Fire management has been and remains an active issue of interest and concern for decades. In order to manage knowledge and information gained through AFoCO projects on fire management, as well as for future project development and to share these with relevant stakeholders systematically, the Secretariat organized this webinar on ‘Forest Fire Management in the Tropics’ on 8-9 December 2021. The webinar gathered knowledge based on the materials presented and other materials as appropriate on the AFoCO website, provide a consolidated publication summarizing the content and input from the webinar, and use this to improve project proposals for forest fire management and/or provide ideas for new program/project by applying the input from the webinar.

The region has good examples of fire management research, operational procedures, agency capacities, and national approaches, that provide a set of ideas and actions that are relevant and replicable. Indeed, good practices exist and have been developed in the countries of the region, with key examples illustrated during the AFoCO webinar. It is acknowledged that the solutions identified are not yet widely known or applied and there are further fire management problems that need attention. Hence, the approach to be taken to close the gaps, by AFoCO and other partners, will need to strengthen cooperation among countries and identify the appropriate levels to address fire management issues. Moreover, it would be essential to create synergies among the relevant fire management stakeholders to work collaboratively and exchange data, information, methods, approaches, and systems.