Proactive and preventive measures to confront forest fires for the 2024 season

Local authorities in the various states of the country have begun to take many proactive and preventive measures to combat forest fires for the 2024 season, by monitoring the necessary material and human means to prepare for the national plan for prevention and firefighting and initiating the completion of the program of opening paths and barriers to prevent this, in view of the climatic conditions that the country is currently going through. Accompanied by a wave of heat.

This comes in implementation of the instructions given by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Youssef Charfa, to begin preparing the national plan for prevention and firefighting for the 2024 season, and not to wait until the period preceding the summer, highlighting the importance of the total digitization of the intervention system.

In a meeting with forest officials at the headquarters of the General Directorate of Forests, Sharfa stressed the necessity of allocating the necessary material and human means to prepare for the national plan and begin completing the program for opening paths and barriers to prevent fires. He also urged the establishment of the National Committee for Forest Protection in coordination with the relevant ministerial sectors, and not to wait. Until May 2024, highlighting the importance of proactive action in combating forest fires that affected 37 states during 2023.

In this context, the Minister called for starting to count and prepare water points with the preparation of a digital map that includes the locations of these points and their filling, as well as embodying the program for the rehabilitation and repair of degraded forest areas at the level of 39 states, specifying the month of April 2024 to implement all the planned programs.

In this context, the governor of M’sila state chaired an executive meeting whose agenda was devoted to studying a number of points, most notably the installation of the state committee in charge of combating forest fires and the ratification of the firefighting plan, as well as an explanatory presentation of Law 23-18 related to the protection and preservation of state lands.

The governor of Al-Baidh State also supervised a meeting on the organizational plan for combating forest fires for the 2024 season, which was devoted to the installation of the state committee for protecting forests from fires for the year 2024, the installation of the permanent operations committee for protecting forests from fires for the year 2024, as well as the ratification of the organizational plan for combating forest fires for the year 2024.

During the meeting, the state governor stressed the necessity of opening paths within the forest belt across the state’s territory and emphasizing palm oases, in addition to the protective tape for cultivated areas, as well as organizing awareness-raising and awareness campaigns with the participation of various interests and coordination between them to reduce the phenomenon of forest fires.

With the aim of protecting forests from fires and the rapid intervention of the initial forest intervention and civil protection teams, the Illizi state authorities inspected the process of cutting the forest path in the Boumerqad forest, where about 3 km out of the planned 4 km were opened, with the rest of the size being completed by completing the construction of a path starting from the Malik Makhlouf service station. Towards the east, as a line of fire, as a buffer strip between the buildings and the trees of Boumerqad.

In accordance with Executive Decree No. 07/301 of September 27, 2007, amended and supplemented, which includes the establishment of special bodies to coordinate forest protection work, and in implementation of the instructions of the Minister of the Interior in this regard, the governor of El Tarf State, Mohamed Meziane, supervised the installation of the state committee for forest protection for the 2024 season, in accordance with According to Article 8 of the aforementioned executive decree, and the state committee for permanent operations to combat forest fires for the 2024 season in accordance with Article 11 of the same decree, the state plan for the campaign to combat forest fires for the 2024 season was also approved.

In the same context, the governor of the state of Tissemsilt held a meeting during which a detailed presentation was made by the forest governor on the preparations and measures taken to combat forest fires and agricultural crops for the year 2024, along with presenting a brief summary of the fire prevention campaign for the year 2023. The director of civil protection also had an intervention about the human and material capabilities. For fighting forest fires.

During this meeting, the governor gave instructions on the necessity of taking all necessary proactive and preventive measures to confront fires and limit the negative effects they cause, while supporting them with efforts aimed at protecting forest areas in full coordination with the actors.