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* Atleast Project Title is Required.
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Project No. |
EPWG 03 2011A
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Project Title |
Study Course on Wildfires Management in APEC Region
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Project Status |
Completed Project
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Publication (if any) |
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Fund Account |
APEC Support Fund
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Sub-fund |
ASF: Human Security
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Project Year |
2011
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Project Session |
Session 2
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APEC Funding |
151,905
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Co-funding Amount |
40,895
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Total Project Value |
192,800
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Sponsoring Forum |
Emergency Preparedness Working Group (EPWG)
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Topics |
Emergency Preparedness
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Committee |
SOM Steering Committee on Economic and Technical Cooperation (SCE)
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Other Fora Involved |
Not Applicable / Other
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Other Non-APEC Stakeholders Involved |
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Proposing Economy(ies) |
Russia
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Co-Sponsoring Economies |
Australia; Chinese Taipei; United States; Mexico
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Expected Start Date |
08/07/2011
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Expected Completion Date |
31/12/2012
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Project Proponent Name 1 |
Yulia Zhitina
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Job Title 1 |
Senior Expert
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Organization 1 |
Ministry of the Russian Federation on Civil Defence, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters (EMERCOM of Russia)
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Postal Address 1 |
109012 Russia Moscow, Teatralny proezd, 3, EMERCOM of Russia
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Telephone 1 |
+7 (495) 626 35 16
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Fax 1 |
+7 (495) 624 84 10
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Email 1 |
y.zhitina@gmail.com
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Project Proponent Name 2 |
Not Applicable
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Job Title 2 |
Not Applicable
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Organization 2 |
Not Applicable
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Postal Address 2 |
Not Applicable
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Telephone 2 |
Not Applicable
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Fax 2 |
Not Applicable
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Email 2 |
Not Applicable
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Declaration |
Not Applicable
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Project Summary |
Russia proposes a project that will contribute to the enforcement of national emergency management systems and strengthening of APEC regional capacities in wildfires management. The project will be held in Moscow in October 2011 in the form of a 5-day study-course consisting of theoretical and practical parts. It will focus on prevention, preparedness and innovative methods of wildfires management and include a field demonstration of innovative technologies for wildfires prevention and response.
New ideas and knowledge obtained through the course will enable the participants to undertake effective risk reduction actions, bring improvements in national prevention policies and enhance preparedness to wildfires.
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Relevance |
The Asia Pacific is known to be vulnerable to devastating natural disasters. According to the outcome of the Task Force on Emergency Preparedness Stocktake on Disaster Management Capacity Building Needs, fires of any origin (including wildfires) are the fourth most identified type of disasters in APEC. Wildfires permanently affecting the Asia-Pacific region threaten human security, economic and social growth of member economies. Development of knowledge on prevention and preparedness policies, legislative and institutional aspects of wildfires management, methods of adaptation to climate change, detection and monitoring systems and innovative technologies enables to reduce the risk of wildfires and to improve quality of disaster and crises management necessary for secure business and trade development. The course proposed aims to provide this knowledge.
Several reasons support the idea of holding project activities. First, some Asia Pacific economies have shown the desperate demands of latest scientific and technological developments in wildfires management. This study-course is an excellent opportunity to collect and demonstrate knowledge on innovative methods and technologies on wildfires management that will help solving upcoming problems more efficiently.
Second, wildfires occurring in APEC economies in recent years make calls for increase of national and regional capacities on disaster management in order to minimize human and economic risks. Taking into account that developing economies are often hit hardest by natural disasters, the study-course will particularly focus on introducing the ways of building the capacity of developing member economies to protect business, trade and economic growth from disruption and to ensure human security and environmental sustainability. Thereby the project will contribute to the implementation of APEC Action Plan on Human Security that aims to address the capacity building needs of APEC’s developing members.
Moreover, according to the report published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 2006, the forest industry contributed approximately US $ 468 billion to the global economy, or 1 percent of the total. Apart from that, in 2006 the forest sectors hired approximately 13.7 million people to support their families. Within the APEC region the forestry also occupies a certain portion of economic operations and directly nourishes people’s livelihood in all aspects. During the study-course, the participants will lean the comprehensive knowledge and advanced technology to further reduce the losses caused by wildfires. Therefore, through the implementation of the project secure growth of forests will be achieved and both trade operations of forestry and environmental sustainability will be protected.
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Objectives |
Given the importance of wildfires issue, the project aims to gain the following objectives:
1. To upgrade practical competences and knowledge of participants on innovative methods and technologies of wildfires management. The examples of recent response operations, best practices and the most effective methods of wildfires monitoring and extinguishing in APEC region are to be presented during the study-course.
