In September 1998, the FMCN signed a cooperation agreement with USAID and SEMARNAP, to channel US$5.75 million over a five-year period to fire prevention and restoration projects in natural protected areas and priority regions. The FMCN’s Wildfire Prevention and Restoration Program (PPIRA) was created as a result of this agreement.
PPIRA allocated US$450,000 to the National Commission for Biodiversity Knowledge and Use (CONABIO) to design and establish the Hotspots Detection System. The System, which operates since 1999, provides detailed information on the occurrence of hotspots due to potential forest fires 24-hours-a-day, which helps detect fires more rapidly and gives authorities and local organizations more time to fight them.
In 1999, the FMCN, CONABIO, and SEMARNAP jointly identified nine protected natural areas (Calakmul, El Ocote, El Triunfo, La Sepultura, Manantlán, Mariposa Moncarca, Montes Azules, Pantanos de Centla, and Sierra Gorda) and two strategic areas (Chimalapas and Sierra de Arteaga), which were the focal point of support activities.
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During its first phase, which ended on December 2004, PPIRA supported 46 projects related to fire prevention, restoration, and environmental education and provided training to local groups.
The second phase will resume through an earmarked endowment from MNCF of US$4.5 million and annual support grants in the range of US$300,000 from the US Forest Fire Service through the USAID Mexico Environmental Program . Its main objectives are to increase civil society’s participation in the manage of forest fires and to restore affected places in areas of high biological diversity. |
