Call to Action on Integrated Fire Management and Wildfire Resilience

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Introduction

1. We, the Leaders, and other high-level representatives convened on the occasion of the Belém Climate Summit in the context of the Thirtieth Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP30), in Belém do Pará, Brazil, reinforce our shared commitment in scaling up Integrated Fire Management (IFM), understood as a holistic and adaptive approach that combines science, policy, traditional and Indigenous knowledge, and modern technologies to address fire across its ecological, social, cultural and economic dimensions. We recognize IFM as a transformative means to reduce wildfire risk, enhance resilience, and support sustainable adaptation-oriented landscape and territorial management. 

2. We recall the commitments of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the UN Strategic Plan for Forests 2017–2030 and its six Global Forest Goals, the UNFCCC¹ and the Paris Agreement² , the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030. 

3. We recognize the call to enhance efforts towards halting and reversing deforestation and forest degradation by 2030, as underscored in the outcome of the first Global Stocktake (decision 1/CMA.5, paragraphs 33–34) and reaffirmed in the Ministerial Declaration of the 19th session of the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF). 

4. We affirm that elevating Integrated Fire Management (IFM) to a global priority is critical. Prioritizing IFM ensures the resilience of forests and their ecosystem services, advances climate adaptation, mitigates climate change by protecting carbon stocks, enhances forest coverage, and conserves biodiversity.

5. We underscore the importance of protecting biodiversity, combating desertification and restoring nature, including, as appropriate, through sustainable forest management, nature-based solutions and/or ecosystem-based approaches that strengthen resilience and reduce risks.

6. We recognize that wildfire risk is aggravated by climate change and land degradation and poses a transboundary and multifaceted challenge, affecting all regions, and that no country can address it alone. As with climate action more broadly, wildfire resilience calls for an inclusive whole-of-society approach — one that integrates the capacities of governments, civil society, academia, the private sector, Indigenous Peoples and local communities.

We Acknowledge

7. The scientific consensus that a shift from suppression-centered approaches to prevention-based integrated strategies is necessary for systemic resilience.

8. That wildfires are a rapidly growing global threat, affecting millions of hectares of forests annually; accelerating land degradation, biodiversity loss and food insecurity; and posing severe risks to health, air quality and livelihoods. In many settings, anthropogenic factors—accidental or intentional—predominate, with climate change amplifying risk, extending fire seasons and increasing the likelihood of extreme events. 

9. That climate change is a major driver of the increasing frequency, intensity, and duration of wildfires. It creates hotter, drier, and more flammable conditions across all continents; and that socio-economic changes are also contributing factors that can alter landscapes, territorial management and fire regimes. These dynamics are shifting the geography of risk, at times outpacing existing IFM plans and capacities, and reducing ecosystems’ ability to recover. 

10. That fire, while destructive when uncontrolled, plays a vital ecological and cultural role in many landscapes, and has been used by smallholders, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, to shape resilient ecosystems.

11. That Integrated Fire Management is also central to disaster risk reduction, by preventing new and reducing existing risks, and by helping societies address the increasingly frequent and intense wildfires of a changing climate, thereby protecting lives, livelihoods, ecosystems, strengthening resilience, and contributing to sustainability, food security and the bioeconomy. 

12. That while this Call to Action includes a guiding framework for commitments to enhance wildfire resilience, each participant has unique circumstances and commitments that can be taken on on a voluntary basis and as relevant in their national contexts.

We Affirm Our Commitment To

13. Advance a Paradigm Shift: promote a global transition from reactive fire suppression toward proactive, prevention-driven, inclusive and ecological fire management strategies that strengthen adaptation and contribute to mitigation, protect biodiversity and combat desertification, through risk-informed planning and implementation covering the entire fire cycle (prevention, preparedness, response, recovery, and ecological use of fire). 

