Kathmandu, April 3:

The First Regional South Asia Wildland Fire Network (SAWFN) foundation meeting that concluded here today stressed the importance of international cooperation for controlling forest fires in South Asia.The meeting issued a 19-point Kathmandu declaration highlighting the importance of technical and human resource sharing in forest fire management and the community-oriented fire management in the region.

The declaration has identified importance of information sharing and technology transfer with collaborative efforts for trans-boundary haze pollution reduction. “It is important to establish upstream-downstream linkages within the greater Hindu-Kush-Himalayan region for reducing negative impact caused by forest fires,” it said.

It also pointed out the need to use satellite imageries for forest fire management, development and use of community-based fire hazard mapping and adaptive measures in the fire disaster. “There is a need of human resource and institutional development to control fire disasters,” it said, adding, “Improvement in research tools, fire management and monitoring at regional and global levels need to be focused.” The declaration has recommended the governments to stress development and improvement of legal framework, resource generation and law enforcement. “The governments should emphasise the improvement of community-based fire management,” it said.

Speaking at the meeting, Prof Johann G Goldammer, coordinator of the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, said: “There is a need of international cooperation in forest fire management in South Asia.”

The SAWFN was formally established today with four member countries —India, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Nepal. The meeting was organised by the Global Fire Monitoring Centre.