WRITTEN QUESTION No. 2694/98 by Iñigo MÉNDEZ DE VIGO Forest fires in Barcelona
Date: 1998-09-01
Institutions: European Parliament, MENDEZ DE VIGO
Subjects: Cohesion Fund, EAGGF Guidance Section, EU action, Spain, afforestation, fire, forest, forest conservation, information













EUR-Lex - 91998E2694 - EN






Avis juridique important




|



91998E2694

WRITTEN QUESTION No. 2694/98 by Iñigo MÉNDEZ DE VIGO Forest fires in Barcelona  


Official Journal C 320 , 06/11/1999 P. 0010 





WRITTEN QUESTION E-2694/98by Iñigo Méndez de Vigo (PPE) to the Commission(1 September 1998)Subject: Forest fires in BarcelonaThe fires have caused immeasurable damage. Thus far they have damaged 17 000 hectares of forest and 9 000 hectares of cropland and scrubland. Two thousand head of livestock and a large number of farms have been affected.Is the Commission aware of the gravity of the situation? Has it formulated a strategy to provide relief to the areas affected by the fires? Has it given thought to a potential reafforestation plan for those areas? If so, what kind of Community funding could be earmarked to that end?Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission(29 October 1998)The Commission is particularly concerned to protect forest resources, and it closely monitored information on the serious fires which damaged forests in the southern EU this summer. These fires not only harm people and property, they also pose a serious threat to the sustainable development of almost half Europe's forest.The Community scheme for the protection of forests against fire - which was consolidated in 1997 - has established a coherent framework for helping Member States in their prevention efforts, while ensuring that Community-funded forestry measures - such as afforestation - are linked with protective measures in areas at risk from fire. For the period 1992-1998, 700 fire prevention projects submitted by Member States were approved for Community assistance of ECU 84 million. The Member States and the Commission work in close cooperation on the Standing Forestry Committee to run the scheme, making extensive use of the Community forest-fire information system, which has developed into an excellent means of monitoring and evaluating protective measures taken by Member States and the Commission. However, the budgetary authorities' drastic reduction of the appropriations for this specific project risks jeopardising its effectiveness.The Guidance Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) also provides for fire prevention and reafforestation measures under a number of regional development programmes. But since Barcelona province does not form part of the Catalonia Objective 5(b) area, it is not eligible for EAGGF Guidance Section funding in respect of structural measures such as reafforestation.However, the Cohesion Fund includes provision for restoring areas damaged by forest fires, subject to the usual requirements - in particular, that the aim of the proposed measures must be expressly environmental and that the land in question must be non-agricultural in character. It is for the Spanish authorities to take the initiative in submitting such projects for funding.It should be borne in mind that, since 1995, the Cohesion Fund has financed reafforestation and anti-erosion projects in all the principal basins in Spain, including projects whose main aims are to prevent forest fires and regenerate areas damaged by fire. The autonomous regions and the Spanish Environment Ministry's directorate-general for nature conservation have been jointly responsible for these projects.