FEFA Principal Investigator – Sally Archibald participated in a two (2) day workshop entitled, “Fires in Angola: dynamics, impacts and management” hosted in Instituto SuperiorPolitêcnico de Tundavala (ISPT) in Humpata, Angola from 1 – 2 June 2023. The workshop was organized by the Provincial Government of Huila (Provincial Office of the Environment) in collaboration with the Southern African Science Service Centre for Climate Change and Adaptive Land Management (SASSCAL) Angola, Instituto Superior Politécnico Tundavala, University of the Witwatersrand, and University of Hamburg.

The workshop aimed at bringing together strategic actors and interested stakeholders to contribute towards a better understanding of fire dynamics and impact, and to draft outlines for ecologically sound fire management guidelines in Angola. The workshop targeted stakeholders from the public and private sectors, forest owners, non-governmental organizations, international cooperation partners, universities and community representatives.

This was the first time that internal multi-stakeholder discussions on fire management have been in held in Angola and there was interest in building regional collaborations with the Future Ecosystems for Africa program and the Southern Africa Fire Network.

The workshop recommended, interalia, that fire management plans should form part of all management plans of protected areas and the fire objectives in these plans should be revisited regularly and adapted to the newest scientific knowledge. In addition, there is a need to build capacity within existing research centres in Angola to monitor and evaluate fire patterns and provide real-time weather and fire risk information.

For more information, please check out the full workshop report here.