2. To provide guidelines for wildfires national prevention policies’ and domestic capacities’ development that will contribute to reducing the challenges of wildfires, enhancing the effectiveness of response activities and mitigating disastrous economic, social and environmental consequences of wildfires.
3. To encourage the participants to strengthen cooperation with regional and international authorities in the field of wildfire prevention, such as, for instance, the Global Fire Monitoring Centre and the Global Wildland Fire Network operating under the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR), in order to apply their services for early warning and risk reduction activities.
4. To support the implementation of Khabarovsk recommendations adopted during International Conference «Forest Fires: Management and International Cooperation in Preventing Forest Fires in APEC Region» that highlighted the importance of constant knowledge and best practices exchange for improvement of wildfires management systems.
Achievement of these objectives will entail the reduction of human and material losses in participating economies thereby contributing to safe development of local and regional trade and businesses.
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Alignment |
Wildfires management is one of the core elements of human security and secure growth agenda that constitute the APEC’s key priorities.
The importance of forests and land use in relation to climate change and greenhouse gas emission is highly recognized in 2007 Sydney Leaders’ Declaration on Climate Change, Energy Security and Clean Development as the following: “Forests are playing a critical role in the carbon cycle. Ongoing action is required to encourage afforestation and reforestation and to reduce deforestation, forest degradation and forest fires, including by promoting sustainable forest management, combating illegal logging and addressing the underlying economic and social drivers”.
The understanding of urgency of addressing disaster threats was highlighted in 2008 APEC Leaders’ Declaration: “The frequency and intensity of natural disasters related to the distortion of climate patterns in the region is increasing and the location of, and growth of, cities and mega-cities in vulnerable areas increases the impact of catastrophic events. Improving risk reduction, disaster preparedness and management in the region is a critical human security issue facing the region. We agreed that the challenges in this area are significant and growing in complexity and require greater international cooperation and coordination with the private sector, international organizations and non-governmental organizations”.
The study-course, aimed at enhancement of knowledge in wildfires risk reduction, preparedness and capacity building, also contributes to the implementation of 2010 Yokohama Declaration, which encourages member economies to strengthen their resilience to emergencies and develop practical disaster risk management and research mechanisms to better prepare to natural disasters.
Apart from that, the project is developed in full compliance with forum’s medium-term goals and work plan that focus on the development of “better coordination and cooperation in terms of emergency and disaster preparedness and response efforts”, knowledge improvement and disaster risk reduction activities.
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TILF/ASF Justification |
As mentioned above, developing economies remain the most vulnerable to natural disasters among the APEC members and show demand of latest scientific and technological developments in wildfires management.
The project is designed to provide technical support to the APEC developing economies based on the experiences in successful fire fighting activities. Enhancement of APEC’s developing economies capacities will be conducted through transfer of wildfires management measures of EMERCOM and its partners to targeted economies.
The appliance of new methods of wildfires forecasting, detection, monitoring and suppression demonstrated during the study-course will enable the participating members to build resilience to wildfires and significantly enhance the effectiveness of response operations in their domestic economies.
Apart from that, recommendations on wildfires preventive policies, legislative approaches of wildfires management, capacity building strategies and practical training on appliance of innovative technologies will also contribute to strengthening the capacities of developing economies in provision of coherent action and coordination during disasters and enhancing the efficiency of national emergency services’ functioning.
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Beneficiaries and Outputs |
The direct beneficiaries of this project are experts and officials in charge of wildfires management, disasters prevention and response; representatives of local authorities and business communities of the areas exposed to the risk of wildfires; fire-fighters nominated by the appropriate national disaster management services.
Indirect recipients of the proposed project are policy-makers in the field of emergency preparedness who are expected to be informed on good practices and effective approaches in wildfires management through the recommendations produced by the participants upon their return home.
Knowledge and practical training obtained through the study-course will allow the stakeholders to improve fire-fighting policies and capacity building strategies in order to manage wildfires more efficiently and effectively, get deep insight in application of innovative fire-fighting technologies and equipment and to modernize those applied in their respective economies; establish contacts with representatives of other APEC member economies and international organisations specialising on wildfires management.
Other interested parties can benefit from the study-course by using the course materials uploaded by organisers on EPWG web-site and distributed to APEC member-economies in electronic versions.
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Dissemination |
The course materials containing the programme of the study course and theses of lectures will be published in full compliance with APEC publishing, logo and copyright guidelines in amount of 40 sets and distributed among participants at the beginning of the study course.
