International Workshop on National Guidelines on the Protection of Forests Against Fire

Bogor, Indonesia, 8-9 December 1997
(IFFN No. 18 – January 1998, p. 49-51)

Johann G. Goldammer, Editor IFFN

As a consequence of the fires and smoke pollution in Indonesia between 1982 and 1994 a cooperation agreement was made to develop a project “Integrated Forest fire Management in Indonesia Phase I: National Guidelines on the Protection of Forests against Fires”. The cooperation agreement between the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO), the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC), the Directorate General of Forest protection and Nature Conservation, Ministry of Forestry, and the Faculty of Forestry, Bogor University of Agricultural Sciences, was signed on 21 October 1996.

The project staff, in close cooperation with numerous national partners as members in the Expert Panel and Technical Review Teams, prepared a draft of the “National Guidelines on the Protection of Forests against Fires”.

This project is the first following the suggestions of ITTO to fine-tune the ITTO Guidelines on Fire Management in Tropical Forests which have been released in 1997 (see report in International Forest Fire News No.17 [August 1997], pp.29-32).

The draft guidelines were presented and discussed at the International Workshop “National Guidelines on the Protection of Forests Against Fire” in Bogor, Indonesia, 8-9 December 1997. The following Closing Statement of the Workshop, which also contains information on the organizers and participants, was adopted by the participants. The final version of the National Guidelines are in preparation on the basis of recommendations from the workshop.