Investing in infrastructure: Costs, benefits and effectiveness of disaster risk reduction measures.
Presentation made by:
José Oliveira
Deputy Director for Prevention and Risk Management
National Authority for Emergency and Civil Protection
PORTUGAL
The Federal Perspective on Coverage of Medications to Treat Obesity: Consider...
Wildifires – the road to a new model
1. Wildifires – the road to a new model
José Oliveira
Deputy Diretor for Prevention and Risk Management
National Authority for Emergency and Civil Protection
PORTUGAL
OECD – High Level Risk Forum
Paris 18-19 September 2019
2. Portugal is exposed to several (and potential severe) risks
Earthquakes
Tsunamis
Dam breaks
Floods
Wildfires
Industrial accidents
…
01-NOV-1755
3. Wildfires represent the biggest challenge!!!
Frequent - occur every year
Impact on people – potential victims
Impact on local economy (forest, agriculture, agrofood, …)
Impact in the environment
Visibility
Public opinion - political pressure!
4. Who is affected?
People living in small villages - remote areas
Elderly, low income
Owners of small farms
No insurance policies
5. Consequences
The end of local economy
Land abandonment
Fostering vulnerability for local communities
Huge economic losses – more than 1 billion euros (worst years)
Environmental consequences (carbon emission targets), rivers, landslides
6. 1st aproach to solve the problem!
2006 – reform of the civil protection system - following the forest fires of 2003 & 2005
Strengthening responde (firefighting)
New Decree-law for prevention
Visible results
Improvement on fire fighting operations (response side)
But… Still not enough… no effective changes in landscape…
Why? No economic value… progressive abandonment of rural areas, ageing of population
7. Trigger to change the model
Wildfires in 2017
• 17 June
• 15 October
both outside critical period - ~110 victims
2 independent commissions of technical experts have reported the need
for structural and significant changes in several dimensions
8. Reccomendations from Techical experts:
Governance
Land management
Knowledge
Qualification
ICT support and integration
Risk communication (population)
Council of Ministers Resolution – nº 157-A/2017, of October 27th
Integrated National wildfire Management Plan 20-30
9. Council of Ministers Resolution nº 157-A/2017, of October 27th
4 strategic areas (72 initiatives)
Reform the functional model
Improve communities resilience
Improve territory resilience
Capacitation and Qualification
10. Governance
To manage risk efficiently
Integrate prevention & combat (response)
Integrate plans – land use plan, municipal wildfire defence plans, civil
protection plans – include forest fire risk in land use planning and
decision!
Support local organizations who are involved in wildfire mitigation efforts
Dedicate material and financial resources to community mitigation efforts
– fuel management, communitary machinery, water points, structural
shelters reinforcement …
CMR 157-A/2017
11. “Safe Village, Safe People” programme - 1961 villages covered until now
Improve risk communication
national campaign on self protection and risk reduction (behavior)
automatic population warning network implemented at district level (almost 20M
SMS sent in 2018 and 12M SMS in 2019 (sept) )
Improve community resilience
> To modify human behaviour
CMR 157-A/2017
12. 3 integrated initiatives –> 1 programme
“Safe village” , “Safe people”, “Warning systems”
Program “Safe village”
• establish "structural measures for the protection of people and property, as well as buildings
situated at the urban-forest interface
• implementation and management of buffer zones to protect the clusters and strategic
infrastructures
• identifying critical points and places of refuge and shelters.
Program "Safe People"
Aims to promote awareness-raising campaigns against risky behaviour, encourage self-protection
measures and stage evacuation drills, in liaison with local authorities.“
Warning Systems
Implementation of warning systems to inform the population during periods of high forest fire risk.
CMR 157-A/2017
13. Stakeholders
• National Civil Protection
– Overall coordination of the Programmes
– Definition of guidelines
– Implementation of national awareness campaigns and national warning systems.
• Municipalities and Parishes
– Implementation of the Programmes at local level (direct link with the population).
• Local safety officers
~ 1550 already nominated
“Safe village, Safe people” programme
Village leaders
Volunteers that facilitate dialogue between CP authorities and population
Assist awareness, warning, evacuation and shelter/refuge activities
14. • Identification of critical clusters and creation of buffer zones
to protect the clusters;
• Implementation of expedited warning mechanisms to alert
the population;
• Kits of signs for shelter and direction
• Identification and signalling of shelters or places of refuge in the
clusters;
• Evacuation Plans (728), identifying and signalling evacuation routes;
• Drills (204) to test plans and warning mechanisms;
• Local awareness campaigns of self-protection measures
15. TV spots
Radio announcements
Advertisements in newspapers
Social media
Website
Interactive game (online)
• Leaflets in Portuguese (1M/y)
• Leaflets in English
• Leaflets in other 5 languages
16. Investment
• Civil Protection – national level
2,2 M euros investment (2018, 2019) + 1 M euros investment for SMS
• Local level – Municipalities (9 M euros available for projets – start 2020)
Fuel reduction equipments
Awareness campaigns
Improvement of operational centers
“Safe village, Safe people” programme
17. Credit lines for fuel management (Municipalities Private Owners) – 50 M€/year
Reduced VAT for forestry services
Forestry fund reinforced
Fiscal beneficts available for forestry related investments
Programme for maintenance of wildfire defence structures with pasturage – pilot projects ongoing
Promotion of biomass transformation units
National campaign for fuel management
National Programme for Ignition Reduction, with a call center for supporting citizens wishing to burn in
a safe context
Improve Territory resilience
CMR 157-A/2017
18. Investment
Known budgets – public entities
Prevention - Forest & conservation agency (agriculture and environment)
Monitoring and inspection - National Guard (internal affairs)
Fire suppression - Civil Protection, Fire Brigades, aereal assets (internal affairs)
Investment Prevention Response
2016 28 M 115 M (80%)
2019 163 M 192 M (54%)
Municipalities
Private entities
Unknown budget
22. Conclusions / Challenges
Economic problem // Social problem
Changing paradigm for investment – from response to prevention
Accountability - need to know integrated budget, need to improve risk communication
DRR efforts need to have integrated view
Promote territorial cohesion
Programmes to promote local business, agrofood related activities…
Effective tax breaks to foster rural economy
Increase resilience - self protection
Public acceptance / support
Who benefits from wildfires?