1. EUROPEAN CIVIL PROTECTION A Community approach to the prevention of natural and man-made disasters Com(2009)82 DG ENVIRONMENT Civil Protection Unit

2. Disasters in Europe Source: CRED, 2009

3. Frequency of climatic disasters Source: CRED, 2009

4. Community civil protection mechanism 2007/779/EC, Euratom Civil protection financial instrument 2007/162/EC, Euratom Prevention Preparedness Response European civil protection co-operation

5. Preparedness ResponseReconstruction Prevention Disaster Why a prevention strategy? Links between prevention, preparedness, and response and reconstruction Progress both in response and prevention Links between policies areas Announced in COM(2008)130 on reinforcing the Unions disaster response capacity Civil Protection Disaster Risk Prevention Other Policies

6. Preparedness ResponseReconstruction Prevention Disaster Why a prevention strategy? Disasters do not respect national borders and can have a transnational dimension Disasters can have a negative impact on existing Community policies Community funding required to deal with the aftermath of disasters Civil Protection Disaster Risk Prevention Other Policies

7. Creating the conditions for the development of knowledge based disaster prevention policies at all levels of government Linking the actors and policies throughout the disaster management cycle Making existing instruments perform better for disaster prevention Prevention – What is the aim? Preparedness ResponseReconstruction Prevention

8. Creating the conditions for the development of knowledge based disaster prevention policies at all levels of government An inventory of information on disasters Spreading best practices EU guidelines on hazard/risk mapping Research activities

9. Linking actors and policies throughout the disaster management cycle Extending the "lessons learnt" exercises to disasters prevention Training and awareness-raising in the area of disaster prevention Improving the linking between actors Reinforcing early warning tools

10. Making existing instruments perform better for disaster prevention More efficient targeting of Community funding Taking account of disaster prevention in Community legislation

11. Reinforcing international cooperation in the field of prevention Emphasise disaster prevention in upcoming cooperation initiatives with third countries Coordinate with the International Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction and ensure close ties with the EU Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction in developing countries

12. Next steps Input from the Institutions Further consultations with stakeholders from the public and private sectors to promote the approach 2010/2011: further prevention proposals?

13. http://ec.europa.eu/environment/civil Thomas.de-lannoy@ec.europa.eu Thank you