[Publication] Forest Fires of Summer 2022 – Lessons to Draw from the Cohesion Policy Response

The year 2022 marked a significant increase in wildfire activity across Europe, with particular emphasis on nations such as France, Spain, Romania, Germany, Czechia, and Slovenia. In some instances, burnt area was 5-13 times higher than the past decade’s average, accumulating to a total surface area more than three times the size of Luxembourg. This surge in wildfires was exacerbated by prolonged heatwaves, droughts especially in early spring, and strong or unusual wind patterns. Dry conditions led to the lowest recorded soil moisture in fifty years and 63% of rivers registering far below-average discharge, emphasizing 2022 as the driest year in recent history. Some indicators of these conditions included increased fire activity in the alpine region and increased incidence of extreme fire behavior and pyrocumulonimbus formations in the Mediterranean region. Countries and regions traditionally considered low-risk for wildfires, found themselves grappling with large-scale fires and extreme fire behaviour.

The lack of experience, preparedness, and adequate resources in these areas significantly hindered containment efforts. Additionally, effective wildfire management in regions with unexploded ordinances (UXO) has emerged as a crucial concern, especially given the incidents in Slovenia, Germany, and the heightened risks in conflict zones like Ukraine, which was the second most burned country in Europe in 2022. Europe’s protected zones, notably the Natura2000 sites, also reported a surge in wildfire occurrences and burned area, highlighting a critical absence of comprehensive fire management strategies.

The Cohesion Policy framework, including the Cohesion Fund, European Regional Development Fund, Interreg programme, and Solidarity Fund, supports wildfire risk management. Investments from previous cycles have contributed to reducing the risk of extreme wildfires and enhancing response systems, landscape management, and risk awareness. However, challenges in fund allocation, governance and lacking wildfire expertise within ministries have resulted in fund underutilization or reallocation, thereby undermining the sustainability of their impact. Notably, investments have leaned heavily towards detection and response, with insufficient attention to long-term resilience building, nature preservation, and prevention.

Research indicates that a focus on preventive measures yields cost-effective outcomes. An estimated €1 investment in prevention could save €4 to €7 in response and recovery expenses. There is a pressing need to bolster investment in training and capability enhancement, as only a handful of countries believe their firefighting personnel are prepared for the intensifying wildfire threats. Key actors call for increased investment in training, capacity building, and proactive measures such as fuel management, prescribed fire application, and forest health.

The potential of climate-smart sustainable forest management (SFM) and the alignment of funding instruments with global wildfire initiatives like the Landscape Fire Governance Framework or the FAO-UNEP Global Fire Management Hub could better serve the global wildland fire community’s needs, leverage international expertise, and promote effective capacity development in fire management. Further recommendations include enhanced coordination across funding mechanisms, establishment of EU-wide legal frameworks, addressing funding shortcomings, promoting multi-stakeholder approaches, creating a centralized platform for wildfire investment, ensuring adequate funding and capacity for DG ECHO, in particular for the Wildfire Peer Review Assessment Framework, and forming an EU-coordinated wildfire expertise team. In terms of practical application, the need for clear guidelines on prescribed fire use, guidance for new fire-prone countries, strategy consolidation, expanding the scope of the Expert Exchange Programme, supporting a unified communication strategy and risk culture, promoting international collaboration and best practices, investing in training and standardization, reviewing management plans for protected areas, promoting research and innovation, and establishing a European Wildfire and Mitigation Fund is emphasised. These recommendations highlighted in this study aim to also enhance integrated wildfire management, funding accessibility and impact, and risk reduction across Europe.