Cohesion policy:
preventing risks
Why does the EU invest in risk prevention?
EU cohesion policy protects millions of citizens by investing in forest fire prevention, flood risk management and resilience against other disasters.
The risks that the EU faces are multiple. They include floods and extreme weather events that very often go beyond national
borders and are aggravated by climate change. Southern and central Europe
experience more heat waves, forest fires and droughts; northern and
north-eastern Europe face heavier rain fall and flooding. Moreover, the EU’s nine outermost regions face specific challenges due to their high exposure to
climate change (e.g. drought, floods, hurricanes, pandemics).
Natural and man-made disasters raise serious questions in relation to the quality of life of EU citizens,
but also pose more specific sectoral challenges in some EU regions, for
instance in tourism and agriculture. In 2018 alone, natural disasters killed more than 100 people. The economic costs are also huge: close to €10 billion in damages were recorded in Europe in 2016. Investing in risk prevention
is vital to preserving the capacity for further socio-economic
development. It is also more effective than bearing the cost of inaction: for
every 1 EUR spent on prevention, 4 EUR or more will be saved on response.
Since local and
regional authorities are the first to be confronted with the impacts of
disasters, EU
cohesion policy is key to disaster risk management.
What specific investments are made?
Through Cohesion Policy, Member States are investing above all in managing the following disaster risks:
- floods;
- erosion and coastal protection;
- forest fires;
- earthquakes;
- landslides;
- drought;
- storms, tsunamis, and risks associated to closed mines or industrial sites.
Furthermore, cohesion policy supports adaptation measures by promoting ecosystem-based approaches, developing new infrastructures or retrofitting existing infrastructures. It can also develop new professional fields, encourage innovation, involve small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and accelerate the transition to a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy.
Although this information is part of the various programmes, the quantitative data available to the Commission distinguishes between only the two main risk categories (climate related risk prevention and non-climate risk prevention).
Tracking progress with cohesion policy risk prevention investments 2014-2020
With nearly 8 billion EUR from the EU budget for climate change adaptation and risk prevention and management, cohesion policy is one of the most important sources of funding in this area, and a major contribution to the Commission's rescEU initiative. Adding the national co-financing brings the total investment to close to 10 billion EUR.
The majority of Member States and multiple Interreg programmes (TC) have selected
risk prevention as a priority for the 2014-2020 funding period.
In
addition, risk prevention, disaster resilience and climate change adaptation
are integrated into other cohesion policy funding priorities, such as
innovation, energy efficiency and water management.
Within the broad priorities a range of specific measures are prioritised
The predominant focus of
the funds invested is the prevention of the most adverse consequences of disasters.
More specifically, for the risks mentioned above, Member States are implementing the
following types of prevention measures:
- Actions to improve the knowledge base for disaster risk management: flood plans, ICT tools, early warning systems, modelling, radars, video surveillance, etc.;
- Preparation and implementation of prevention strategies, action plans and guidelines, including at local level;
- Awareness-raising campaigns and training (e.g. on earthquake-proof construction skills);
- Disaster-proofing buildings and networks (e.g. earthquake-resilient schools);
- Flood prevention infrastructure: dykes, flood walls, storm water collectors, water basins, etc.;
- Management of land, forests and rivers to prevent risks managing river flows, water retention, remediation of slope instabilities, removal of combustible biomass in forests, coastline protection, reduction of soil-sealing, etc.;
- Ecosystem-based approaches to risk prevention: floodplains, afforestation, green infrastructure for water retention or run-off, green urban spaces, etc.
Some Member States also invest
in preparedness, to ensure a
sufficient capability for when
disasters strike. In particular:
- Infrastructure for civil protection units: integrated rescue stations, coordination centres, etc.;
- Vehicles and equipment: rescue vehicles, fire engines, ice-breakers, helicopters, planes, temporary emergency accommodation, etc.;
- Training.
In addition, a limited number of Member States support
recovery measures, to address the adverse consequences after disasters. For instance:
- Reforestation after fires;
- Reconstruction of coastlines and ecosystems;
- Development of post-flood zones;
- Protective infrastructure and reconstruction after hurricanes in the outermost regions.
As mentioned above, disaster
risk management is not an isolated activity in cohesion policy, but is linked
to other fields of support and to
national and local
activities such as
town planning. This mainstreaming
of risk prevention (and climate change adaptation) is strengthened
by the promotion
of the sustainable development principle, which has
also increased the use of ecosystem-based approaches and green
infrastructure across the
board.
Cohesion policy support is
complemented by other EU instruments, such as the Union Civil Protection Mechanism,
the EU Solidarity Fund, Horizon 2020, and the LIFE programme.
In practical terms, the following project examples demonstrate some of the actions financed.
Investments in flood
protection receive major attention. There are many examples, such as:
- Western Attica (Greece) has serious flood problems. The Cohesion Fund financed an 80 million EUR flood protection project along the Eschatia river. This protects 134,000 local residents and their property from floods in the suburbs of Athens. It also created over 700 jobs and promoted urban regeneration in a low-income area. The construction of new flood defence structures stops floods now, and it will also allow for future development of areas upstream.
