Forest fires : sparking firesmart policies in the EU : R&I projects for policy.
Date: 2019-09-26
Institutions: Directorate-General for Research and Innovation
Subjects: EU financing, civil defence, economic consequence, fire, forest, forestry research, man-made disaster, natural disaster

FOREST FIRES

Sparking ﬁresmart
policies in the EU
R&I Projects for Policy

Forest ﬁres are a serious and increasing 
threat throughout Europe
They can have a huge economic impact and lead to a tragic loss of life

Each year in the EU

65 000 
forest ﬁres 

€3 billion – economic 
damage from wildﬁres  

95% are caused 
by humans

480 000 ha of forest 
areas are burned – 
1 million ha in 2017

€2.2 billion – spent by 
EU governments and public 
agencies to ﬁght forest ﬁres 

34 ﬁreﬁghters 
and other people killed 
(611 killed 2000-2017)

More people will be at risk, for longer periods of time

June

October

longer ﬁre seasons  

more ﬁre-prone areas 

new wildﬁre context 
with mega-ﬁres 

Challenges

Eﬀective forest ﬁre 
management and 
decision-making requires 
science-based 
information

Fireﬁghting and rescue 
services need better 
coordination

New wildﬁre context 
calls for better 
prevention and 
preparedness 

Laws and policies must 
be adapted in 
ﬁre-vulnerable areas

Landscapes and communities 
need to become more 
resilient to forest ﬁres

The EU is investing in research for better 
ﬁre prevention, suppression and 
integrated management
invested over 20 years in 56 forest ﬁre-related 
research projects

 €103
million

EU-funded research stimulates advances in ﬁre knowledge, 
operational management and decision-support mechanisms while 
improving cooperation among key actors

Prevention and mitigation

Cohesion Policy
funding for prevention and preparedness, 
including support for civil protection units, 
infrastructure, education, training and
cross-border coordination

EU forest strategy
actions to support 
sustainable forest 
management 

Rural development 
funding to implement 
the EU Forest Strategy 

European Forest Fire 
Information System (EFFIS) 
ﬁre danger forecasts and 
monitoring active ﬁres

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Disaster Risk Management 
Knowledge Centre 
science-policy advice for risk 
management, including for forest ﬁres

EU Civil Protection Mechanism
complements national response
capacities (rescEU)
Emergency Response 
Coordination Centre (ERCC)
EU assistance to an aﬀected country

Impacts

Response

Recommendations for policymakers

Reinforce the EU’s 
disaster response 
capacity

Improve coordination 
and coherence between 
EU and national policies

Support proactive 
prevention operations

Integrate ﬁre
management with
sustainable forest
management

Improve ﬁre
preparedness through
participative,
multilevel governance

MORE INFORMATION
Read the full R&I Projects for Policy report on 
forest ﬁres:
ec.europa.eu/research/environment/forestﬁres

#EUMegaFires

@DisastResilEU

Find all R&I Projects for Policy reports at:
http://ec.europa.eu/research/p4p

See also:
https://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/forest/strategy_fr
http://ec.europa.eu/echo/what/civil-protection/mechanism_en
https://ec.europa.eu/research/environment/index.cfm?pg=climate

#ResearchPolicyEU

@EUScienceInnov

Research and
Innovation 

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