Wildfires and Climate Change in the Boreal Zone (Fire&Ice)

Fire&Ice is a strategic endeavor to improve understanding of climate change-induced wildfires in the boreal region, from regional fire drivers and mitigation tactics to community and ecosystem health and stability. Facing some of the quickest changing conditions in the world, it is an ideal region to proactively assess and address the complexities introduced by climate change.

Boreal communities are as diverse as the ecosystems within which they live. The impacts of climate change on natural processes and hazards and their resultant impacts on the people, flora, and fauna of the boreal region are complex and require cross-disciplinary research to address and mitigate.

Fire&Ice aims to:

Improve understanding of regional and national wildfire dynamics, such as key ignition and spread variables;
Improve understanding of boreal communities, such as demographic composition changes, fire-related risks and impacts, and at-risk sub-groups;
Advance research on fire-related emissions and health impacts;
Provide relevant, country-level recommendations to promote healthy, resilient, and sustainable communities and ecosystems; and
Promote discussion, follow-up projects, and ongoing research in these topics.

To tackle this complicated and challenging topic, Fire&Ice will take advantage of IIASA experts in wildfire dynamics, demographics, and pollution management, among others. This cross-group collaboration will be enhanced with involvement from local, regional, and national experts and stakeholders to ensure relevancy of research direction and results. Emphasis is placed on involvement of young and early career researchers, and on open-access data, model, and results.

Fire&Ice is organized into 5 complementary work packages.

WP1 will ensure relevancy of research for and engagement with National Member Organizations (NMO), IIASA member countries, and local, regional, and national experts. WP 2-4 capitalize on the three thematic areas and their interactions (populations and demographics, WP2; wildfire risks and forest impacts, WP3; fire-related emissions and health impacts, WP4). WP5 will focus on dissemination of knowledge, results, and research continuity.