European Union disaster resilience goals
The Commission has developed, together with Member States, five Union disaster resilience goals to steer future work on disaster prevention and preparedness.
Over recent years, Europe has been confronted by complex and interconnected challenges and threats, including Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and the mounting impacts of climate change. The consequences of these events are visible across our societies and economies. With this in mind, two things are clear. First, the EU must work together. Second, it needs to be better prepared to act before disasters strike.
This is why the Commission has developed, together with Member States, five Union disaster resilience goals, in line with the 2021 revision of the Union Civil Protection Mechanism legislation. These are set out in a Commission Recommendation and accompanying Communication, adopted on 8 February 2023.
These goals will point the EU to five strategic areas where Member States and the Commission need to work together in order to strengthen our collective capacity – to withstand future disasters, to protect citizens, and to safeguard livelihoods, as well as the environment.
Specific objectives and flagship initiatives for each goal will facilitate their implementation. The goals and flagship initiatives are as follows:
- Anticipate - To improve risk assessment, anticipation, and disaster risk management planning.
Flagship initiative: To develop Europe-wide disaster scenarios, which will identifykey hazards faced by the Union that have cross-border impacts.
- Prepare – To increase risk awareness and preparedness of the population.
Flagship initiative: To develop the ‘preparEU ’ programme, a pan-European awareness initiative for disaster risk.
- Alert – To enhance early warning.
Flagship initiative: To link global early warning to local action in Europe. The Emergency Response Coordination Centre has developed a range of automated European and global early warning and detection systems, and is developing a multi-hazard “dashboard” that provides European situational awareness to emergency managers.
- Respond – To enhance the Union Civil Protection Mechanism response capacity.
Flagship initiative: To scale up the rescEU strategic reserve. This includes a doubling of rescEU’s aerial firefighting fleet by 2023, with an additional 2 helicopters and 14 light aircraft.
- Secure – To ensure a robust Civil Protection System.
Flagship initiative: Stress-testing the emergency operation centres across Europe. This flagship will pilot a pan-European disaster preparedness ‘stress test’, which will check the business continuity of emergency operation centres.
To facilitate implementation, the Union Civil Protection Mechanism will continue to put at the disposal of Member States and Participating States its tools such as peer reviews, technical and financial assistance as well as the Knowledge Network, which provides access to a wealth of best practices and experts.
While the disaster resilience goals are specific to the area of civil protection, they will also reinforce linkages with resilience efforts in other areas, such as in security, environment, and climate change.
To mark the occasion the Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič gave the following statement: "For over 20 years, the EU Civil Protection Mechanism has ensured swift and efficient emergency assistance whenever a major disaster strikes, overwhelming national capacities. The provision of assistance supported through these EU solidarity operations is impressive. However, natural and man-made disasters are becoming more frequent, intense, and complex, with increasingly cross-sectorial and transboundary impacts. As we recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, climate crisis is becoming ever more present in the form of extremely devastating wildfire seasons, heatwaves, and floods, expanding across Europe. Meanwhile, Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine is sending shockwaves throughout Europe and beyond."
He added: " To withstand this, we need to boost our collective resilience, with an improved understanding of the changing risk landscape and common orientation. Embarking on this European disaster resilience agenda, the EU and its Member States will be better placed to respond to, prevent and prepare for the consequences of major disasters. This will save more lives and protect better citizens, livelihoods, and the environment in the EU and in the world.”
Embarking on this European disaster resilience agenda, the EU and its Member States will be better placed to respond to, prevent and prepare for the consequences of major disasters. This will save more lives and protect better citizens, livelihoods, and the environment in the EU.