Investing in EU disaster prevention is a small price to pay
During the summer of 2021, countries in western Europe including Belgium and Germany suffered from devastating floods resulting in almost 200 deaths and damages estimated at more than €3.7 million.
Portugal is one of Europe’s worst-hit countries by wildfires every year, and the risk is only set to worsen due to climate change and extreme weather.
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In 2017, Portugal suffered an unprecedented wave of forest fires. We lost more than 60 lives, which we very much regret. An urgent shift was needed; it called for an inversion in the manner in which we deal with these situations.
We have implemented a National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction and have adopted a new rural fire management system based on four distinct vectors: valuing and managing forest areas, modifying behaviours and managing risk efficiently, and putting the focus increasingly on prevention.
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This is a path that we must follow together. No single country can achieve gains at scale, and it is in this context that we also hosted the 2021 European Forum for Disaster Risk Reduction (EFDRR).
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