On 9-10 October, the Landscape Fire Management in the Western Balkans (LFMWB) Programme organized a two-day training on “Climate Change and Land Use (Mitigation and Adaptation) in the Context of Landscape Fire Management” in Ohrid, North Macedonia. The training brought together approximately 20 participants from institutional representatives, experts, and practitioners who are members of National LFM Network, with the aim of exchanging knowledge and strengthening capacities to address the impacts of climate change on land use and landscape fire management (LFM).
The training was held within the framework of the LFMWB Programme, financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), and jointly organized by the LFMWB Regional Executive Agency (REA-Farmahem) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy of the Republic of North Macedonia.
The objective of the training was to equip participants with the knowledge to integrate climate change considerations into planning and decision-making processes.
The program combined expert presentations with interactive discussions, while covering topics from basic concept of climate change and its global, regional to local impacts, linkages between land use, climate change, and landscape fire management as well as adaptation strategies with a focus on fire-resilient landscapes.
A special emphasis was placed on understanding gender equality and its connection to climate change, from key gender concepts to national legal framework and international instruments, highlighting unequal access to resources, different social roles, and intersectional factors. It concluded with a discussion on gender differences in North Macedonia’s environmental and climate sectors, highlighting challenges like energy poverty and strategies to empower women as agents of change.
Participants showed great interest and actively engaged in discussions on climate change, national policies, greenhouse gas emissions, vulnerability, adaptation, and gender aspects. The workshop emphasized the need for systematic integration of climate scenarios into fire management planning and wider use of GIS and digital tools for risk analysis, prediction, and coordination. Gender aspects of climate change in the context of land use, forestry and agriculture are still not sufficiently recognized and need to be further promoted. This will help in better understanding the different roles, needs and impacts of women and men in natural resource management.