Co-operation in North-west Azerbaijan and Eastern Georgia

Fires pose a major risk to the landscape of the South Caucasus region. With climate change, this risk is likely to increase as temperatures become warmer, precipitation levels change, and heatwaves and droughts become more frequent and intense – conditions that are conducive to the occurrence and spread of fires. Uncontrolled and undesired fires pose environmental, economic, social and health risks, and therefore undermine human and livelihood security. Given that these risks are likely to be shared by communities across multiple jurisdictions in border regions, co-operation is crucial for addressing the risks in a holistic and sustainable manner.

This scoping study aims to assess the current context of landscape fire management and wildfire risk reduction in two pilot municipalities: Dedoplistskaro in Georgia and Zagatala in Azerbaijan. On the basis of this assessment, it then collects and develops ideas for cooperation activities between the two pilot municipalities, and identifies what is required to ensure their success. These activities will contribute to the overall objective of promoting climate resilience and reducing climate-related security risks through joint landscape fire management and wildfire risk reduction in North-west Azerbaijan and Eastern Georgia.

This study builds on the findings of the OSCE-adelphi report “Regional Consultation for the South Caucasus” and follow-up consultations for Azerbaijan and Georgia, which identified disaster risk reduction (DRR) as a top priority for transboundary co-operation on addressing climate-related security risks in the region. It draws heavily on insights from follow-up stakeholder consultations, which took place through online and physical meetings and interviews and were instrumental in narrowing the focus down to the priority actions areas of landscape fire management and wildfire risk reduction within the broader scope of DRR. Additional desk research supplemented the preparation of the study.