Build community wildfire resilience through social action

Climate change intensifies wildfires in Chile, where 99% are human caused. In the last decade, over 1.4 million hectares have burned, releasing more than 160 million tons of CO₂. CMPC, a major global forest and pulp producer with over 700,000 hectares in Chile, has been significantly affected. In the 2022-2023 season alone, more than 37,000 hectares of their land burned, impacting thousands of people.

To combat this, fire prevention is essential and requires active community involvement. CMPC launched a four-pillar community wildfire resilience initiative that focuses on prevention, education, and territorial action, aligning with global climate adaptation strategies. This strategy operates primarily in the regions of Malue, Ñuble, BioBío, and Araucanía, which have been most affected by the increase in forest fires.

CMPC's community-centered wildfire model reduces fire risk and emissions by combining prevention, education, and early warnings with multilevel governance. The program has four pillars:

1. Recreational Forests: Provide safe public access to working forests areas for recreational purposes.

2. Green Firebreaks: Allow and promote neighbours to use firebreak lands for agriculture use

3. Community Prevention Networks: Participation and financing of working committees in urban/rural interface areas for fire prevention.

4. Multipurpose Brigades: +400 trained local members who focus on early detection and rapid suppression. These efforts lower the risk of ignition, improve early response, and build resilience in vulnerable communities.

Pillar of fire prevention work

Community Prevention Networks

Sustainability impact

Climate

• Emission focus

  • Directly targets biogenic Scope 1 emissions (CO₂ and other GHGs from uncontrolled fires).

  • Equivalent to ~425,000 tCO₂ avoided emissions.

  • Indirectly impacts Scope 3 (Capital Goods) by reducing need for equipment replacement and reconstruction.

• Results in 2024/2025 season

  • 16% decrease in fire incidents across CMPC’s areas.

  • Contrasts with a 6% national increase in fire incidents.

  • 273 fire outbreaks contained early, preventing escalation.

  • Thousands of hectares of land saved from burning.

• CO2 reduction

  • Helped maintain carbon sinks (forests).

  • Contributes to CMPC’s Net Zero 2040 goal.

Nature

• Environmental protection: Fires severely damage nature; prevention reduces soil degradation, biodiversity loss, and disruption of ecosystem services (water regulation, carbon storage).

• Initiative measures:

  • Use of green firebreaks and public-use management in recreational forests to protect habitats and ecosystem services.

  • Planned expansion to 31 ha of green firebreaks will:

    • Strengthen ecological connectivity.

    • Protect habitats in wildland–urban interfaces.

• Prevents fire spread and ensures continuity of Native vegetation, Forest plantations, and Wildlife corridors

Social

The initiative creates direct positive impacts for communities living in high-risk areas:

• Prevention & safety: 150+ community committees and 93 multipurpose brigades reduce the risk of fire reaching homes and infrastructure.

• Livelihoods: 400+ local jobs and 85,000+ hours of capacity building strengthen rural economies.

• Well-being: 140,000+ visitors safely used recreational forests in summer 2024/2025, with zero fire incidents, providing spaces for education, recreation, and community gathering.

In total, more than 50% of territorial improvements were defined and implemented by communities themselves, reinforcing ownership and resilience.

Business impact

Benefits

• Business continuity

  • Strengthens operational and supply chain continuity during critical seasons.

  • Minimizes risk of asset damage and losses from interruptions.

• Efficiency & cost savings

  • Focuses on prevention over response/rehabilitation, generating significant efficiencies and savings.

• Key results (2024/2025 season)

  • 16% reduction in wildfires in CMPC’s areas of influence (vs. 6% national increase), equivalent to ~425,000 tCO₂e avoided emissions.

  • 0 fires originating in recreational forests.

  • 25% reduction in recreational forest fires compared to the prior season.

• Strategic value

  • Reinforces CMPC’s social license to operate and strengthens its reputation.

  • Provides replicable lessons for other territories.

  • Enhances long-term resilience and adaptation leadership.

