Descriptions

Ethiopian landscapes and forest areas have been highly affected by wild and forest fires for decades and fire has become a threat for the landscape restoration and environmental health. Real-time early warning systems, monitoring and responses to wildfires or forest fires are limited in the country.

At the request of the Government, this project is designed to document forest fire management experiences in Ethiopia including trends, responses, and impacts. As part of this, the project identifies gaps to be addressed and areas where supports is needed to design an integrated, national forest fire management system. Key methods used for this include a comprehensive desk review and analysis of official documents and published and grey literature supported with key informant interviews, focused group discussion and series of consultative and validation workshops.

The project also aims to use MODIS data-based identification of patterns and hotspot areas of wildlife and forest fire and then use this information towards developing an integrated wildfire management system in Ethiopia. This is intended to build partnerships and cooperation with relevant national and international actors to support Ethiopia’s capacity for fire management.

Capacity and awareness of actors is expected to be improved during the project as partnerships are built for collaboration and joint actions. The project covers all the states of Ethiopia.