Whether of natural or man-made origin, disasters are becoming increasingly extreme and complex, exacerbated by the impacts of climate change. They affect the lives of European citizens, the European economy and the environment.
In November, the European Commission adopted an ambitious proposal to revise the Union Civil Protection Mechanism "rescEU". The proposal aims at increasing overall capacities to respond to disasters while at the time increasing action and investments in prevention and preparedness.
At EU level, prevention goes much beyond civil protection. Risk prevention and management considerations are being integrated in a number of EU policies and financial instruments – such as environment, climate change adaptation, agriculture, regional development, energy, transport, science, research and innovation.
The Union Civil Protection Mechanism supports also practical disaster prevention activities. Mutual learning and exchange of experiences to improve disaster risk management governance through lessons learnt, peer reviews and advisory missions are encouraged.
At international level, the global community committed to implementing three key agreements that build the resilience of societies: the Paris agreement on climate change, the Agenda2030 for sustainable development, and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. Since 2016, the European Commission is working on the basis of a Commission Action Plan for Sendai implementation, fostering a risk-informed approach of all EU policies.