Year of publication 2001

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Place of publication Rome, Italy ;

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Product type Book (stand-alone)

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Edition 1

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Synopsis (short abstract) The mission of FAO's global forest resources assessment programme (FRA 2000) is to provide the world community reliable information to describe and understand the situation of the world's forests and related resources and how they change over time. The assessments are carried out jointly by FAO, Rome, and UN-ECE/FAO, Geneva, in cooperation with member countries and partners. FAO is directly responsible for information for developing countries, as well as a global synthesis, and UN-ECE/FAO, Genev a, is responsible for the industrialized countries. The Expert Consultation on Global Forest Resources Assessment 2000 held in Kotka, Finland, during June of 1996 recommended that FAO should provide annual statistics/estimates for the FRA 2000 for each country on the number of forest fires and the area burned over the period 1990-2000. Just after the Kotka meeting emphasized the importance of accounting for the annual occurrence of forest fires within countries, the El Niño drought conditions of 1997-1998 garnered public, media, and political attention to the world-wide outbreak of fires that were devastating forests. The size and damage being caused by these fires was so enormous that the Christian Science Monitor called 1998 "the year the earth caught fire." At times the earth did seem to be on fire as huge smoke palls blanketed large regions, air and sea navigation were disrupted, many lives were lost, public health was adversely affected, homes were destroyed, and natural resources were severely impacted. Some ecosystems like the rain forests of Indonesia and Brazil and the cloud forests of Mexico, areas usually not seriously affected by forest fires, sustained considerable damage in 19982. A world audience was hungry for detailed information about the extent of these fires, but such information was not available for some regions because many countries do not have a system in place for reporting even basic forest fire statistics.

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Language English

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