Tehran – 11 May 2016 : The FAO Representative to Iran highlighted the significance of the role of local communities in applying effectively the voluntary guidelines for saving forests from fire outbreaks at the opening session of the First national roundtable and training course (9-12 May 2016) on “Integrated Forest Fire Management” (IFFM) being conducted in Kelarabad, Mazandarn Province.
 “FAO has supported the design of IFFM framework, especially using the concept of roundtables on Fire Management for defining the participatory approach in fire management which now is being conducted in the Islamic Republic of Iran”, Serge Nakouzi, the FAO Representative to Iran and to the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), said in his speech addressing national and international officials as well as experts attending the event.


“FAO has been coordinating a multi-stakeholder process to prepare a global strategy to enhance international cooperation in fire management, including: voluntary guidelines; global assessment of fire management; and review of international cooperation in fire management” he added.



[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="530"] Hamouns wetlands and the rivers flowing into them[/caption]

Nakouzi acknowledged the FAO’s voluntary guidelines to be a primarily tool for land-use policy makers, planners and managers in fire management, including states, the private sector and non-governmental organization. He underscored that the guidelines for fire management have covered both the positive as well as negative social, cultural, environmental and economic impacts of natural and planned fires in forests, woodlands, rangelands, grasslands, agricultural and rural/urban landscapes.

According to the FAO Representative to Iran the Organization’s fire management framework approach comprises such measures as early warning, prevention, preparedness (at the international, national, sub-national and community levels), safe and effective initial “attack” on incidences of fire and landscape restoration following it.

The four-day roundtable and training course that has been organized and by the Forest, Rangeland and Watershed Management Organization (FRWO) in collaboration with the Representation of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in the Islamic Republic of Iran, is engaging  representatives from the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), Global Wildland Fire Network (GWFN), Regional Central Asia Fire Management Resource Centre (RCAFMRC), and the Regional Fire Monitoring Centre (RFMC).

The roundtable constitutes on of the events being organized within the country as part of the  First International Fire Management Week which is further underpinned by the voluntary framework of the International Wildfire Preparedness Mechanisms (IWPM). The IWPM offers capacity-building and cross-boundary cooperation in fire management through exchange of expertise and application of voluntary standards in fire management.

By United Nations in Iran