Introducing the Tropical Fire Fund: Backing Communities to Prevent Wildfires Before They Start

About the session Iroro Tanshi survived a 13,000-acre fire on a forested mountain in Nigeria. That experience helped set in motion a different approach to wildfire: instead of waiting for fires to become disasters, what if communities had the resources, knowledge, and infrastructure to prevent them in the first place? Iroro and her team began working with communities in Nigeria to lead wildfire prevention themselves. According to Tropical Fire, the approach reduced fires in protected forests where the model operated to zero and cut fires on surrounding farms by 50%. Now, the ambition is to take that model further. At The Sidebar, Iroro will announce the Tropical Fire Fund, a new effort to back community-led wildfire prevention across tropical forest landscapes. The fund builds on the work in Nigeria and the experience of early adopters in Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Its premise is straightforward: communities living closest to fire-prone landscapes are not simply people to protect from wildfire. They can be among the most important actors in preventing it. They understand how land is used, where fires begin, how local practices affect risk, and what changes are possible before fire season arrives. Yet much of the money and attention surrounding wildfire still comes after the emergency has begun. The Tropical Fire Fund asks what becomes possible if we invest earlier. How can communities be resourced to lead prevention? Which elements of the Nigeria model can travel across countries, and which must be redesigned around local ecological and social realities? What evidence will be needed as the approach scales? And how should funders think differently about financing prevention when the most successful outcome is a disaster that never happens? This session will introduce the Tropical Fire Fund, share the experience that led to its creation, and invite the room into the larger challenge it is designed to address: moving resources upstream, before forests burn. What to expect The announcement of the Tropical Fire Fund, grounded in the story of how community-led wildfire prevention developed in Nigeria and what Tropical Fire is learning as the approach expands. Iroro will share what happened after the fire that catalyzed the work, what communities did differently, what the results suggest, and why the next step is a dedicated fund capable of backing community-led prevention in more tropical forest landscapes. The conversation will then turn to what it takes to scale: evidence, financing, local ownership, adaptation across different contexts, and the challenge of convincing funders to invest in preventing crises whose success is measured partly by what never happens. Who this is for This session is for climate and conservation funders, philanthropists, forest and wildfire practitioners, community-led organizations, governments, climate resilience specialists, Indigenous and local community leaders, and anyone interested in financing prevention rather than waiting to pay for disaster response. What you will get out of it A first introduction to the Tropical Fire Fund and the ambition behind it The story and evidence from Nigeria that led to the fund's creation Early lessons from taking community-led wildfire prevention into Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of Congo A clearer understanding of what communities need to lead wildfire prevention effectively An opportunity to engage with the fund at the beginning of its journey and help shape what scaling community-led wildfire prevention could look like Featuring Iroro Tanshi, Mulago Fellow Hosted by Tropical Fire