- Another project provided
increased flood protection to 1 million people along the Sarno River in
Campania (Italy), by combining monitoring, civil protection interventions
and environmental protection measures.
Preventing
forest fires or wildfires is another main
priority. Again, there are many examples:
- In Spain the ERDF invested 2 million EUR to improve the defence centre against forest fires in Vélez-Blanco, Andalusia. The centre now covers 11 municipalities and 150,000 residents in a region at high risk of fire. A new heliport means better collaboration with other rescue services in the area. The project also links closely to parallel efforts in forest management, and training and awareness-raising.
- Countries work together
more, for better results: eight Member States across Europe can now detect
and handle forest fires more quickly, assess damage and regeneration
needs, and make the best use of information systems together, through the
‘European Forest Fire Monitoring using Information Systems’ (EFFMIS)
project.
There is still a need for more
equipment and better contingency plans. The Czech Republic has purchased 80
emergency response vehicles. In the border area between Romania and Bulgaria,
there are now better joint emergency preparedness measures, with cross-border
risk monitoring of hail, air pollution and floods (see ‘Joint risk monitoring
during emergencies in the Danube border area’).
Raising
awareness is also important. In the border area between
Bulgaria and Serbia, students were trained as ‘green ambassadors’ to
disseminate knowledge on a local and regional level.
Ecosystem-based
solutions, such as floodplains or wetlands, are supported as a
priority. These help to protect the environment, and are generally cheaper in
the long term. In order to adapt to climate change, the EU encourages the
development of green infrastructure, to protect biodiversity and preserve
ecosystem services. For example, the project ‘Green Infrastructure for
Tomorrow’ (GIF-T!) explains to people living in coastal areas how to adapt to
extreme weather and rising sea levels in England, Belgium and the Netherlands.
In the field of research
and innovation activities for new approaches to risk prevention and
management, cohesion policy supports a number of projects in regions who have
selected risk-related areas in their smart specialisation strategies which
steer their research and innovation investments. For instance, regions in
southern Europe, such as Andalusia, prioritise the fight against droughts and
desertification. Other regions see opportunities for innovation related to fire
safety.
Finally, cohesion policy
supports investments to improve institutional capacities. One example is
the project VOLRISKMAC whose main objective is to strengthen capacities for the
monitoring of volcanic activity, with the aim of improving the early warning
system for volcanic eruptions and earthquake crisis, as well as the management
of volcanic crises in Macaronesia. Within the framework of this project, the
recommendations for the reduction of volcanic risk established by the
scientific community and international policy will be applied through the
IAVCEI and UNESCO, respectively. Surveillance and management of the volcanic
emergency are the most useful actions to contribute to the reduction of volcanic
risk in densely populated areas such as Macaronesia.
How to track the results
Cohesion policy programmes use various national or regional indicators to capture the benefits of the investments. In the 2014-2020 period, there are two EU 'common indicators' used by many programmes to track the number of people that benefit from the many and diverse measures supported.
... protected from flood risks
...protected from fire risks
What about the future?
In the proposals for the
next programming period (2021-2027), ‘promoting climate change adaptation, risk
prevention and disaster resilience’ is included as a specific objective within
Policy Objective (PO) 2, which focuses on a greener and low-carbon Europe. This
objective is included within the thematic concentration requirements that
require Member States to invest a certain share in a limited number of objectives,
focusing on innovation and a greener, low-carbon economy.
The Commission contribution to the programming process was set out in the publication of country reports in the framework of the EuropeanSemester in March 2019. For the first time, the country reports (Annex D) set out the
Commission’s view on investment needs and priorities in a given country. 20 MS
received a recommendation to invest in disaster risk management and climate
change adaptation. Before they can start
investing in disaster risk management, Member States will have to fulfill the enabling
condition on having a disaster risk management plan (as required also by the Union Civil Protection Mechanism).
Also under the
Interreg programmes, it is expected that funds will be available for
cross-border, transnational and interregional projects on disaster risk management. In the area of civil
protection, the European Commission and Macro-Regional Strategy Participating
States are taking an integrated approach to disaster management including
prevention, preparedness and response. In the area of prevention, the agreed
priorities include the development of knowledge based disaster prevention
policies (spreading best practices, developing common guidelines on risk
assessment and mapping); and linking the actors and policies throughout the
disaster management cycle (developing lessons learnt, reinforcing early warning
tools). Macro-regional cooperation helps countries to save money for research,
for instance identifying areas with increased disaster risk due to climate
change.
Further reading
- ESIF Open Data Platform: cohesiondata.ec.europa.eu/theme/5
- Other project examples: ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/projects
- rescEU and the Union Civil Protection Mechanism: https://ec.europa.eu/echo/news/resceu-strengthened-eu-civil-protection-mechanism-enters-force_en
- EU Strategy on the adaptation to climate change (2013): ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/adaptation/what/documentation_en.htm
- EU Solidarity Fund: ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/funding/solidarity-fund and this EUSF data story
Contact
We are REGIO's sustainable growth team. Contact us at: REGIO-G1-HEAD-OF-UNIT@ec.europa.eu
(European Commission, Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy, Smart and Sustainable Growth Unit)