On 25 and 26 November 2025, the 2nd Mediterranean Wildfire Workshop took place in Barcelona, hosted at the EU Representation and co-organised by the European Commission, the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) and the Prevention Preparedness Response to natural & man-made Disasters in the Southern & Eastern Mediterranean Programme (PPRD Med).
The workshop brought together around 70 participants, including senior civil protection officials, operational services, scientists, and regional organisations. All Southern Neighbourhood partner countries, except Egypt, attended, along with ten EU Member States, the League of Arab States, the Council of Europe, UNDRR, and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
Discussions made clear that wildfire seasons across the Mediterranean are becoming longer, more intense and increasingly unpredictable, reinforcing the need for coordinated approaches. Giovanni di Girolamo (DG ECHO – Middle East and North Africa) highlighted that fires are now “de-seasonalised”, underlining why cross-border planning and mutual support frameworks are indispensable.
The Spain–Portugal operational model was repeatedly referenced as a mature example of structured cooperation, encompassing shared situational awareness, joint work with local communities on prevention, and rapid response mechanisms supported by technological tools such as drones and real-time data sharing.
Landscape planning featured prominently during the two-day event. Experts from Catalonia and France stressed the need to complement suppression efforts with broader risk-informed land and forest management strategies, including identifying areas suitable for controlled burning and prioritising zones requiring urgent intervention to mitigate both fire and secondary hazards such as flooding.
Significant disparities remain across the region in terms of readiness and capacity. Presentations from several Southern Neighbourhood partners illustrated major challenges, such as limited telecommunications infrastructure, abandoned forest areas and resource constraints. Syria’s Civil Protection Deputy-Minister, Ahmed Ejzayez, noted ongoing efforts to introduce early warning systems in and develop access routes designed with wildfire response in mind.
Aligned with the UfM’s Civil Protection Action Plan 2030 and the PPRD Med roadmaps, the workshop placed particular emphasis on practical cooperation. Exchanges focused on:
Participants also explored opportunities for increased use of artificial intelligence, satellite services, GIS tools, sensor networks, and drones for surveillance, assessment and early detection.
UNDRR underlined that wildfire resilience depends on strengthened risk governance, shared science and interoperable early warning systems, areas where Euro-Mediterranean and Arab regional cooperation can drive concrete progress on the ground.
Cyprus expressed interest in hosting the next Mediterranean Wildfire Workshop during their EU presidency, signalling continued collective momentum to address the region’s evolving wildfire risk.
Risk drivers