Category: WRLN

Bringing together science, local communities, policy and finance

Recent extreme wildfires worldwide have highlighted the urgent need to accelerate the transition towards integrated, landscape-scale wildfire risk management. No single sector can do this alone – it will require collaboration between government, research, local communities, the private sector, financial institutions, insurance, and philanthropy.  

The CBA’s Wildfire Resilient Landscapes Network, together with CTFC and the FIRE-RES Programme will be bringing representatives from these groups together at the Advancing Wildfire Resilience Implementation workshop at the end of September.

Thanks to support from CBA Custodian Member the “la Caixa” Foundation and the Government of Catalonia the event at Cap Roig in Spain will focus on:

• Integrated wildfire risk management, including multifunctional landscape design with local communities and Integrated Fire Management
• Financing implementation through public-private partnerships
• Governance for wildfire resilience
• Perspectives from Living Labs across the world: Spain, Canada, France, Portugal, Bulgaria, Italy, South Africa, Chile and Australia – and how Living Labs and their innovative approaches can be scaled globally
• Innovative technologies for resilient landscapes

Find out more: https://fireresilientlandscapes.ctfc.cat/portfolio/

Photo: AdobeStock/Hector

The Wildfire Resilient Landscapes Network (WRLN) community met online on 12 May, as part of a new phase of activity made possible by the support of CBA Custodian Member the “la Caixa” Foundation.

The network spans multiple continents, with members from Canada, Australia, Europe, Chile (through the FIRE-RES programme) and South Africa joining the CBA core team to explore synergies.

The WRLN was launched in November 2023, aiming to bring together indigenous, local and scientific organisations with finance and public actors to scale up investments in wildfire resilient landscapes.

It acts as a catalyst and sharer of knowledge, connecting indigenous and community solutions, scientific expertise, innovative tools and financing models. During the meeting, members introduced themselves and shared information about their projects and living labs. These demonstrate a variety of practical solutions on the ground such as cultural fire practices, innovative technologies, management and stewardship models, or innovative financial models to support long-term landscape transitions.

WRLN aims to build a global network of these wildfire living labs, enabling large scale demonstrations which can be replicated on a regional level based on public-private partnerships.

The network will meet again in person in the autumn at an international workshop on wildfire resilience in Cap Roig, Spain.

Wildfire Resilient Landscapes Network Indigenous knowledge sessions

The Whitefeather Forest Initiative training programme for young Pikangikum firefighters continues. In June, Indigenous knowledge sessions took place against the backdrop of fires raging just a few hundred kilometers from the community centre. The smell of smoke permeated the air and pieces of ash and soot constantly rained from the sky. This inescapable reality elevated the sense of urgency and the weight of the training.

Trainees had the opportunity to listen to elders speak in Ojibwe about their experience on the fire. They also had the chance to ask them questions such as “What was the biggest fire you ever worked on?”, “What is camp like?”, “What did you do when you were scared?”, “How do you take care of mental health on fires?” amongst many more.

Read more on the Whitefeather Forest Initiative website

The Whitefeather Forest Initiative is a member of the Wildfire Resilient Landscapes Network, a joint initiative between the Circular Bioeconomy Alliance and the Commonwealth Secretariat which aims to connect and share unique indigenous and community knowledge and experience in wildfire management with scientific knowledge and tools. WFI is excited to share learnings from the Indigenous knowledge sessions and the firefighter trainings with the larger global community in the network soon.

Wildfire Resilient Landscapes Network project kicks off its first firefighter training sessions

Over the past few years, intense forest fires have become all too common during the hot and dry summers in the Whitefeather Forest. Many in the community had to evacuate in both 2019 and 2021 under pressure from smoke and oncoming forest fires. Pikangikum people, however, have a long history of Indigenous fire stewardship, working as Crew Bosses in their own language and integrating their knowledge of cultural burning into fire and fuel management on the landscape.

