Bridging the Services of the WMO Vegetation Fire and Smoke Pollution Warning Advisory and Assessment System (VFSP-WAS) to Politics, Policies and Land Management: the South East Asia Example and Global Visions

Resumo

The use of fire in land management and land-use change and wildfires affecting forests and peatlands in South East Asia constitute a major threat to the environment and society. Fire applied in land-use change contributes to a net increase of radiatively active trace gases (greenhouse gases) in the atmosphere, thus constituting a major anthropogenic contribution to microclimate change. Close-to-ground air pollution results in serious threats to human health and security. In addition, land-use fires and wildfires affect fire sensitive ecosystems such as equatorial tropical rainforests and peatland biomes where they have detrimental impacts on ecosystem processes, biodiversity and livelihood of indigenous populations. Sustainable management of these ecosystems, which are vulnerable to excessive modification by humans and to fire must be based on the field experienced, because single factor management could not work alone as Indonesia is looking for the permanent solutions. The Regional Fire Management Resource Center – South East Asia/RFMRC-SEA provides the bridge from the services of the planned WMO Vegetation Fire and Smoke Pollution Warning Advisory and Assessment System/VFSP-WAS to the development of sustainable land and fire management policies and management practices.