A survey performed by IPÊ – Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas (Institute for Ecological Research), in 2023, identified around 200 volunteer brigades focused on preventing and combating forest fires in Brazil. The research also cataloged several other institutions that support volunteering in activities related to Integrated Fire Management.
The initiative, is part of the Voluntariado no Manejo Integrado do Fogo (Volunteering in Integrated Fire Management) project to encourage and structure volunteer brigades that use fire as an instrument of environmental conservation in the country. The project counts on several other actions that seek to build a federal volunteering strategy at MIF and reinforce the importance of approving the National Policy for Fire Management.
“In addition to the volunteer brigades, the survey also identified hundreds of volunteers who work individually or collectively in various activities linked to National Policy for Integrated Fire Management, such as preventing and combating forest fires, environmental education and recovery of degraded areas, among many other activities, including indigenous volunteers, riverside residents, family farmers, extractivists and quilombolas”, says Angela Pellin, project coordinator at IPÊ.
Rodrigo Agostinho, president of Ibama, states that the project is a way to identify and recognize MIF volunteering initiatives across Brazil. “People need to understand the importance of this type of management for forest conservation. Therefore, we support and encourage initiatives that help us better understand the dynamics, functionality and context of fire management for the environment”, he says.
Mapping areas that are vulnerable to fires
IPÊ is also developing a series of data mapping the regions and actions of volunteer brigades and public authorities in the country. The survey aims to highlight the indices with the history of forest fires and the need to protect vulnerable areas in the most diverse Brazilian biomes.
“The maps generated from this index may serve as an indication of areas with greater vulnerability that need for special attention and different activities, such as encouraging the creation of volunteer brigades, or institutional strengthening of existing ones, recognizing and valuing their work”, says Fernando Rodovalho, MIF specialist at IPÊ.
LEGENDA: Map of the location of forest fire brigades in 2023, designed from a survey of the Volunteering at MIF project, by IPÊ
In addition to helping to create a federal volunteering strategy in Integrated Fire Management, the results of the mapping will bring greater visibility to volunteering initiatives in the MIF in the country, increasing positive effects for the control of irregular fires and the fight against forestry fires.
Alignment to the national policy
The IPÊ project is aligned to relevant national policies, programs and instruments such as: the National Environmental Policy, the revised Forest Code, the National System of Conservation Units (SNUC), the National Policy for Territorial and Environmental Management of Indigenous Lands (PNGATI), the National Plan of Protected Areas (PNAP), Bill 9,608/1998 which provides for voluntary service, in addition to Bill No. 1818/2022 which establishes the National Policy for Integrated Fire Management, under discussion in the Federal Senate.
Considered essential to prevent and combat forest fires, Bill No. 1818/2022, currently being processed in the Senate, was initially proposed in the Chamber of Deputies as PL No. 11276/2018. The project’s approval, which deals with the regulation of the use of fire as a practice for preventing and fighting fires in natural areas, is highlighted as a priority by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MMA). In September this year, Minister Marina Silva even discussed it in a meeting with the President of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG). Months earlier, at the end of May, the text was ready to be voted on in the House plenary after five years of debate in parliament.
But 13 amendments presented to the Bill on the last day of the deadline for its proposal means it may go through the Agriculture and Agrarian Reform (CRA) and Environment (CMA) committees of the Senate once more, even had it been approved in December 2022 and last May, respectively. If any of the proposed changes are accepted, the project will need to be debated again in the Chamber of Deputies, where it had been endorsed in October 2021 under an emergency regime.
National Fire Management Policy may expand MIF Brazilian initiatives
In addition to regulating the use of fire by traditional populations, such as quilombolas, indigenous people and family farmers, the National Fire Management Policy also creates intergovernmental bodies to manage responses to fires in vegetation. Controlled fires has already been confirmed as an important tool for containing large fires in natural areas, by reducing the load of organic matter in the soil and defining limits for the spread of flames.
For Angela Pellin, the approval of PL 1818/2022 will give greater visibility to volunteer at MIF initiatives in the country, providing an increase in positive results for the control of irregular fires and the fight against forest fires.
“MIF National Policy will encourage the Forestry Brigade Program and bring greater legal certainty to the creation and operation of voluntary and private brigades. It will also establish guidelines for the training of qualified, equipped and organized human resources for the implementation of integrated fire management plans, promoting greater recognition and appreciation of these personnel”, adds the IPÊ project coordinator.
The Bill currently being processed in the Senate also provides for the creation of the National Committee for Integrated Fire Management, a collegiate body linked to the Ministry of Environment, responsible for facilitating institutional coordination and formulating guidelines for the promotion of integrated fire management, among others.
“Such advantages resulting from the Law will help in expanding MIF initiatives in Brazil, in addition to promoting interinstitutional coordination for integrated fire management, including actions to gradually replace the use of fire in rural areas, when applicable, with appropriate use of prescribed and controlled burning, and preventing and combating forest fires, aiming to reduce the incidence and damage of forest fires in the country and restore the ecological and cultural role of fire”, highlights Angela.
Fire management currently follows the guidelines published in ICMBio Ordinance No. 1,150, to establish principles, guidelines, purposes, instruments, and procedures for the implementation of Integrated Fire Management in Federal Conservation Units.
