Over 40 organisations in Greece were part of the discussions, and allowed the UCPM peers to get a good overview of the national system.

The report, which looked at wildfire prevention, preparedness, and response, amongst other areas, was presented during a workshop in Athens, organised by the Greek General Secretariat of Civil Protection. Director General for the European Commission’s Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO) Maciej Popowski handed over the report to the Greek authorities.

DG Popowski congratulated the Greek colleagues for offering to undergo a peer review. He also called for enhanced partnership among the various actors and for embedding wildfire prevention on an equal footing with preparedness and response.

Maciej Popowski in Greece with other participants presenting the UCPM Wildfire Peer Review Report handed over to Greek authorities. — © European Commission

‘Good prevention reinforces good response, and makes operations safer for firefighters. It also pays off, as we know that 1 EUR invested in wildfire prevention returns up to 12 EUR in social, economic and environmental benefits.’

Enrique Rey Van Den Bercken, one of the peers involved, presented the key good practices and recommendations identified in the report, on behalf of the peer team.

Key recommendations of the report include:

Develop a national wildfire risk management strategy;
Update the wildfire risk and hazard maps, along with an updated wildfire risk assessment and identification of risks for the wildland-urban interface areas;
Streamline planning processes in relation to wildfires and include regular reviewing;
Reinforce the capacity of local authorities to develop and implement integrated wildfire measures;
Strengthen wildfire prevention through a review of legal framework, long-term budget allocation, reinforcement of the Forest Service, guidelines on fuel management at landscape level and raising awareness;
Further build synergies between the Forest Service and the Hellenic Fire Corps on prevention and preparedness;
Explore the use of fire behaviour analysis to support response coordination;
Increase the number of multi-disciplinary teams conducting investigations of fire ignition causes.

DG ECHO briefly outlined the opportunities for EU funding and capacity building tools that could be used by the Greek authorities to strengthen their system. An open discussion on the report followed.

Background:

The Greek civil protection authorities, represented by the General Secretariat of Civil Protection (GSCP), requested a wildfire-specific peer review in September 2023. Greece is the 17th country to be reviewed under the UCPM peer review programme and the first country to pilot the Wildfire Peer Review Assessment Framework. GSCP assigned the Hellenic Fire Corps and the Ministry of Environment and Energy as national contact points for the review.

The key topics of the review were:

Governance of wildfire risk management: overall governance as well as the legislative and institutional framework;
Wildfire prevention: legislative framework, landscape management, innovation and knowledge services, awareness and risk communication;
Wildfire preparedness: legislative framework, training-exercises-international exchanges, response capacities;
Wildfire response: legislative framework, response operations, response coordination.

The on-site review mission took place in and around Athens during the week 29 January - 3 February 2024, with the participation of a strong team of five peers from Portugal, Spain, France, Norway and OECD. The peer review report is published on the UCPKN website.