Amazon Emergency Fire Prevention and Control Project (PROARCO). Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) operates in Brazil.
The Amazon Emergency Fire Prevention and Control Project (PROARCO) aims to prevent and control large-scale wildfires in the southern part of the Brazilian Amazon during the dry season of 1998 and to generate lessons regarding forest fire prevention and suppression techniques. There are four components including project coordination, monitoring and evaluation, and studies. The other three components comprise 1) risk assessment and fire monitoring, which uses appropriate technology and methods for assessing fire risk through integrating soil moisture maps, forest type maps, and human activity maps; and initiates studies and long-range planning to identify and respond to such issues as the potential for increased flammability of burned areas; 2) forest fire prevention, which develops technical assistance and educational campaigns for local communities and different stakeholders in high risk areas to provide guidance on the risks and consequences of uncontrolled burning; provides training and equipment to fire combat brigades; and conducts intensive enforcement operations and compliance to regulations to prevent and regulate illegal burning activities; and 3) forest fire suppression, which develops contingency plans to combat forest fires and refers control of major fires to a federal task force
