Delegation from France

Position paper for United Nations Environment Assembly

1. Discussion on natural habitat degradation with emphasis on forest fires

(Introduction of agenda)

Habitat loss is a consequence of human activities such as: agriculture, deforestation, resource
extraction, alteration of sea floor due to fishing or release of effluents from factories / industrial
production. Destruction of ecosystem is a process which no longer supports the native wildlife. Habitat
loss can be in three ways:- habitat destruction, degradation, fragmentation. Destruction happens
when the ecosystem has been completely destroyed over a period of time. Degradation is when there
is loss of habitat thoroughly but the destruction hasn’t taken place completely. Fragmentation is a
process in which parts of habitat are destroyed leaving behind unconnected areas.

2. Causes of forest fires

A combination of human activity, fuel availability and climate account for the majority of forest fires.
One of the main human activities contributing to the above phenomena is agriculture. Agriculture is
driven by expansion for which we chop down forests and convert wild grasslands into farmlands for
our benefits. This leads to deforestation. Human errors have become large contributors of forest fires.
Unextinguished campfires, improperly burned debris, lit cigarette buts, even some arson especially in
Africa and Middle East Asia are the reasons to start 84 percent of the wildfires. The three factors to
set off a fire are:

: Oxygen- The atmosphere provides oxygen.

: Fuel- Success in controlling forest fires over the past 50 years have left a large amount of deadwood
in the forests, providing potential fuels for large scale wildfires.

: Heat- The heat can be due to the natural climatic conditions- on a hot day or during drought
conditions peak something as small as a spark has the potential to create a forest fire with the
fuel already present.

3. Impacts of forest fires

:Pollution causes habitat degradation which results in the changing of the quality of air, water and
land. It also allows the species that are not the part of the ecosystem to invade the area.

:It can lead to loss of life, loss of property or habitat, territories, food. The location, timing, intensity
and frequency of fires determine the impact of it.

:Forest fires release carbon emissions, carbon dioxide and rise in average global temperature.

:In contrast forest fires can also be advantageous for example: Mediterranean Basin and many pine
forests are fire dependent and their existence depends on the periodic occurrence of fires. Such small
fires help in the regeneration and help to clear debris which is quite useful.

4. Steps France has taken to control forest fires

In temperate Europe fires are almost negligible but the Mediterranean basin is an exception which
includes France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Greece. Wildfires in Europe have never been as large as in
the summer of 2022. Southwestern Gironde region was affected the most during the fire in France.
France did adopt a fire policy in 1994 in which all the steps were written for the fire control and
equipment were listed for reducing the effects of it. France has also started multilateral concerted
effort to fight fires in amazon forest, by making available material resources for the countries in the
region in 2019. It funds for the cause of reduction in forest fires every year.

5. Proposal to redress the negative impacts

Since millennia, human and forest fires have a well-known relationship but 50percent of the total
forest fires caused were post 1900 making it clear the same is largely due to unsustainable
management practices.

Global/ national level:

:We need to create reliable and operational system for national, regional and global forest fire
monitoring and reporting to facilitate ameliorative strategies.

:We need to encourage community participation in fire management , prevention and suppression
plans.

:We need to promote ecologically sustainable forest management and elimination of illegal logging,
improvement of timber harvesting to reduce organic debris to minimise unwanted fires.

: We need to rehabilitate degraded or burned forests.

:Training and education in communities where fire is a common phenomena should be a must.

:We should re invest in fire prevention than fire suppression.

:Bring business on board–There is a huge role of the private sector companies who are engaged in
commercial activities that are based on forests or its products like tourism, energy or utilities can
shoulder responsibilities. CSR, Corporate Social Responsibility activity could help mitigate the crisis.

:Paris agreement- Adopted by 195 parties at Cop 21 in Paris, on 12 December, 2015. This Act
entered into force on 4th November, 2016. Its goal is to limit global warming preferably to 1.5 degree
Celsius.

Individual level:

: Every human being can play a major role. Human negligence has been found to be one of the top
three causes of wildfires. We need to be responsible global citizens.

:We can support civil society organisation, local community, conservation organisations. We can also
move to activism, becoming volunteers.

:We can also raise awareness levels of people around us by informing them of how big a threat
wildfires pose to the very future of our planet.

:By being an informed tourist and a sustainable consumer who consciously makes choices, based on
the concept of sustainability can also contribute in its own small way.

6. Conclusion

We need to come together, and be responsible global citizens and nations. Science should be used -
use of data analytics and knowledge to develop holistic forecasting and risk assessment tools. Our
target ahead is to achieve zero emission account of greenhouse gases( what is emitted and what
is absorbed by nature) by 2050 because climate change and wildfires mutually reinforce each other.