The community is once again taking matters into their own hands. They are making strides to care for their own forest by training crews consisting primarily of youth from the nation. With financial support from NRCAN and a strategic partnership with Outland-Dexterra and their partners The Whitefeather Forest Initiative is training 144 Type 2 forest firefighters from Pikangikum First Nation that can be deployed to work in Pikangikum’s ancestral lands and beyond. The goal of this project is to provide training and employment opportunities for Pikangikum youth in natural resources, to build forest fire resilient landscapes, and to reduce Canada’s historical dependence on international firefighters given that Canada imported hundreds of individuals to fight fires in 2023

Read more on the Whitefeather Forest Initiative website: https://www.whitefeatherforest.ca/fired-up-kicking-off-the-first-firefighter-training-sessions/

The Whitefeather Forest Initiative is a member of the Wildfire Resilient Landscapes Network, a joint initiative between the Circular Bioeconomy Alliance and the Commonwealth Secretariat which aims to connect and share unique indigenous and community knowledge and experience in wildfire management with scientific knowledge and tools.

Image courtesy of the Whitefeather Forest Initiative

Wildfire Resilient Landscapes Network project in Australia reignites Indigenous tradition

An important practice for many Indigenous nations, cultural burning – also known as ‘cool burning’ – involves lighting small, controlled fires to remove undergrowth and prevent more destructive fires, while encouraging native seeds to propagate. While cool fires offer carbon to nurture the soil, hot fires burn the soil and devastate future plant life, upon which the animals are dependent.

With climate change anticipated to increase the number and severity of bushfires in Australia, there is growing interest in the revival of cultural burning and other Indigenous forms of caring for Ngurra/Country.

A project led by CBA Affiliate Member Macquarie University is exploring how Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing can inform and co-exist with contemporary land management practices within colonised Country to drive sustainable outcomes.

Dharug women rekindle tradition of cultural burns

Six Dharug women reignited an Indigenous tradition within Lane Cove National Park with the first women’s-led cultural burn in the area since 1788.

The cultural burn activation took place over four days in April 2024 at Brown’s Waterhole, Lane Cove River – known to Dharug as the Durumbura River. The site was selected for its historic significance as a meeting place, a place of storytelling, and a place of ancestry for some of the women who performed the burn. The initiative signified the return of Dharug presence and their cultural relationship with Country in the area.

Watch: The Cultural Burn Activation at Brown’s Waterhole, April 2024

Preparations for the cultural burn began in 2020, with the Dharug women receiving funding from the Department of Planning and Environment’s Cultural Fire Management Unit to coordinate and carry out the burn alongside Macquarie University researchers. Further collaborations occurred with Ryde City Council and NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) to carry out the activation.

In May 2023, the six Dharug women camped near Brown’s Waterhole for the first time since colonisation, joined by allies including two Dharug men as camp managers, NPWS park rangers, and Macquarie academics. Over the course of three days, the women connected with the site, sharing traditional Dharug knowledge and practices with the group.

Dr Jo Rey and fellow Dharug women during a camp at Brown’s Waterhole in May 2023.

The camp began with a smoking ceremony, using ochre from the Blue Mountains, before a series of activities to help build a knowledge base of the area. These included the development of an animal and plant database to understand the living creatures that occupy the area, training in the use of key NPWS equipment for the cultural burn, bush medicine and art workshops to continue the transfer of knowledge and a clean-up of the site. The camp closed with a smoking ceremony using ochre from Wallumatta.

A Cultural Burn Prepping Workshop was then held in March 2024, hosted by the Dharug Women’s and Allies Cultural Fire Alliance in preparation for the official burn in April.

A story of nature and community

The cultural burn activation at Brown’s Waterhole was the culmination of a three-year postdoctoral project led by Dr Jo Anne Rey, a proud Dharug woman and Research Fellow in the Centre of Critical Indigenous Studies at Macquarie University.

“Through the research, and alliances with others who are caring for the wellbeing of the river and its biodiversities, Brown’s Waterhole is now a site of regeneration – for Dharug biocultural knowledges and practices, and of cultural fires as a mitigation approach against the likelihood of mega fires in urban environments,” says Dr Rey.

