Digitally enabled state-society collaboration needed to tackle forest fires: briefing

With Lebanon burning through an increasingly devastating forest fire season each year, IMPACT, the country’s first e-governance platform, has been effective in brining people together to predict and prevent fires. But greater state-society collaboration is needed to protect Lebanon’s forests, which are challenged not only by forest fires but also by the effects of climate change. 

An IMPACT pilot using the National Council for Scientific Research in Lebanon’s daily fire risk level model was able to predict 30% of the fires between June 2020 and September 2021, and send local authorities alerts with recommendations at least 48 hours before the fires’ occurrence. This briefing looks at what can be done to bring this prediction rate up, and improve the response mechanisms that go into action in high fire risk situations.