Below is an excerpt from a joint perspective published in the Stanford Social Innovation Review. The full article is available on the SSIR website.
One glimpse at the August 2024 wildfire incident map of Western North America and one might have thought half the continent was on fire. Oregon had declared a statewide wildfire state of emergency through September. California was grappling with the Park Fire, the fourth largest in the state’s history. New Mexico was recovering from flash floods exacerbated by the South Fork and Salt fires. The National Interagency Fire Center was reporting 85 large wildfires requiring active management, with nearly 30,000 wildland firefighters and support staff deployed, and evacuation orders in place for 20 fires. Meanwhile, Canada dealt with the incineration of the scenic and popular tourist town of Jasper and the evacuation of Saddle Hills County in Alberta, also requiring emergency measures to sustain incident operations including needing to mobilize international support through the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre. Fire services worldwide are increasingly engaged in protecting communities and natural resources, in geographies as diverse as North America, Chile, Siberia, Greece, Australia, and South Africa.
The 2024 fires in Western North America are not an anomaly; rather they reflect a global trend. The science is consistent and clear: Extreme wildfires have more than doubled in both frequency and magnitude over the past two decades, and this trend is expected to continue. Fires are a natural phenomenon across biomes, affecting just about every continent. However, in the context of unfolding climate change trends, including extreme heat and wind conditions, the risk of wildfire impacts is drastically increasing. Extreme wildfire impacts now span geopolitical boundaries, affecting diverse communities and ecosystems each year. Fires can burn wherever fuel is available, without regard for a community’s resources, politics, or development. While the challenge is complex, it is also unifying. We share the burden of catastrophic wildfires, and the potentially irreversible consequences they can cause.
The urgency is high, as extreme wildfires could increase by up to 30 percent by 2050 and 50 percent by 2100. In Western North America, as we grapple with the consequences of a century of policy and practice suppressing natural fire regimes and disturbing ecosystem function, and the removal of Indigenous land stewardship, we have to recognize and come to terms with the ways we have contributed to this crisis. Yet, with aligned goals and coordinated action, the wildfire crisis is still a manageable challenge—if, that is, we can shift from outdated methods and legacy mindsets.
We are 17 authors from 17 different organizations across sectors—government, science, business, and philanthropy—who have come together to share how we understand our roles in building the path forward. We cannot address 21st-century fires with 20th-century approaches. Resilient communities and ecosystems cannot rely on the reactive methods of the past. By adopting a comprehensive approach that meets the modern moment, we can combat catastrophic wildfires and even co-exist with beneficial fire.
Cross-sector Mobilization
First, we need to be strategic in deploying the full spectrum of funding, because the wildfire challenge exceeds what any single source can tackle alone. To drive innovation and scale solutions, we must combine investment and collaboration from various funding niches:
- Individual, family, and corporate philanthropy can support nonprofits, universities, labs, and companies with charitable intent. These funds are crucial for early-stage research, feasibility studies, and pilot projects co-developed with end-users and communities for charitable outcomes.
- Community foundations are often the first to respond to local disasters—helping to ensure broad coordination between nonprofits and government, and raising funds for need—and are effective and trusted messengers for the need to get ahead of changing conditions and increase community resilience.
- Impact investors can demonstrate market readiness by supporting early business ideas that need concessionary funding to get off the ground.
- Venture capital can bet on the most promising solutions and usher them across the valley of death from early development to broader deployment and scaling.
- Government agencies can adopt validated solutions that offer societal benefit at a fraction of the cost of disaster recovery. With billions in contracts available for disaster management, public agencies can integrate proven solutions, accelerate deployment, and enhance preparedness.
- Private sector entities can bring their considerable resources to bear by adopting solutions that align with bottom-line benefits while contributing to resilience against wildfires.
Second, we’ve achieved broad agreement around the three action areas above, and now we need cross-sector collaboration to turn it into action. The wildfire challenge impacts security, livelihoods, and natural resources while bridging political and social divides. Nations are already sharing resources for fire response and convening around pre-fire mitigation and stewardship strategies. Because wildfire ignores borders, a shared, proactive, regional approach is required.
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