European cooperation in the face of natural disasters in the Mediterranean countries

PPRD, is the acronym for Prevention, Preparation and Response to Disasters both natural and man-made and is the name given to the PPRD South III project financed by the European Union.  The project, which is in the final stretch of its third phase, has held the second regional Steering Committee meeting under Spain’s presidency of the General Directorate of Civil Protection and Emergencies (DGPCE). The event was attended by the project’s lead partners in French and Italian Civil Protection, the European Commission (DG NEAR), the focal points of the countries involved in the action, partner agencies and the project coordination team.  

The PPRD South project, led by Expertise France and in which FIIAPP participates as a partner agency, aims to develop national approaches to disaster management, based on prevention, mitigation and preparedness, intervening in different countries of the eastern and southern basin of the Mediterranean: Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine and Egypt.  

For this, the project has the technical coordination of Italian, French and Spanish Civil Protection, which are developing a component to strengthen emergency prevention capacities; the improvement of response mechanisms seeking better coordination at the level of operational assistance in emergencies; and the strengthening of communication capacities between civil protection actions and the population in emergencies, as well as the promotion of volunteer programmes for civil protection and the mainstreaming of the gender approach.  

During the Committee meeting, the operational results achieved despite the health crisis were presented, since in recent months a contingency plan has been launched to carry out online activities. To facilitate the activities in this modality, the Spanish component has carried out work on compiling and digitising contents to make them available on an online platform and to ensure that the project’s actions are sustainable.  

The Committee meeting’s agenda included a wide-ranging debate on the possibility of continuing in a future phase IV as the current phase will end in September 2021. In this sense, during the Committee meeting, DGPCE representatives presented proposals going forward for improving and reinforcing the results already obtained. Among them, they highlighted that the knowledge acquired is being maintained and the results are being taken on board. Furthermore, the European Commission representatives emphasised the need for a global approach, recalling the signing of the Barcelona Declaration in 1995, which gave rise to the Union for the Mediterranean.  

As well as vocalising needs, the Committee meeting provided the space in which to listen to the needs of the partner countries where the project is being carried out, and to highlight the need to continue working to further the project’s legacy as a bridge for cooperation and the effective transmission of information, addressing the specificities of each country.