Objectives
Over the last years, there has been an increasing number of forest fires
in the Mediterranean region. The natural plant ecosystem of the Mediterranean, rich
in shrubs and coniferous forests, is particularly susceptible to forest fires. On
the other hand, climate change with the warmer, drier and longer summer periods
is expected to increase the frequency and severity of forest fire occurrence. A
disaster risk arises when a hazard meets vulnerability. A factor that increases
vulnerability is the inadequacy of disaster management planning. Past forest fire
catastrophes revealed gaps in coordination, gas or overlaps in the chain of command,
inadequate resource management and allocation. Often, information was not updated
or inadequate, leading to inefficient decision making. An important step in disaster
management is the preparedness stage. This stage refers to the reduction of risks
or impacts. Evaluation of hazards, good preparedness planning, good management strategies
and international cooperation, are vital in this stage and form the main focus of
the ARTEMIS project. Despite diversity amongst different countries, common problems/
incidents, similar morphology and challenges state the need for regional cooperation.
A disaster anyway can always affect a large cross-border area, fact that makes regional/international
of major importance. The Mediterranean countries of the ARTEMIS consortium wish
to develop, in accordance with the national and European policies, international
linkages between the risk management centres/agencies, for an improved and effective
preparedness phase in forest fire management. Networking will provide a useful means
for different countries to complement their capacities towards understanding of
disaster issues and best disaster response.
Main objectives of ARTEMIS project
To improve forest fire management capabilities at a local, decentralised level,
by evaluating and improving current management strategies and adopting advanced
technologies. An improved working framework through a common administrative tool
will ensure easy and speedy access to useful information on available infrastructure,
technical and human resources. To encourage international cooperation at a regional
level through the exchange of resources and best practices. To facilitate decision
making on coordination and distribution of technical and human resources at national
and international level. To facilitate communication between risk management centres
in different Mediterranean countries and between different national administrative
levels. To improve knowledge and skills of civil protection professionals/services
on effective temporal and spatial planning of resources. To improve knowledge and
skills of decision makers on drawing evacuation plans on the study areas. The reliability
of the whole project will be assured by a monitoring procedure that compares the
progress with the expected results. All the aboves can be presented in a web site
that will be developed for this purpose.
Actions and means involved
- A1. Studying forest fire occurrence at the selected areas. A Case study.
- A2. Review and evaluation of current risk management strategies. A Case study.
- A3. Design & Development of the forest fire database, web portal.
- A4. Development of the DSS (GIS data collection, training of beneficiaries).
- A5. Web site development
- A6. Dissemination of results.
Expected results
- One (1) scientific study on forest fire occurrence.
- One (1) review of current risk management strategies in force, at the study areas. Evaluation based on a S.W.O.T analysis.
- Establishment of one (1) comprehensive disaster management database for forest fires.
- Development of one (1) DSS, incorporating a simulation tool designed for each study area.
- Promotion, dissemination of results to the public through a Web site, one (1) training seminar organised by each implementation partner to the end users (civil protection centres, fire-fighting agencies)