Final report containing the outcomes of the project will be distributed electronically via e-mail to all APEC member-economies represented in EPWG and uploaded onto EPWG website. The information uploaded will be available to all EPWG members.
In addition, EMERCOM of Russia will report to the Russian Foreign Ministry on the results of project conducted and ask for distribution of its final report so that it could reach senior officials in the field of emergency management in APEC economies.
Media contacts and website of EMERCOM of Russia will also be used for highlighting the outcomes of the study-course targeting Russian-speaking audience engaged in wildfires management.
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Gender |
The project overseer, as a young woman, will ensure the gender issues to be taken into consideration when implementing the project.
Governmental officials, academicians, business people – both women and men – will be equally involved in project consultation, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
During the study course the project team will seek to maintain a balance of participation of both men and women. The organizer will encourage in invitation letter the nomination of women for participation in the study-course. The completion report will include the number and percentage of female participants.
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Work Plan |
The project team consisting of EMERCOM of Russia experts and a consultant will be responsible for the implementation of the project.
The project methodology will include several stages:
Stage 1: Prepare the programme of the study-course (June 2011)
The project team will organize a meeting with representatives of the Academy of State Firefighting Service (Moscow), which has relevant experience in conduction of short-term study-courses for foreign participants, and 179th Rescue Centre of EMERCOM of Russia (Moscow region) in order to draft the programme of the study-course and circulate it for consideration of co-sponsors. In accordance with comments provided by co-sponsors the project team will then revise the programme.
Stage2: Determine qualified lecturers and trainers for recruiting; sign a contract with an event organization (July 2011)
The project team will conduct necessary consultations with member economies and co-sponsors on the engagement of high-profile lecturers in the course. In addition to that, the project team will use its own network of wildfires management organisations to identify qualified lecturers and trainers. During the recruiting process the priority will be given to those speakers who can demonstrate proven research or practical experience in the field of disaster management in Asia Pacific region and knowledge of the specifics of policy frameworks of participating economies.
The list of lecturers to be engaged in study-course will be the outcome at this stage.
The project overseer will also conduct preliminary consultations with a potential event organisation on contractor’s tasks and logistical arrangements required. Based on the agreement reached the parties will sign a contract.
Stage 3: Elaborate course materials, feedback form and administrative circular (August 2011)
The recruited lecturers will be requested to develop and present course materials in compliance with programme finalized and discussion will be initiated in advance among lecturers to ensure the study-course exactly fits the designed goals of the project.
At this stage the project team will also draft a feedback form for further survey purposes. This will include questions on the content of the course and its potential impact on national wildfires management services’ improvement.
Administrative circular will contain information on travel arrangements, contact details of focal points, addresses of hotel and study-course venue and other relevant data.
Translation and printing of course programme, materials and feedback form will be the next step on this stage.
Stage 4: Prepare a participant list and circulate a letter of invitation along with administrative circular to potential participants (August 2011)
The project foresees the participation of 21 APEC member-economies representatives in the study-course. APEC Secretariat, relevant APEC foras, international organizations and representatives of business community will be also invited to take part in the event. First communication with targeted participants will be done through members of EPWG and its chairs.
The confirmations on participation will be the outcome at this stage.
Stage 5: Perform appropriate logistical arrangements (September 2011)
EMERCOM of Russia in collaboration with the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs will provide visa support for participants. The participants of the study-course will be requested to fill in a questionnaire and provide appropriate documents for this purpose. The project team will notify the participants on further procedures to be conducted.
Stage 6: Hold a 5-day study-course (October 2011)
The general structure of the study-course will include the following modules:
1st module – Prevention
2nd module – Preparedness
3rd module – Innovative methods and technologies for wildfires prevention and
response
4th module – Field demonstration of innovative equipment and technologies on
wildfires management
Upon the completion of the study course the participants will be awarded Certificates.
Stage 7: Evaluate the project (November-December 2011)
At the end of the study course the participants will be requested to fill in feedback forms that will be analysed and summarized by the project team. The results will be presented in the final report that will be circulated among the participants and EPWG members and then placed on the EPWG web-site.
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Risks |
The proposed study-course is unique in that sense that it offers the participants several distinctive benefits including the following:
· The structure of the course consisting of both theoretical and practical parts that will enable the participants to test the practical application of knowledge obtained;
· The content of the course that will be elaborated by high-profile lecturers and experts and will be based on the latest experiences in wildfires prevention and mitigation;
· The targeted audience that will imply both practitioners who are engaged in fire-fighting operations and policy-makers.
