Stakeholders' meetings on Disaster Prevention

Stakeholders

Prevention

In 2008 the European Commission plans to publish a Communication on an integrated approach to disaster prevention. Over these last few years, Europe 's forest fires, floods and droughts have become fiercer and more intense. This has a devastating affect on people's lives, their livelihood and the environment. These tragic events have led to a further strengthening of European civil protection legislation, with a reinforced Community Civil Protection Mechanism and the adoption of the Civil Protection Financial Instrument . There is now a political will from all concerned to strengthen the links between prevention, preparedness, response and recovery. The European Parliament , Council and Member States are calling for more action at Community level in our efforts to prevent disasters.

It is well to invest in response, but this has to be coupled with a similar reinforcement in prevention and preparedness. There are already some Community instruments that deal with technological risks or natural hazards. A review of these instruments has however shown that they are often fragmented and sectoral, targeting specific risks. While the Community Civil Protection Mechanism serves as a good platform for the coordination of response to disasters, there is to date no existing comprehensive approach to disaster prevention at an EU level.

There is therefore a case for improving the coordination and effectiveness of Community action in preventing disasters and mitigating their consequences.

The result of this will be the presentation of a Commission Communication on the development of a new EU initiative on disaster prevention, expected by the end of 2008.

What is being done?

 The European Commission is currently taking stock of and assessing the EU's prevention capabilities. This will identify those areas where there should be action at Community level. As a first step, two external independent studies have been undertaken by COWI ( Denmark ) to identify prevention gaps in existing Community instruments and to analyse the approach taken by some Member States to prevention.

These studies initially suggest that the EU should have a single framework covering prevention. They also point at the fact that there is need of more sharing of information and best-practice among Member States. The EU could also lend a hand at developing joint EU standards and methodology with the aim of improving efforts when dealing with cross-border emergencies. Homing in on some specific concerns, the studies highlight the fact that more EU funds for research should be directed at specific high priority topics. Support mechanisms financed through various EU funds should be continued and perhaps even expanded. Importantly, the studies say, this should be done without the need for the establishment of new organisational structures.

What's next?