The workshop will focus on strategic concerns in the management and governance of rural fires, considering the situation and approach taken by Canada. It is in this sense that the discussion will cover rural fire management policies and respective institutions operating in that field in Canada.

Some key elements of success in the Canadian system, such as the Strategy for Rural Fires or the Forest Fire Interagency Center, will also be taken as an example in this discussion.
This workshop is part of the launch activities of the ForestWISE Collaborative Laboratory and is promoted by the Mission Structure for the Installation of Integrated Fire Management System with the support of the Canadian Embassy and INESC TEC.

“This is an opportunity to know the best international practices, to benefit from the look of one of the best international experts in this area about our reality and to discuss with him in detail the specificities of the challenges and opportunities and the actions to be put in the field in this very critical to our country, “explains João Claro, INESC TEC administrator and professor at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP).

Kelvin Hirsch has led a broad scientific and technical team in the Climate Change Research Program of the Northern Forestry Center, coordinator of the Canadian Forest Services climate change adaptation project, is the leader of the technical advisory group of the Climate Change Task Force Canadian Council of Forest Ministers and was in the genesis of the creation of the FireSmart program and the development of the forest fire strategy in Canada.

ForestWISE – Collaborative Laboratory for Integrated Forest and Fire Management – is one of six CoLABs (Collaborative Laboratories) recently created by the Portuguese Government following the problems that Portugal has faced in the development and management of rural areas, aggravated by climate change, with serious consequences for rural fires.

For more information, please contact: media@forestwise.pt