Cross-border resilience and crisis management
A new study will map risks in EU border areas and identify cross-border cooperation agreements, tools and processes for good risk governance.
The European Commission has launched in December 2022 a new study focusing on resilience and crisis management in the EU’s border regions.
The study will map the exposure and vulnerability of 43 EU land borders at the local level, four maritime borders, and six borders in EU candidate countries to a number of natural and man-made hazards. The study will provide an overview of existing agreements, tools and processes for disaster risk prevention, preparedness and response in border areas. The 10 case studies drafted will emphasise effective governance approaches. The study will also analyse legal, capacity, and institutional gaps and will come up with recommendations for improvements. Detailed maps will be created.
The study team invites relevant stakeholders to get in touch in case they wish to:
- Provide data and datasets on risk exposure, vulnerability and impact in border areas;
- Provide evidence of cross-border cooperation agreements, tools and processes for disaster prevention and response in EU border areas;
- Share insights on possibilities for improvement of legal and governance aspects of risk management in border areas;
In case you want to contribute in written form or through online or face-to-face discussions, please get in touch with elisabetta.marinelli@technopolis-group.com.
Background
The study is taking place in a context whereby frequent occurrence of hazards including in border areas requires high level of cooperation between bodies from both sides of the border. This includes prevention of and response to climate change induced hazards such as forest fires, floods, landslides but also hazards such as migration, industrial accidents, nuclear accidents, pandemics, etc.
This need for coordinated disaster risk prevention, preparedness and response is already recognised by a wide set of EU policies and instruments. Moreover, European assistance is provided by the Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM), providing targeted assistance to over 600 requests yearly inside and outside the EU. Nevertheless, prevention, preparedness and response in cross-border territories is not always optimal and improvement is possible. The Union disaster resilience goals adopted on 8 February call for improved cross-border risk assessment and disaster risk management planning, as well as improved cross-border coordination for emergency response. The 12 month study was launched in December 2022 and is carried out by Technopolis Group, Nordregio, and Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici (CMCC) on behalf of DG REGIO and DG ECHO of the European Commission.
