.
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Preparation of Draft Communiqué
0830 hrs 0840 hrs 1140 hrs 1345 hrs 1830 hrs
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Summit Follow-up Arrangements
For the summit to be successful it is imperative that it has the support and endorsement of the United Nations as well as the national wildland fire authorities and/or agencies of key participant countries
The implementation of recommendations of the Summit will be facilitated
by the International Liaison Committee through a range of forums including
the Regional Wildland Fire Networks.
Participant Countries at the Conference
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International Liaison Committee Membership
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Summit
Paper 1 Principles (pdf file 38Kb)
Summit
Paper 2 Agreements Template (pdf file 43Kb)
Summit
Paper 3 ICS (pdf file 47Kb)
Summit
Paper 4 Future Strategy Annex (pdf file 29Kb)
Summit
Paper 4 Future Strategy (pdf file 41Kb)
Summit
Background Paper Global Situation (pdf file 90Kb)
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Pre-Summit Documentation on the GFMC Website
The Global Fire Monitoring Center (GFMC) has set up a website which
includes documents, links to dedicated websites and recommendations
of international conferences with reference to international cooperation
in Wildland Fire Management. The website also includes recommendations
of regional pre-Summit meetings and regional follow-up meetings:
http://www.fire.uni-freiburg.de/summit-2003/introduction.htm
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