1. 13th meeting of CoU Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience

2. Expert Group on Forest Fires
Co-Chaired between JRC and DG Environment
Members coming from Member States and third Countries (41 countries in total)
Contributes to the development of EFFIS and FISE
Contributes to the annual forest fire report published by JRC

3. Expert Group on Forest Fires
Two deliverables planned
Technical report on basic criteria for wildfire risk assessment – published in January
Guidance on land-based wildfire prevention scheduled for May

4. Preperatory project in LIFE
Focusses on grazing to prevent forest fires
Main grantee Rewilding Europe
Project started in the beginning of 2019
Good coverage of different regions in Europe
Should lead to policy recommendations on grazing to prevent forest fires

5. Study on the remote sensing of forests
A tender was launched and potential contractors are selected
The objective is to get a good overview of which remote sensing capabilities exist for forests
Objective to launch the study beginning of and it should be ready at the end of the year

6. Close to Nature Forestry
Integrating the different roles of forest
Conserving Ecosystems
Protecting soil and climate
Production of Timber and other forest products
Recreation, cultural role of forests

7. Close to Nature Forestry
Permanent Tree cover
Using mix-aged, mixed species stands
Use as much as possible species native to the region
Focus on high value wood and extraction methods that do not damage the soil or the rest of the trees
Strengthen ecosystem services including
Disaster and pest resilience
Slovenia implements many close to nature forestry practices

8. EU Forest Strategy
Adopted in 2013 to bring together the many policies affecting forests
It is a framework to give a response to the increasing amount of demands to forests, which can be contradictory
Evaluation by the Commission was conducted in 2018
Evaluation report was published in December and concluded that the Strategy is on track to deliver its goals by 2020

9. EU Forest Strategy Currently being discussed in the other institutions
Council is planning to present its conclusions by April at the forest conference organised by Commissioner Hogan
No date yet for the response of the European Parliament
EESC position expected in autumn and the CoR is finalizing their response at the moment

10. Questions?