Advancing a National Approach to Fire Management in Guatemala

The document outlines a 24-month, USD 599,908 project to advance fire management in Guatemala by transitioning from a reactive suppression model to a proactive, traditional fire management (TFM) approach. It aims to create a permanent national coordination mechanism, develop a GCF Project Concept Note for an ER TFM sector, and implement satellite-based Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) tools based on Australian models. The initiative focuses on leveraging indigenous knowledge, particularly from the Maya population, to implement early dry season burning to prevent high-intensity late-season wildfires, thereby reducing GHG emissions in the land-use, land-use change, and forestry (LULUCF) sector.

• Guatemala's LULUCF sector is a primary source of greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for 27% of total emissions, or 30,724.1 Gg of CO2-eq in 2016.
• Wildfire frequency and severity are increasing due to climate change, with the 2019-2020 season recording 1,398 fires affecting 78,129 hectares.
• Current fire management is fragmented across three institutions—CONRED, CONAP, and INAB—leading to an inefficient, response-focused approach rather than a preventative one.
• Guatemala lacks a specific method for estimating emissions from forest fires and possesses insufficient MRV systems to monitor or calculate wildfire emissions.
• The proposal intends to adapt the Australian ER TFM model, which uses early dry season burning to prevent high-intensity late-season fires and generates carbon offsets through verified emissions reductions.
• Indigenous Maya populations have a long history of using fire for agriculture and forest management, which the project seeks to revitalize as a low-cost mitigation and adaptation tool.
• The project will establish a permanent national coordination mechanism and a Project Concept Note (PCN) to build an enabling environment for an ER TFM sector.
• The initiative will integrate women and youth into fire management through the expansion of the global Women in Fire Network.

APA

Green Climate Fund (2022). Advancing a National Approach to Fire Management in Guatemala. https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/20220228-advancing-national-approach-fire-management-guatemala-guatemala-isfmi-pty-ltd.pdf

Chicago

Green Climate Fund. Advancing a National Approach to Fire Management in Guatemala. 2022. https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/20220228-advancing-national-approach-fire-management-guatemala-guatemala-isfmi-pty-ltd.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Green Climate Fund |title=Advancing a National Approach to Fire Management in Guatemala |date=25 February 2022 |url=https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/20220228-advancing-national-approach-fire-management-guatemala-guatemala-isfmi-pty-ltd.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{greenclimatefund2022advancing, author = {{Green Climate Fund}}, title = {{Advancing a National Approach to Fire Management in Guatemala}}, institution = {Green Climate Fund}, year = {2022}, month = feb, url = {https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/20220228-advancing-national-approach-fire-management-guatemala-guatemala-isfmi-pty-ltd.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }