Korea’s reforestation journey—nearly 10 billion trees planted—offers powerful lessons for climate action and forest fire management. In this collection of interviews, global experts examine Korea’s experience alongside emerging technologies and practical solutions that can be adapted across diverse country and policy contexts. Discover how countries and partners are moving beyond reactive fire suppression toward smarter, more connected, and more preventive approaches to managing forest fires.
Building Resilience to Fire: Insights from Türkiye
World Bank
Valerie Hickey, Global Director for Environment at the World Bank, discusses how to build resilience with reflects on Türkiye’s experience and what it reveals about building forest fire resilience over time.
Facing increasingly severe fire seasons, Türkiye has invested in institutional reform, workforce capacity, and modern monitoring and response systems, while embedding fire risk management into broader forest and land-use strategies. Hickey emphasizes that resilience is not built overnight. It depends on strong institutions, sustained financing, and continuous learning, including international knowledge exchange that allows countries to adapt proven solutions to their own contexts.
🎥 Watch the interview to hear how Türkiye’s experience is informing global approaches to forest fire resilience.
Investing Early: Prevention, Preparedness, and Resilience
World Bank
Sameh Wahba, Regional Director for Sustainable Development at the Europe and Central Asia region at the World Bank underscores a central reality: forest fires are no longer isolated or seasonal. They are larger, less predictable, and far more costly, making a suppression-only approach ineffective and expensive.
He argues for integrated forest fire management that spans research, risk reduction, readiness, and response. This includes managing fuel loads, strengthening land-use planning, deploying early-warning systems, and using data and AI to anticipate fire risk. Crucially, Wahba stresses the importance of financing prevention early, rather than concentrating resources only after disasters strike, and of strengthening cross-border cooperation for risks that do not stop at national boundaries.
🎥 Watch the interview to hear why early investment is the most cost-effective forest fire strategy.
How AI and Integrated Data Are Transforming Forest Fire Response
San Diego Supercomputer Center
Ilkay Altintas points to the next frontier in forest fire management: connecting data, systems, and decision-makers in real time.
AI-enabled platforms now integrate satellite imagery, sensor data, weather information, and fire behavior models to support faster, more informed decisions—often before fires escalate. Altintas emphasizes that technology only delivers impact when data are shared, systems are interoperable, and tools are co-developed with end users to meet operational needs on the ground.
🎥 Watch the interview to see how AI and integrated data are reshaping forest fire response.
Scaling AI for Forest Fires Through Global Partnerships
Spatial Informatics Group
For David Saah, artificial intelligence is already transforming how the world understands fire risk—but only if it is deployed collaboratively.
From AI-powered forest fire collaboratives to new satellite systems and foundation models, data volumes are expanding rapidly. The challenge is no longer scarcity, but translating abundance into insights that matter locally and guide real-time decisions. Saah highlights approaches that link fire management with environmental markets—reducing megafire risk, stabilizing carbon stocks, and generating revenue to sustain fuel treatments over time. In a rapidly changing climate, he emphasizes that public-private partnerships are essential to scale these solutions where they are needed most.
🎥 Watch the interview to explore how AI and partnerships can accelerate smarter forest fire decisions worldwide.
From Detection to Prevention: Ground-Based Innovation at Scale
Dryad Networks
While models and satellites assess risk, ultra-early detection can stop forest fires before they spread.
Carsten Brinkschulte describes how Dryad Networks’ solar-powered sensors—an “electronic nose”—can detect fires within minutes of ignition, even before flames appear. Linked through mesh networks designed for remote forests, the sensors transmit precise geolocation data to responders, focusing on high-risk areas where most human-caused fires begin.
With deployments expanding across Europe, North America, and Asia, the technology is moving from pilots to scale. Brinkschulte is clear, however, that innovation alone is not enough: sustained financing is essential to unlock the full potential of prevention-focused solutions.
🎥 Watch the interview to see how early detection could redefine forest fire response.
Training Without Borders: Building a Global Forest Fire Network
International Wildfire Alliance
For Alan Sinclair, effective forest fire management begins with people—and the networks that connect them.
The International Wildfire Alliance brings together specialists from around the world to strengthen shared capacity through international training programs, supporting more than 160 firefighters from 25 countries. By introducing common frameworks early in careers and emphasizing train-the-trainer models, the Alliance is helping build durable professional networks that endure beyond any single event and strengthen collective response capacity over time.
🎥 Watch the interview to learn how global training networks are shaping the future of forest fire management.
Learning Across Borders, Acting Earlier, Scaling Smarter
Taken together, these films deliver a clear message: the future of forest fire management depends on international cooperation, early action, and the smart use of technology—supported by people, partnerships, and financing that allow solutions to scale.
🎥 Watch the full interview series to hear directly from global leaders, innovators, and practitioners—and from the Türkiye delegation—shaping the next generation of integrated forest fire management.