Prof. George Mitri, Director of the Land and Natural Resources Program at the Institute of the Environment (LNR-IOE), University of Balamand intervened at the 9th International Conference on Forest Fire Research and & 17th International Wildland Fire Safety Summit, held in Coimbra, Portugal, on November 14-17 2022.

The Conference aims to provide an up to date on the developments in forest fire science and technology and an opportunity to meet persons and institutions, to promote international cooperation in this research and management area.

Prof. Mitri’s talk addressed the topic of climate change impact on forest fire occurrence in Lebanon while presenting the latest research results of the LNR-IOE team in this sector. These showed an increasing trend of fire events especially in high altitudinal ranges of vegetation levels. Simultaneously, increasing drought conditions were observed in high mountain lands. The results strongly supported a link between changing climatic conditions and fire occurrence in Lebanon. This has resulted in clear impact on vulnerable forest ecosystems.

Prof. Mitri is a National expert on forest fire matters. He coordinated the development of Lebanon’s National strategy for forest fire management of 2009. He serves on various national and international committees related to the forest fire sector. ​