Therefore, the duplication of the proposed study-course with other international events is unlikely.
However, there are other issues to be taken into consideration in order to gain success in project implementation.
Stage 1: Prepare the programme of the study-course.
Potential risk: Failure to reach consensus among the project team members, representatives of the Academy of State Firefighting Service and 179th Rescue Centre of EMERCOM of Russia on the detailed structure of the study-course.
Management: Several draft programmes may be circulated for the consideration of co-sponsors.
Final decision on the study-course programme is to be made by project overseer.
Stage 2: Determine qualified lecturers and trainers for recruiting; sign a contract with an event organization.
Potential risk 1: Failure to find an appropriate lecturer for the topic indicated in the course programme.
Management 1: In case the wide experts’ network of EMERCOM of Russia is not sufficient for defining a lecturer, assistance of EPWG members might be requested. Otherwise, slight modifications of the study-course programme will be conducted.
Potential risk 2: Rejection of a recruited lecturer to participate in the study-course.
Management 2: A list of stand-by lecturers is to be prepared by the project team.
Stage 3: Elaborate course materials, feedback form and administrative circular.
Potential risk: Delays in submitting study-course materials by lecturers, translating and printing.
Management 1: Terms of recruiting lecturers will include an article on meeting the deadline for study-course materials’ submission.
Management 2: The project overseer is to control that appropriate arrangements with companies providing translating and publishing services are ensured in advance.
Stage 4: Prepare a participant list and circulate a letter of invitation and administrative circular to potential participants.
Potential risk: Failure to deliver the abovementioned documents to the potential participants.
Management: The project team will contact Russian diplomatic missions in APEC economies to ask for assistance in encouraging the participation of APEC members and other stakeholders.
Stage 5: Perform appropriate logistical arrangements.
Potential risk: Delay in receipt of information on participants’ nominations and questionnaires and as a result a failure to provide visa support in time.
Management: The project team will advise the representatives of APEC member-economies to meet a deadline specified in the administrative circular in order to have enough time for appropriate visa arrangements.
Stage 6: Hold a 5-day study-course
Potential risk: Poor attendance of the study-course by participants.
Management 1: The schedule of EPWG and other APEC events for the autumn period will be taken into account in order to avoid any overlaps with the study-course.
Management 2: The project team is to ensure that Completion certificates will be awarded merely to those participants who attended all lectures and practical trainings.
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Monitoring and Evaluation |
The success of the project will be measured through monitoring and completion reports.
The monitoring report will enable the project team to keep track of project progress. This will evaluate the achievement of project objectives, on-time delivery of outputs, and expenditure of resources within the limits of budget as well as identify potential problems at an early stage and propose possible solutions.
To measure the output and impact of the study-course the project team will collect data from survey that will be conducted in a month after the completion of event. For this purpose the participants will be requested to fill in feedback forms and answer the questions on whether the new knowledge and skills obtained during the course helped them to produce new ideas and come up with initiatives on the enhancement of forests protection, development of wildfires preventive measures, improvement of legislation in wildfires management, appliance of innovative technologies or new approaches to wildfires forecasting and suppression in their domestic economies. The participants will be also requested to give examples of any positive changes the study-course entailed.
The results of survey will be summarised at the final report that will be presented at EPWG meeting and then placed on the EPWG web-site.
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Linkages |
Project implementation will involve consultations with APEC Climate Center and Gender Focal Point Network for providing inputs of wildfires impacts on climate change, female role and vulnerability. These APEC foras will be invited to provide comments, supporting papers and statistical inputs during the event.
Apart from that, the project foresees developing links with Asia-Pacific Network for Sustainable Forest Management and Rehabilitation, Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum, Global Fire Monitoring Centre and the Global Wildland Fire Network operating under the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction. The organizer is planning to invite experts from these organizations for participation as speakers in the study-course and conduct consultations on their recent activities in order to avoid duplication of efforts and develop further ideas already produced.
In addition to that, the proposed study-course contributes to achieving the outcomes of the recently completed International Conference “Forest Fires: Management and International Cooperation in Preventing Forest Fires in APEC Region”. This project was initiated by EMERCOM of Russia in 2010. Taking into account the dramatic consequences of devastating wildfires in summer 2010 it aimed at providing an opportunity for the participating economies to exchange views, best practices and lessons learned on wildfires management in Asia-Pacific region, identify major problems in this area at both national and regional level and develop a list of recommendations to address the challenges related to wildfires.
The data collected from the reports of participants is to be thoroughly analysed by the professors of the Academy of State Firefighting Service to define the gaps and estimate the needs of APEC member-economies in wildfire management policies. The results of analyses conducted will be taken for basis when developing the programme and content of the study-course.