Costs

The initiative requires continuous investment in patrolling (6–7,000 km/month), training, brigades, and prevention infrastructure like recreational forests and green firebreaks. OPEX covers annual prevention campaigns and over 85,000 hours of community engagement. CAPEX funds the development of recreational areas and the installation of 17 firebreaks (with +10 more planned).

The program receives no subsidies, but CMPC is exploring co-financing with municipalities and adaptation funds. Costs fluctuate based on seasonal fire risks. To minimize these costs, CMPC prioritizes prevention over suppression, fosters community ownership to reduce operational expenses, and coordinates with public authorities to share resources.

Indicative abatement cost

Although precise abatement costs vary per season, evidence suggests that preventive action is significantly more cost-effective than suppression: on average, the cost per hectare protected through brigades and firebreaks is a fraction of the cost of post-fire rehabilitation. Internal monitoring is being developed to estimate abatement costs in US$/tCO₂e avoided, linking avoided emissions from biomass burning to direct program expenditures. Early analysis indicates strong cost-effectiveness, reinforcing prevention as the optimal long-term investment.

Co-benefits

• Strengthened community cohesion, civic education, and shared responsibility in wildfire prevention.

• Integration of recreation, education, and resilience, improving well-being in rural territories.

Typical business profile

Companies managing land or assets in fire-prone wildland–urban interfaces, especially forestry and pulp & paper operators; agribusiness/plantations with forest adjacency; municipal/regional land managers; park/tourism concession holders; transport/logistics corridors that cross forested areas; utilities with rights-of-way or reservoir rims. Best fit when there is ongoing community interaction, seasonal fire risk, and the need to protect supply continuity and local livelihoods.

Approach

1. Territorial baseline and wildfire risk mapping (incl. TCFD scenarios).

2. Stakeholder mapping, participatory design and prioritization, and MOUs with municipalities/CONAF/communities.

3. Co-design of prevention plan and KPIs (fires, response time, visits, brigades).

4. Recreational forests: open, signal, educate; define safety protocols.

5. Green firebreaks: identify/implement agroforestry strips and maintenance.

6. Community-based monitoring and patrols: routes, frequency, reporting channels, early-warning linkage.

7. Multipurpose brigades: recruit, train, equip; SOPs for rapid initial attack.

8. Community prevention networks: fund committees, drills, risk comms.

9. Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification: track incidents, patrol km, prevention hours; annual reporting.

10. Scale-up: lessons learned, budgeting, replication to new municipalities.

Stakeholders involved

• Internal: Sustainability, Operations, Corporate Affairs, Security, Purchasing.

• External: CONAF (National Forestry Governmental Authority), communities, municipalities, fire departments, Police, NGOs, academia, companies, and sectoral authorities.

Key parameters to consider

• Seasonality and multi-year horizon; territorial prioritization criteria; social safeguards; resilience metrics; risks and maintenance plans.

• Program active since 2019; expanded to 22 municipalities.

• Requires strong trust-building with communities, local authorities and global organizations (e.g. Firewise).

• Ensure sustained community engagement, long-term maintenance, and stable resources even in low-fire years.

• Building strong relationships with peer forestry companies, aligning protocols and sharing resources for coordinated detection and suppression across boundaries.

• Consider potential public–private co-financing with regional governments and other sectors to expand reach beyond forestry funding.

Implementation and operations tips

• Build local governance structures with clear roles, visitation rules, and transparent risk communication.

• The main challenges are sustaining community motivation during fire-free years, limited co-financing, and coordination among multiple stakeholders.

• Regular training and communication to keep engagement high; annual joint planning with authorities and forestry peers to align priorities; diversified funding efforts with regional partners.

• Invest early in prevention—cheaper and more effective than suppression—and combine social benefits (jobs, recreation) with environmental protection.

• Track metrics on fires avoided, community reach, and brigade performance for continuous improvement.

• Cultural shift from "closed borders to avoid risks" strategy to "open borders to positive usage"