More information

The global Wildfire Resilient Landscapes Network, a joint initiative between the CBA and the Commonwealth Secretariat aims to connect and share unique Indigenous and community knowledge and experience in wildfire management with scientific knowledge and tools.

The project represents a priority research stream within the recently established Australian Harmony Centre for Ecosystem Futures (‘Harmony Centre’), through which Macquarie and its surrounds act as a ‘living lab’ for nature-based solutions with tangible impact on both a national and global scale.

Climate change and the way we manage and plan our landscapes is resulting in unprecedented wildfires. The world is witnessing escalating human casualties and serious health impacts, as well as huge economic losses, increased greenhouse gas emissions, and catastrophic loss of the natural world – most recently in California in January 2025, where around 15,000 hectares were affected by wildfires, and 29 people died.

These new generations of wildfires are exceeding our capacity to suppress them. We need a holistic strategy that minimises the risks of extreme fires breaking out and which also creates resilient landscapes that can recover if a fire should occur.

The Wildfire Resilient Landscapes Network is a global network of CBA Affiliate Members which brings together organisations from different sectors, including indigenous communities, research, international development and finance. It aims to connect and share unique indigenous and community knowledge and experience in wildfire management with scientific knowledge and tools. Projects aim to demonstrate solutions on the ground – which could include, for example, testing and implementing prescribed burning and ecosystem restoration measures, reducing wildfire risks.

However, it is also key to explore how mitigation and adaptation strategies can be financed. The Network also works towards scaling up investments towards wildfire resilient landscapes, aiming to develop and pilot innovative financial models that can enable land stewards to secure working capital and support the transition.

The Network will announce two exciting new initiatives in Commonwealth countries in the coming weeks.

More information

WRLN is a joint initiative between the CBA and the Commonwealth Secretariat, and was launched in November 2023 at a reception attended by His Majesty King Charles III.

Current members include: International Savannah Fire Management Initiative, Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia, Palladium Group, Blue Forest, Macquarie University, Whitefeather Forest Community Resource Management Authority.

Background reading

Addressing the challenge of financing innovative solutions to combat wildfires requires a multidimensional approach

On pandemics and forest fires

Photo credit: Edgar Bullon/AdobeStock

• New network launched at a reception attended by His Majesty King Charles III, ahead of COP28 in Dubai, UAE.
• Joint initiative between the Circular Bioeconomy Alliance and the Commonwealth Secretariat brings together indigenous and scientific knowledge on wildfires to create resilient landscapes.
• Planned initiatives include action on the ground via Living Labs, and the development of innovative financial tools with the finance industry.

The Wildfire-Resilient Landscapes Network was launched at a reception attended by His Majesty King Charles III, on 30 November ahead of the start of COP28, in Dubai.

The network brings together indigenous and scientific knowledge to develop Living Labs that demonstrate how to create resilient landscapes to deal with the increasing problem of wildfires in fire-prone areas of the world. The initiative will work with the finance industry to develop innovative financial tools (for example around emerging Nature markets) that can generate the necessary investments to support the transition to resilient landscapes. The founding of the network was inspired by The King’s interest in linking Australia’s indigenous fire experts with Canadian experts to share best practices following Canada’s horrific fire season.

Marc Palahí, CEO Circular Bioeconomy Alliance, Baroness Scotland, Commonwealth Secretary-General and Dame Amelia Chilcott Fawcett, Chair Circular Bioeconomy Alliance meet His Majesty King Charles III.

Climate change is resulting in unprecedented wildfires, as fire suppression has reached its limits. The world is witnessing escalating human casualties and serious health impacts, as well as huge economic losses, increased greenhouse gas emissions, and catastrophic loss of the natural world. This summer we witnessed extreme wildfire events, with Canada now experiencing its most severe wildfire season on record. More than 18.5 million hectares of land has been burned (as of 2^nd October) and this has resulted in emissions of more than 2.2 billion tons of CO₂ eq, likely tripling the annual greenhouse emissions of Canada’s entire economy.

