Common interests on fire prevention strengthen ties

The programme aims to build resilience in forest landscapes across the region by fostering cooperation, strengthening capacity and revising policy.

In total, 18 participants from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina (Federation and Republika Srpska), Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia participated in the scoping visit. They represented ministries responsible for forestry, agriculture and water management, as well as Farmahem (the project implementing agency) and the Regional Fire Monitoring Centre.

Connecting stakeholders

HAFL’s project coordinator and forestry research associate Jelena Markovic organised the Swiss logistics of the visit and is responsible for initiating and strengthening the exchange of knowledge and experiences between Swiss and Western Balkan stakeholders.

“One very important part of the project is to enable the Western Balkan region to establish a first contact with main stakeholders engaged in landscape fire management in Switzerland and internationally,” said Jelena.

“The aim is to contribute to the overall project goal of creating more resilient landscapes and communities through better cooperation, better capacities and better policies.”

Reflecting on the week-long activities, which included site visits, stakeholder meetings and a key workshop at HAFL, Jelena noted: “This was a very intense week. We travelled a lot and visited the most important forest fire sites in Ticino and Valais. We met different Swiss stakeholders at all governmental levels dealing with this topic … and all that in not very favourable weather conditions!”

“I’m very happy with how everything went, especially because I noticed that the exchanges were very lively and productive, even outside of the formal parts. The idea was to enable them to have an initial personal exchange, to experience Switzerland, and see the Swiss way of dealing with issues that might become a problem in the future.”

Participants expressed strong appreciation, too. “Everything was perfect. To me, this was a new and priceless, personal and professional experience,” said Slavko Stupar, from Republika Srpska. 

Stefan Beyeler, from the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment, commented, “It was good to hear that we are facing similar problems.”

Project goals and regional engagement

LFMWB launched in August 2024 with the goal of enhancing landscape and forest fire resilience in the Western Balkans. The programme has three objectives:

• Better Cooperation: Fostering regional networks for cross-boundary exchange.
• Better Capacities: Supporting integrated fire management skills.
• Better Policies: Revising and aligning policies for sustainable land and fire management.

“All the countries have recognised the importance of fire danger for their population, infrastructure and natural and material resources, and are very interested in this initiative,” said Jelena. “We are happy that all the countries are very active in the project.”

She is proud that HAFL is working as a key actor in the programme. “HAFL has a long history of supporting implementation of development projects by Swiss bodies,” Jelena said. “We have a global advisory mandate for the SDC related to different forest matters and we have been initiators of this project from the outset. My role last week was informal intercultural translation and mediation, to balance the needs and requirements from the Western Balkans and Switzerland. During my long cooperation with Jürgen Blaser, I learned a lot from his superb diplomatic skills and that was helpful in this project as well.”

The HAFL workshop

Held on Friday 9 May, the HAFL workshop brought Swiss and Western Balkan stakeholders together to exchange knowledge and present findings.

“The Western Balkans region is in second place, after the Mediterranean region, endangered by landscape fires in Europe,” Jelena said. “We assume that this region could be a potential future scenario for Swiss conditions under climate change.

“The main elements of Friday’s knowledge exchange were to introduce Swiss forest fire management from the federal policy level, learn more about Canton Bern’s integrated fire-risk management, discuss gaps and accurate lessons learned on the WB regional level, and hear national presentations from all countries,” said Jelena. “All these inputs were well planned in advance, to complement the visits to Ticino and Valais.”

Participants engaged in group discussions to reflect on parallels and differences. “The Swiss' preparedness, fast reactions and structured and multifunctional ways amazed the guests,” Jelena said. “Cooperation among Swiss stakeholders was another common point, where the WB region could identify with their own challenges.”

Looking ahead

The outcomes of the workshop will inform future activities under the Swiss component of the LFMWB programme. “We have already foreseen conducting a next data collection for post-fire monitoring on set plots in North Macedonia, and we anticipate cooperation between Swiss and Western Balkans region students,” said Jelena.

Future exchanges may also involve visits from Swiss stakeholders to the Western Balkans. “We have identified many common issues and elements for future exchanges and hope, in the next stage, to welcome Swiss stakeholders in the Western Balkans,” Jelena said. “All in all, I am positive that we will have rather more than less work in the Swiss–Western Balkans collaboration in the future.”

LFMWB is a regional initiative funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and coordinated by Farmahem from Skopje, North Macedonia, with backstopping support from Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation and HAFL.

The project’s primary goal is to enhance the resilience of forests and landscapes in the Western Balkans against fires, thereby benefiting the communities that rely on these ecosystems for their livelihoods and socioeconomic development. LFMWB aims to shift the focus from fire suppression to prevention.