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Norwegian Chairship Wildland Fires Initiative
Norwegian Chairship Wildland Fires Initiative
© Arctic Council Secretariat

Norwegian Chairship Launches Initiative to Address Wildland Fires in the Arctic

19 October 2023
Arctic PeoplesClimateMonitoringPollutantsEmergenciesNorwayGwich'in Council International
The Chairship Wildland Fires Initiative aims to increase circumpolar collaboration, knowledge sharing and partnership on wildland fires to tackle this urgent climate issue

The Norwegian Chairship of the Arctic Council (2023-2025) launched a Wildland Fires Initiative, which seeks to elevate this urgent issue on the Arctic Council’s agenda and beyond. The initiative aims to increase circumpolar collaboration and make information on wildland fires in the Arctic more readily accessible through public panels and outreach campaigns that will span across the Norwegian Chairship term.

Wildland Fires in the Arctic

Wildland fires are a critical environmental concern with far-reaching ecological, social, cultural and economic implications. Record-breaking fire activity in 2023 intensified attention and concern on the growing threat of wildland fires across the circumpolar Arctic. Wildland fires across the Northern hemisphere have notably increased in frequency, severity and area across the Arctic over the past several years.

Wildland Fire Statistics

  • In June 2019, Arctic wildland fires had released 50 megatons of CO2, equivalent to Sweden’s total annual emissions and more than the past eight Junes combined (Kasha Patel, NASA Earth Observatory)
  • The number of fires has more than tripled since 2018 in much of the Arctic. (Global Wildland Fire Information System)
  • Research suggests that the combined impact of human activity and natural forcing on the climate have made extreme fire risks up to 6 times more likely in some areas (AMAP, 2022)

Climate change causes and accelerates Arctic wildland fires in several ways as rising temperatures create drier conditions and increase the number of lightning strikes – leading to a future with more and larger fires that are both more intense and stretch over a prolonged fire season. In turn, this creates a dangerous feedback loop as black carbon and other emissions are released into the atmosphere. For people living in the Arctic, fires can quickly become a threat to life and property, alter available local food sources and degrade the air quality with damaging effects on their health.

Wildland fires are a growing emergency, and a prime example of why we need circumpolar cooperation. Wildland fires, their smoke and their impacts to communities, ecosystems and the climate are transboundary. Morten Høglund, Chair of the Senior Arctic Officials of the Arctic Council

“Wildland fires are a growing emergency, and a prime example of why we need circumpolar cooperation. Wildland fires, their smoke and their impacts to communities, ecosystems and the climate are transboundary,” said Morten Høglund, Chair of the Senior Arctic Officials of the Arctic Council. “Under Norway’s leadership, we want to ensure that our attention is turned towards better understanding the causes and impacts of wildland fires on Arctic ecosystems and communities. It is important to the Arctic States – and the rest of the world – to find solutions. We regard this as an important offering for our climate’s future.”

About the Wildland Fires Initiative

The Norwegian Chairship Wildland Fires Initiative will provide an information sharing platform to pool together the collective expertise, experiences and resources on wildland fires from the Arctic Council’s Indigenous Permanent Participants, Working Groups and Observers, as well as relevant external actors. The initiative aims to identify knowledge gaps and best practices, enhance knowledge generation and sharing and improve the understanding of wildland fires from an Arctic and climate change perspective.

Throughout its Arctic Council Chairship, Norway will facilitate expert-level information sharing, including Indigenous Knowledge and Local Knowledge, by hosting thematic wildland fire discussions at conferences and virtually. The Chairship will also support an outreach campaign during the wildland fire season in 2024. Focus will be placed on the following priority areas:

  • Enhancing knowledge about the feedback loop between climate change and wildland fires from a local to regional/global point of view
  • Improving access to and use of the Arctic Council’s research data on wildland fires
  • Facilitating increased, cross-cutting cooperation on the impacts of wildland fires on Arctic biodiversity
  • Monitoring wildland fires patterns and impacts from a black carbon and methane perspective; and support, as possible, international climate action to mitigate and respond to wildland fires.
  • The overall impacts of wildland fires on the living conditions for people in the circumpolar Arctic.

Expected outcomes include a publication on the state of Arctic wildland fires, a set of recommendations to Arctic States and a comprehensive compendium on wildland fires. The Chairship initiative was designed and will be implemented in close collaboration with Gwich’in Council International and Arctic Council Working Groups Emergency Prevention, Preparedness and Response (EPPR), Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) and the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP), with support from the Arctic Council Secretariat.

As we are facing an accelerating emergency, we need a comprehensive overview of the best available knowledge that is both accessible and actionable. Morten Høglund, Chair of the Senior Arctic Officials of the Arctic Council

Council’s past and current work on wildland fires

The Arctic Council has been working extensively on wildland fires over the past years, monitoring and addressing wildland fires on multiple levels, including fire types; prevention and response strategies; safety measures and cross-border cooperation efforts; short and long-term consequences; climate and health impacts; and the utilization of Indigenous Knowledge and Local Knowledge in effective fire management. Through specific projects, the Arctic Council continues working closely with Arctic communities to respond and adapt to wildland fires in the Arctic region in the years to come.

The new Chairship initiative will enable the findings from these activities and projects to be shared within the Arctic Council and beyond as a cross-cutting issue. “As we are facing an accelerating emergency, we need a comprehensive overview of the best available knowledge that is both accessible and actionable,” stated Morten Høglund.

Learn more about the Arctic Council’s work on wildland fire.

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The Arctic Wildland Fire Ecology Mapping and Monitoring Project (ArcticFIRE)
Circumpolar Wildland Fire
Air pollution, with a focus on short-lived climate forcers (SLCFs)