Some of the leading lights from the world of wildfire are set to address this year’s UK Wildfire Conference, in Aberdeen on 12-13 November, which will focus on the global perspective regarding wildfire and its mitigation, and how to tackle these issues in the UK.
Keynote addresses will be given by Marc Castellnou, Commander in the Catalan Fire Service; Prof Tiago Oliveira, Agency for Integrated Rural Fire Management; Val Charlton, Landworks South Africa; Francesca Osowska, NatureScot; and Jim Savege, Aberdeenshire Council.
The two-day event will also feature presentations from sector experts from Norway, Switzerland, The Netherlands and France as well as UK specialists such as Sarah Baker of the University of Exeter, Douglas Kelley of the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Robin Pakeman of the James Hutton Institute, Cathy Smith of the University of London, Andreas Heinemeyer from the University of York and Tia Crouch of The National Trust. Meanwhile, break-out sessions will offer delegates an opportunity to benefit from a series of talks and interactive discussion.
Exploring the theme of ‘Resilience in a Changing World’ the conference will acknowledge the challenges and opportunities that the climate emergency, land use change, emerging science and the behaviours, expectations and attitudes of the public bring to the situation.
The line-up of speakers, researchers and resilience experts was announced by The Scottish Wildfire Forum (conference host) together with event facilitators The Heather Trust. It is anticipated the event will attract up to 300 delegates from a diversity of backgrounds and interest groups, appealing not just to firefighters, but also land managers, regulatory and enforcement agencies, academics, environmental groups, community leaders, planners and more. (Media Source: International Fire Fighter)
