Preventing Tropical Wildfires: Local Leadership, National Ambition and Financing

Hosted together with Tropenbos International

Wildfires are burning with unprecedented intensity and frequency, threatening climate stability, biodiversity, and human well-being. As climate change accelerates, fire seasons are becoming longer, hotter, and more destructive. In tropical regions across the Amazon, West and Central Africa, and Southeast Asia, wildfires are not only ecological catastrophes, they also have deep social, political and economic consequences. They disproportionately affect Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPs and LCs) and undermine national economies and climate commitments, amplifying social and economic inequalities.

Despite increasing risks, responses remain largely reactive and disconnected from local realities, centered on emergency suppression interventions that overlook the value of locally-appropriate land management tools and approaches, and the key role of IP and LCs. 

A holistic approach is urgently needed, that recognizes the full fire management cycle as recognised through the 5Rs in Integrated Fire Management (IFM): review and analysis, risk reduction (including safe use of fire), readiness, response, and recovery. Such an approach must place IPs and LCs at the center of decision-making, combine traditional knowledge with scientific and technological innovations, embed fire resilience in policy and financing, and acknowledge the cultural, ecological, and livelihood roles of fire across critical biomes in the tropics, distinguishing between healthy and unhealthy fire.

 

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In this COP30 session, we shift the focus to the needs and joint action required for wildfire prevention in the tropics - moving from pledges to practice and impact. 

Session ambitions

This session will bring together Parties, IP and LCs, researchers, funders and civil society to focus on the ambitious shared action required in particular on three pillars:

1. Local leadership: Recognition, support and empowerment of IPs and LCs rights, roles and knowledge in sustainable fire management and landscape governance, avoiding criminalization of the beneficial use of fire and strengthening law enforcement of unsustainable fire management practices
2. National ambition: Translating high-level ambitions into concrete policies and commitments including measurable, timebound targets, integrated across climate, biodiversity, desertification, and Disaster Risk Reduction frameworks
3. Finance for delivery: Mobilizing increased volumes of financing for fire prevention and preparedness, including significant, direct and flexible allocations for IP and LC led actions, enabling rapid and context specific responses

Simultaneously translation in English, Spanish and Portuguese will be provided. 

_{Cover image by Pronatura}