The main objective of a visit to New Zealand (NZ) during November - December 2012 was to study the context for, and approaches to, the prediction of forest fire risk. Forest fire risk management systems in NZ have developed considerably over the lasttwo decades, and they are now being used to make predictions about possible changes in risk as a result of climate change. There are many similarities in forestry policy and practice, and in climate, between Great Britain (GB) and NZ. Hence, it was considered a valuable opportunity to explore what aspects of NZ fire risk management experience and infrastructure could be imported to support British needs. The desirability of enhanced national and international collaboration in wildfire science has been recently voiced (Stoof et al, 2012). Awareness of the risks posed by forest fires has increased in GB in recent years, partly as a result of improved records pointing to higher fire risk than previously thought (DCLG, 2011; Jollands et al, 2011), and also because of research showing the likelihood of significant increases in forest fires as a result of climate change (Brown et al, 2012; Moffat et al., 2012).
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