APEC is the most appropriate institution to fund this project because (1) as an intergovernmental forum it is well-placed to interpret research findings and recommendations into policymaking; (2) the impact of the project will be the most effective if implemented in APEC region because wildfires are known as an acute human security threat especially for the economies of the Asia-Pacific; (3) through its Support Fund APEC supports projects addressing the capacity building needs of APEC’s developing economies that are the main beneficiaries of this project; (4) taking into account APEC’s trade related experience it is anticipated that the demonstration of innovative equipment and technologies during the study-course will encourage the participating economies to enhance technical capacities of their disaster management services and entail the development of business contacts and facilitation of trade relations among APEC member economies.
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Sustainability |
It is anticipated that upon returning home the participants will share ideas and best practices obtained during the study course, come up with new initiatives and draft recommendations for the consideration of their leadership that will improve subsequent wildfires preparedness and response efforts applied in their respective economies.
The study-course is to be designed in such a way that the participants could train and deliver knowledge acquired to other experts, fire-fighters and community representatives who was interested in the event but did not have an opportunity to visit it or was not nominated. Printed handouts and unlimited download capability of course materials available on EPWG web-site will assist the participants in these endeavours.
A list of participants and lecturers with relevant contacts will also be provided to all participants for further communication and consultation purposes on the topic related.
The demonstration of wildfires suppression techniques within 2012 APEC Ministerial session is the next step to encourage APEC member economies to improve their domestic wildfires management systems and apply innovative decisions for enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of actions aimed at prevention and response to wildfires.
The session will also serve as a platform to discuss with the leaders of APEC member-economies in the field of disaster management the impact of the study-course how knowledge has been applied.
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Project Overseers |
Ms. Zhitina has joined EMERCOM of Russia in 2010 and in 2011 was appointed to coordinate the Ministry’s project activity in APEC. Prior to this, she acquired extensive experience in private sector in the field of import operations and obtained MA degree in International Relations in Warwick University (UK).
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Cost Efficiency |
The cost-efficiency of the project is to be ensured through its compliance with APEC guidelines.
The project ensures optimal number of lecturers, reasonable honoraria and minimal contactor fee, and seeks for APEC funding for reimbursement of travelling costs and per diem allowance for eligible participants only. Thereby, per diem allowances are calculated within the limits of the UN’s Schedule of Daily Subsistence Allowance Rates whereas airfares are based on economy class rates.
Self-funding contributions will maximize the cost efficiency of the project. These will include partial reimbursement of honoraria for Russian-speaking lecturers, rental of study-course room and specialized equipment, publishing course materials for participants and other items.
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Drawdown Timetable |
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Direct Labour |
No contracts will be signed with government employees, representatives of international organizations, or EMERCOM of Russia staff.
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Waivers |
The project will require waivers for covering simultaneous interpretation during the study-course to provide clear and coherent communication between Russian-speaking lecturers and English-speaking participants.
The following Russian-speaking lecturers and trainers are to be engaged in the study-course for the benefit of its participants:
· Professors of the Academy of State Firefighting Service and other Russian Universities that are considered leaders in the subject field and have solid teaching and research background;
· Government officials from EMERCOM of Russia, Forestry Service and other related agencies as well as community representatives who will provide valuable inputs on legal aspects and practical experience in formulating policies, implementing preventive measures and conducting fire-fighting operations;
· Experts of non-governmental organizations who will be responsible for practical training of the participants.
· It is anticipated that in total 12-15 speakers will participate in the study-course. Thereby, in order to avoid contradiction with APEC guidelines we suggest to cover the honoraria of only 6 speakers (who are Russian and overseas non-governmental officials or international organizations representatives) from the ASF fund, whereas other speakers will be invited on voluntary basis.
· The volunteering speakers will include both overseas and Russian experts (such as professors of the Academy of State Firefighting Service and other Russian Universities, government officials from EMERCOM of Russia, Forestry Service and other related agencies, as well as trainers) who can deliver the topic of the study-course in the most efficient and professional way.
· Taking into account that the most of the Russian experts (both contracted and volunteering) do not speak English, the simultaneous interpretation is required to support the successful outcome of the course.
· As for the translation of study-course materials, for Russian contracted speakers the translation of the related lecture material will be a part of the contracted tasks. However, the lecture materials of Russian volunteering speakers will require translation as they are not paid for this service. The number of pages to be translated may, however, be reduced. (via email June 25).
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Are there any supporting document attached? |
No
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Attachments
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