Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
With an initial funding of €6 million in 2024, the EU will help civil protection authorities in EU Member States, participating countries in the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, as well as Georgia and Kosovo to strengthen their capacity to achieve disaster resilience targets.
The European Commission on Thursday launched a new financial support instrument targeting national civil protection authorities to begin a three-year pilot to strengthen disaster prevention and preparedness in the European Union and beyond.
According to a European statement issued in Brussels, the Technical Assistance Financing Facility for Disaster Prevention and Preparedness supports projects, studies and training courses in the field of disaster and climate response and promotes knowledge exchange between countries on disaster risk management. The activities will be implemented by the World Bank with funding from the European Commission.
As a result of this financing instrument, civil protection authorities will increase their technical disaster prevention capacity and will be better equipped when disaster strikes
Disaster resilience is gaining importance as the frequency and severity of natural disasters increases. Between 1980 and 2020, natural disasters affected nearly 50 million people in the European Union and caused an average economic loss of €12 billion per year.
The Technical Assistance Financing Facility for Disaster Prevention and Preparedness (TAFF) is fully funded by the European Union. TAFF is managed by the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery, and its activities are implemented by the World Bank in coordination with the European Commission.
TAFF is part of the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM). It provides national civil protection and disaster risk management authorities with the necessary technical assistance to prepare investments, build capacities and strengthen their institutional and policy framework.
The UCPM aims to strengthen cooperation between the EU27 and the 10 participating countries (Iceland, Norway, Serbia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Moldova and Ukraine) on civil protection to improve prevention, preparedness and response. To disasters.
In February 2023, the European Commission adopted a Recommendation and Communication setting common objectives to strengthen disaster resilience in civil protection. The five common objectives are anticipation, preparation, alert, response, and security. The European Disaster Resilience Targets aim to improve the ability of the European Union, its Member States and countries participating in the EU Civil Protection Mechanism to anticipate and withstand the impacts of future major disasters and emergencies.
When we adopted disaster resilience targets a year ago, our goal was to ensure we are better prepared for future disasters. With this new facility, we want to leverage global best practices and technical expertise to help civil protection authorities achieve our ambitious goals, which will ultimately benefit people who can rely on a stronger and better system when they need help,” said Janez Lenarčić, Commissioner for Crisis Management.