New Projects for Policy (P4P) report: Forest fires - Sparking firesmart policies in the EU

By Roberto Guana

A new science-policy report on forest fire risk management in Europe, which critically reviews the results of EU-funded research on forest fires and explores how policies have adapted when facing the new challenges imposed by the threat of extreme wildfire events, has been published by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (DG RTD). The new report, entitled “Forest Fires - Sparking Firesmart Policies in the EU,” is the latest in the Commission’s Projects for Policy (P4P) report series, which aims at using research and innovation project results to shape policy-making in key policy areas.

Forest fires constitute a serious and increasing threat throughout Europe, particularly in Greece, Spain, France, Italy and Portugal. This was underlined, with tragic results, in 2018 in Greece and 2017 in Portugal. Despite a decreasing trend in the number of fires and areas burned, observed in some countries since the 1980s, larger and more damaging fires are challenging the suppression capacities of many wildfire protection programmes across Europe. This trend is the result of unbalanced policies that can be effective in fire suppression in normal weather conditions, but are insufficient to prevent extreme wildfire events.

The EU has been funding research in the field of forest fires over the last two decades through its Framework Programmes and other funding instruments. About 60 research projects, from large-scale integrated projects to more traditional projects or Marie Skłodowska-Curie individual fellowships, received a total EU contribution of more than EUR 100 million. Based on a critical scientific review of these EU research projects, the new science-policy report identifies the main current policy challenges related to forest fire risk management and governance, which can be further addressed by the relevant EU and national policies. Based on this review and the conclusions of a multi-stakeholder workshop, the report proposes a set of policy recommendations, which follows the logical sequence of the Integrated Fire Management (IFM) cycle. The key policy recommendations proposed by the P4P report are:

• Support cross-sectoral and multi-level governance to leverage the impact of public policies on wildfire risk management.
• Reinforce the EU’s disaster response capacity to better protect EU citizens.
• Support proactive prevention operations adapted to local socio-economic and environmental contexts.
• Integrate fire ecology principles into fire management strategies and policies to support sustainable forest management.
• Improve preparedness through FireSmart governance systems empowered by local communities.

The work of DG RTD in forest fire research and innovation has implications for the various Commission policies and initiatives relating to forest fire risk management. In parallel to DG RTD’s science policy report, the Joint Research Centre (JRC) produces an annual report of forest fires in Europe, providing a detailed analysis of the previous fire season, including country-specific reports, based on data from the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), combined with statistics and information from EU Member States and neighbouring countries. Furthermore, a new pilot website, based on the new P4P report, is currently being prepared for the Disaster Risk Management Knowledge Centre (DRMKC), in order to disseminate science-based, targeted and digested information to the different stakeholders involved in forest fire risk management, and to promote the concept of integrated disaster risk management among the disaster risk reduction community. The new website is expected to be fully operational in 2019.