Innovative financial tools are also needed to play a catalytic role. Currently, the costs related to wildfire prevention and landscape management comes from public subsidies, which is insufficient to deal with the scale of the problem faced globally. Private-public partnerships and private finance are crucial for deploying investments at scale to harness new technologies and create a new model for designing resistant and resilient landscapes. In this context, carbon and possibly also the future biodiversity markets provide an interesting opportunity for private finance.

The savanna fire management programme across northern Australia is a good example of how indigenous knowledge can be the basis for new financial tools that generate income for Indigenous Communities, while supporting resilient landscapes through carbon markets. The network will build upon the work of the International Savanna Fire Management Initiative, which has developed leading technologies based on traditional fire management (TFM) approaches deployed in the management of land for generations, while generating carbon credits. The application of TFM has delivered substantial additional benefits including creating market-based jobs in remote and vulnerable communities, and improving biodiversity, food security and health.

The new Network will be established under the Circular Bioeconomy Alliance together with the Commonwealth Secretariat. It will be coordinated through partnerships with the ISFMI, which will contribute unique indigenous knowledge and experience in wildfire risk management, and FIRE-RES, who will bring their scientific knowledge to bear.

PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo

Commonwealth Secretary-General, the Rt Hon Patricia Scotland KC said: “The Commonwealth looks forward to contributing to this timely collaboration on wildfire resilience. Our climate work is rooted in knowledge sharing – from helping vulnerable countries unlock critical access to climate finance to climate-related capacity development and the promotion of climate-resilient and sustainable land management.”

Marc Palahí, CEO of the Circular Bioeconomy Alliance, said: “We are honoured to host this network which will build on the success of our Living Labs and connect the dots between science, indigenous knowledge and the financial sector to enable a holistic approach to creating wildfire-resilient landscapes. As leaders gather to agree climate action at COP28, the start of this collaborative endeavour will facilitate vital progress on the ground that works to embed resilience, while contributing to nature protection as well as climate adaptation and mitigation efforts.”

Cissy Gore-Birch, on the Advisory Committee of the ISFMI, said: “Reigniting Indigenous fire management practices is an opportunity to share our knowledge with the world, to secure all of our futures and bring us together.”

Antoni Trasobares, Coordinator of FIRE-RES, said: “Fire suppression has reached its limit. We need to invest in science and indigenous-informed actions to transition to wildfire resilient landscapes.”

Notes to Editors

Photographs from the reception attended by His Majesty The King will be available from Press Association and Getty Images. Broadcast footage will be available via the UK broadcasters’ Royal Rota system.

About the CBA

The Circular Bioeconomy Alliance initiative was established in 2020 by His Majesty King Charles III, when Prince of Wales. The CBA provides funding, expertise, and know how to facilitate projects designed to accelerate the transition to a circular bioeconomy that is climate neutral, inclusive and prospers in harmony with nature.

www.circularbioeconomyalliance.org
@circbioalliance

About ISFMI

The International Savanna Fire Management Initiative (ISFMI) is a charity working in partnership with Indigenous peoples, local communities, research institutes and governments, revitalising indigenous fire management and fire management techniques around the world based on the Australian experience. 

www.isfmi.org

About FIRE-RES

FIRE-RES is an international research and innovation project that works towards developing holistic and integrated fire management strategies to efficiently and effectively address the problem of Extreme Wildfires. The FIRE-RES consortium is formed by researchers, emergency-response bodies, technological companies, industry and civil society from 13 countries, linking to broader networks in science and disaster reduction management. The Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia, Spain, coordinates the FIRE-RES project, which is funded under the European Union’s H2020 research and innovation programme.

www.fire-res.eu
@FIRERESProject

About the Commonwealth

The Commonwealth is a voluntary association of 56 countries and home to 2.5 million people, including advanced economies and developing countries. Our experts provide technical support to vulnerable member countries and facilitate knowledge-sharing about solutions to some of the world’s most pressing issues. We help countries tackle climate change and adapt to its worst impacts, by unlocking access to climate finance. Our Living Lands Charter seeks to address challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss and land degradation or desertification, through concerted, coordinated, and integrated action. 

@commonwealthsec