OSLO, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Norwegian government announced on Tuesday its joining of two new international initiatives to combat forest fires that were launched at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Brazil.
The initiatives, introduced by Brazil and Canada, aim to strengthen international cooperation on fire prevention, detection, preparedness, and firefighting at a time when a warmer and drier climate is increasing the scale and frequency of forest fires worldwide, according to a government press release.
In 2024, 67,000 square km of tropical forest was lost to fires, an area the size of the Netherlands and Belgium, the government said.
Underlining its support efforts to reduce deforestation and forest degradation through the Norwegian International Climate and Forest Initiative (NICFI), Norway said the NICFI has helped strengthen fire preparedness and firefighting capacity in several tropical forest countries, including Brazil.
According to the press release, Norway has helped with fire prevention and firefighting in Indonesia, and prevention and monitoring efforts in several Central African countries through the Central African Forest Initiative partnership. The country has also financed equipment and training for 16 local fire brigades in Colombia to improve their capacity to prevent and respond to forest fires. ■