14. Strengthen International Cooperation: prevent, fight and recover from wildfires by taking integrated action to reduce the incidence and negative impacts of wildfires and ensure our readiness to help each other and our partners; this includes enhancing collaboration across borders and institutions, consistent with the UNFCCC’s call for the widest possible cooperation, by, where relevant, and consistent with international legal frameworks, sharing technologies, expertise, and resources, and by enhancing interoperability, including developing common protocols for emergency coordination, capacity development, and regional fire governance, in line with the nature of fires and responses associated with them, as well as work under the FAO-hosted Global Fire Management Hub. 

15. Empower and Include Local Actors: acknowledge the role of youth, women, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, including those of African descent, in nature stewardship, climate leadership, and fire management. Recognize that the increasing amplitude and magnitude of fires, driven by climate change and compounded by socio-economic dynamics, will disproportionately affect these groups and may be beyond what can be managed at the community level. Commit to supporting community-based fire management (CBFiM) and fostering collaboration across communities. Acknowledge and strengthen the role of trained volunteers, firefighters, landowners and land managers, including smallholder farmers, as first responders. Further note the importance of local leadership and responsible local authorities, and of accessible finance for community-led IFM initiatives. Ensure that preparedness and response planning reflect the needs and perspectives of local actors.

16. Promote Interoperability and Knowledge Systems: strengthen existing systems of global and regional wildfire monitoring, promote the development and enhancement of tools and technology, including early warning systems, supported, as appropriate, by early action plans, geospatial technologies, risk knowledge and risk classification tools, and fire data platforms; and encourage compatibility, interoperability, and exchange across diverse national and regional fire danger rating systems. Facilitate readiness to help each other, and others, including on resource sharing and technical cooperation, to strengthen global capacities for integrated fire management. 

17. Capacity Building: where appropriate, invest in education, technical training, remote monitoring capabilities as well as technology transfer, on voluntary and mutually agreed terms; exchange of knowledge and best practices; and the development of inclusive and adaptive fire governance strategies– including through North-South, South-South and triangular cooperation — drawing on relevant regional and international experiences and platforms

18. Tackle Environmental Crime: strengthen coordinated efforts to prevent, monitor, and combat illegal forest fires as part of broader actions to address environmental crime and to halt and reverse deforestation and forest degradation. Enhance, where appropriate, institutional capacities, transparency, and cooperation among lawenforcement authorities to effectively address illegal activities that contribute to or benefit from forest fires.

19. Integrate Long-Term Fire Resilience into Investment Mechanisms: integrate, where appropriate, long-term fire resilience into broader development strategies and investment frameworks to maximize synergies of actions that address wildfire resilience and other development and environmental outcomes, including by leveraging multilateral funds, public–private partnerships, and innovative financial instruments such as the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF), taking into account the specific challenges faced by developing countries to support integrated fire management. 

20. Promote Post-Fire Restoration: support the restoration of wildfire-affected areas, the regeneration of native vegetation, the recovery of ecosystem services, and the reestablishment of the ecological, productive, cultural, and social functions of landscapes, in line with the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, the UN Strategic Plan for Forests and the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021–2030). 

21. Mainstream IFM in Climate, Biodiversity, Desertification and Disaster Risk Reduction Frameworks: integrate IFM into national climate and biodiversity strategies, such as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans (NBSAPs), National Action Programmes (NAPs), National Disaster Risk Reduction Strategies, and other relevant national strategies, as appropriate.

22. Promote and Strengthen Global and Regional Mechanisms: promote interoperable information services for wildfire monitoring, and strengthen the Global Fire Management Hub and regional fire-management networks and centers as voluntary platforms to connect, exchange and coordinate on data, training, science and cooperation, including with local mechanisms, while ensuring complementarity with other relevant initiatives.

¹ United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1771, No. 30822 

² Adopted under the UNFCCC in FCCC/CP/2015/10/Add.1, decision 1/CP.21

Endorsements

Algeria, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Australia, Benin, Brazil, Brunei, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, France, Gabon, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Lebanon, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Russia, Rwanda, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Slovakia, Spain, Sudan, Switzerland, Türkiye, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Zambia, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, ITTO – International Tropical Timber Organization, United Nations Development Programme and United Nations Environment Programme.