The Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) strengthened regional cooperation on Integrated Fire Management (MIF) through the organization of ExpoMIF in Villavicencio, Colombia, a space that brought together experiences, institutions, and territorial actors committed to sustainable fire management in the Amazon.
The initiative was promoted within the framework of the Amazonian Network for Integrated Fire Management (RAMIF) and the Amazon Regional Observatory (ORA), regional mechanisms coordinated by the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) to foster technical cooperation, information exchange, and the development of joint solutions to address forest fires in the Amazon region.
ExpoMIF brought together 54 best practices from 10 countries and enabled the establishment of several cooperation agreements aimed at strengthening capacities, technical exchange, and coordination among actors working across different Amazonian territories and contexts.
During the event, nearly 200 representatives from government institutions, Indigenous Peoples, local communities, technical organizations, academia, civil society, and international cooperation agencies participated, consolidating a regional space for dialogue and exchange on fire prevention and management from a territorial and multisectoral perspective.
Among the results achieved, 15 collective agreements and 31 bilateral agreements were established among the participating best practices. In addition, at least one woman participated in 46 of the cooperation initiatives, reflecting the role of women’s leadership in building territorial solutions linked to Integrated Fire Management.
The experiences presented during ExpoMIF addressed topics related to community brigades, territorial monitoring, rescue of wildlife affected by fires, and communication strategies on integrated fire management, among others, highlighting the importance of integrating technical, scientific, and traditional knowledge.
ExpoMIF is part of the commitments undertaken by Amazonian countries in the Belém Declaration and the Bogotá Declaration, which recognize the need to strengthen regional cooperation in response to forest fires, the climate crisis, and the environmental challenges affecting the Amazon. Likewise, the initiative contributes to the implementation of resolutions adopted by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO), aimed at strengthening regional mechanisms for technical cooperation, monitoring, and information exchange.
In this context, RAMIF and ORA continue to consolidate themselves as regional platforms to promote the exchange of experiences, capacity strengthening, and coordination among actors linked to Integrated Fire Management in Amazonian countries.
The agreements and connections generated during ExpoMIF will continue to be supported in the coming months with the objective of strengthening their implementation and expanding the regional cooperation network promoted around Integrated Fire Management.
The best practices and experiences shared during ExpoMIF can be accessed through the virtual platform available on the initiative’s official website: https://www.expomif.org/
The initiative, organized within the framework of RAMIF and ORA, is promoted by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and the Swiss Cooperation (COSUDE), through the CoRAmazonia Project. It also receives support from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), through the Global Fire Management Hub and the FiRe Project, from the Amazonía+ Programme of the European Union (EU), from Colombia’s National Unit for Disaster Risk Management, and from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)
