Key messages
Wildfires are a global, interconnected issue. Wildfires do not stop at borders, and neither do their impacts. They move through ecosystems, economies, and societies, affecting climate, health, food security, and livelihoods worldwide.
Fire is not the enemy, imbalance is. Fire is a natural and necessary part of many ecosystems. The crisis lies in increasing frequency, intensity, and scale, driven by climate and land-use change, pushing fire out of balance.
We cannot solve this alone. No single country or organisation can address wildfire risk in isolation. Coordinated, cross-border collaboration is essential to plan, prepare, respond, and recover effectively.
Connection is the key. The Global Fire Management Hub exists to connect capacities, bridging gaps between countries, partners, and knowledge systems to enable stronger, faster, and more unified action.
From reaction to prevention. The current focus on suppression is not enough. Integrated Fire Management calls for a shift toward proactive prevention, preparedness, and long-term resilience.
The 5Rs provide the roadmap. Review and Analysis, Risk Reduction, Readiness, Response, and Recovery offer a comprehensive, systems-based approach to managing fire and addressing its root causes.
Indigenous Peoples' knowledge is essential. For generations, Indigenous Peoples and other local knowledge holders have managed fire sustainably. Their leadership and knowledge are critical to effective, context-specific fire management.
Knowledge must be shared to be effective. The Fire Hub acts as a global platform for exchanging expertise, experience, and technical knowledge, enabling countries to scale solutions more effectively.
This is a systems challenge, not just a fire problem. Wildfires sit at the intersection of multiple policy domains. Addressing them requires integrated thinking across climate, biodiversity, health, and economic systems.
The scale of the challenge is growing. Wildfires are becoming more frequent, more intense, and more destructive, with long-term consequences for ecosystems and societies if not addressed proactively.
Background
The Regional Forest Communicators Network has developed a coordinated communications campaign to raise awareness of the growing global wildfire challenge and promote a more proactive, integrated approach to fire management. The campaign aims to build a shared understanding of fire as a global and interconnected issue, highlight the importance of prevention, preparedness and resilience, and promote the value of collaboration, knowledge-sharing and Indigenous and local knowledge. It also seeks to support more consistent and effective communication on fire across countries, organisations and sectors.
The campaign resources are available below and colleagues and partners are welcome to share and use them through their own communications channels to help amplify these messages and reach wider audiences.
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