Today, the European Commission released a new publication on Wildfire Risk Awareness and Communication: Analysis of good practices. This document analyses in depth the good practices that the European Commission has received in this area from UCPM member and participating states, as well as other initiatives. The document is published on International Firefighters’ Day (04 May).
The new publication underscores the urgency to strengthen wildfire risk awareness and communication at European and global level and to establish a comprehensive approach to face this risk across every phase of disaster risk management; from risk assessment through prevention, preparedness and response. It also highlights the need to include every segment of society, providing a guide to how to raise awareness amongst different groups of stakeholders according to their specific needs and challenges.
Collected insights in this publication present strengths, opportunities, weaknesses, and threats around the submitted initiatives and projects, considering elements such as the specific Disaster Risk Management phases, the target groups, communication channels, objectives and main actions.
Wildfires - a growing threat
Wildfires are not only becoming more frequent but also more severe in Europe and around the world, threatening citizens and residents’ lives and health, harming the environment and damaging the economy and the infrastructure in the impacted areas.
For this reason, the European Commission launched the Wildfire Prevention Action Plan in 2022.
This Plan is composed of ten actions, designed to improve capacity, knowledge and financing opportunities for wildfire prevention actions. This includes to further enhance citizen protection, preparedness and prevention on wildfire risk through the collection of good practices on raising wildfire risk awareness in Europe.
The new good practice guide on Wildfire Risk Awareness and Communication is a result of this initiative following a specific call for submission of good practice examples and represents also a valuable contribution to the implementation of the EU Disaster Resilience Goals, especially Goal 2 (Prepare on risk awareness and communication.)
The document was prepared by the Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia, the Pau Costa Foundation and other selected experts. The dataset originating from the call for good practices comprises 53 collected RA&C initiatives; results from nine EU funded projects collected through the call were also analysed. Additionally, other relevant EU funded projects related to risk awareness and communication on wildfires and disaster risk reduction were identified by the study. The publication contains examples of good practice on risk awareness and communication initiatives and projects collected, references, and a glossary.
Honouring Firefighters worldwide
International Firefighters Day was set up to honour and respect the work of Firefighters worldwide. Firefighters are a key section of the civil protection community, with many firefighters going on to work in the civil protection field, or as trainers in civil protection exercises.
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Risk drivers