Prof Georgios Boustras, UNESCO Chair in Disaster Risk Reduction and Societal Safety in South Eastern Mediterranean took part at thhe high level opening panel of the Preparadeness Union Strategy Conference in March 23 in Brussels. The conference marked one year since the adoption of the strategy and it was opened by Roxana Minzatu EU Executive Vice President, Hadja Lahbib EU Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management and Ukranian Deputy Prime minister Oleksii Kuleba.
The panel focused on the wildland fire and geopolitical challenges for the war in Ukraine. Johan Berggren Swedish State Secretary for Civil Protection, Lena Duepont EPP MEP, Niels VANLAER Antwerp Port Master and Alona Shkrum Ukranian Deputy Minister of Development and Communities. The conference came ahead of the EU adopting a communication on integrated wildfire risk management — a plan for how authorities assess, reduce and respond to wildfire risk across different services and levels of government.
Among others, George mentioned that there is a need to reinvent the roles, to optimise the management process, to involve the citizens in a constructive way, to empower local communities to be ready to act in the first few minutes, to educate the new generations on how to produce less risks and be proactive in prevention, to encourage and find ways to attract private investment in disaster prevention.
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