Iroro Tanshi
Wildfires are the major cause of deforestation, and are intensifying under climate change. Farmers who use fires on farms are not adapted to erratic weather patterns, and are ill-equipped to manage uncontrolled fires that ultimately reach forests. Predicting fire risk and know-how of response reduces risk of wildfires will drastically reduce wildfires in the tropics
The Idea
Fire Alerts and Forest Guardians
Organization
Organization
Tropical Fire Solutions
The Mission
Stop tropical forest wildfires.
How It Works
Tropical Fire Solutions predicts dangerous fire days by installing weather stations and leveraging historical data, then gets the word to farmers through signposts, town criers, and texts. When someone ignores the warning or a fire escapes anyway, trained and equipped Forest Guardians on motorbikes respond fast. Village bylaws give the system teeth—burn on the wrong day, and there are consequences.
The Dream
Governments across the tropics have early fire detection systems and volunteer community firefighting programs to stop wildfires.
Why We Picked Iroro
Iroro is bat and nature obsessed. She’s discovered species once thought lost, built Nigeria’s first bat record database, and launched major zero-wildfire campaigns. We think this unique, relatively simple, and locally popular approach can significantly reduce fires that damage tropical forests next to agricultural zones in places like southern Nigeria and Cameroon. Smokey Bear showed that government-led fire prediction changes behavior, and the spread of volunteer fire stations proves the model’s adaptability. If Iroro makes it work in Nigeria, they could inspire and train others in the region to follow suit.
