APRIL’s Fire Free Village Program (FFVP)

Launched in July 2015, APRIL's Fire Free Village Program (FFVP) is a fire prevention project which aims to educate and raise awareness about the negative impacts of land burning among local communities in Riau, Indonesia.

The FFVP comprises a three-stage programme which supports communities in developing their social and economic capabilities – all without using the traditional method of using fire as a tool to clear and prepare land.

The three stages are 'Fire Aware Community' (FAC), 'Fire Free Village' (FFV), and 'Fire Resilient Community' (FRC).

Currently, the FFVP engages with 77 communities around APRIL's concession areas to encourage them not to start fires: 50 villages at the FAC stage, 18 villages at the FFV stage, and nine villages at the FRC stage.

STAGE ONE:

FAC: Fire Aware Community

Fire Aware Community (FAC) is the first stage of the FFVP, allowing fire-free concepts and initiatives to be introduced to new communities through a range of community awareness and engagement activities.

It is meant to be a powerful motivator to these communities to move into the FFV stage. 

STAGE TWO:

FFV: Fire Free Village

Fire Free Village (FFV), the second and cornerstone stage of the FFVP, focuses on educating, equipping, and supporting villages to adopt no-burn agricultural practices.

At this stage, participating villages are eligible to receive rewards, if communities are successful at achieving a zero-burn target for the year.

Individuals from local communities are also recruited for the fire training program by APRIL as fire crew leaders, and serve primarily as fire prevention advocates and fire suppression specialists at their respective villages.

Communities also receive assistance from APRIL to adopt sustainable agricultural alternatives – such as mechanical land clearing tools – in lieu of fire for land clearing.

STAGE THREE:

FRC: Fire Resilient Community

Fire Resilient Community (FRC), the final stage, comprises villages which graduate from the FFV stage of the program after spending two years at that stage.

All FFV villages will eventually progress to the FRC stage, including villages which do not receive any rewards during their FFV phase. 

FRC villages are no longer eligible for rewards, but will have ongoing sophisticated and specifically developed fire management engagement with APRIL.

At present, there are nine FRC villages, which progressed to this stage in 2017.