Strasbourg, 11 March 2021                                                                              AP/CAT(2020)04rev
           Or. English

EUROPEAN AND MEDITERRANEAN MAJOR HAZARDS AGREEMENT
(EUR-OPA)

[REVISED DRAFT] MEDIUM-TERM PLAN

2021 - 2025

(Following Consultations with State parties)

proposed for adoption at the 75^th meeting of the committee

of permanent correspondents on 16 june 2021

I. INTRODUCTION

The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted the intergovernmental EUR-OPA Major Hazards Agreement [Resolution (87)2][1] at its session on 16-20 March 1987.

The Agreement is a platform for co-operation in the field of major natural and technological disasters among participating European and southern Mediterranean member States. This co-operation is organised as an Open Partial Agreement; "open" because any State that is not a member of the Council of Europe may apply to become a member. To date, it has 24 member States.

The Agreement's main objectives are to reinforce and to promote co-operation between member States in a multidisciplinary context to ensure better prevention of and protection against risks and better preparation in the event of major natural or technological disasters, thus building more resilient societies.

Since its creation 33 years ago, the Agreement has reinforced co-operation among its parties in the field of prevention, preparedness, response and relief in the face of major natural and technological disasters affecting European and southern Mediterranean States. Specific mechanisms developed by the EUR-OPA agreement include:

·        knowledge-based instruments to assess and reduce vulnerability through science, technology, education and training;

·        disaster risk reduction guidance to inspire and promote appropriate policies aimed at improving prevention and response governance;

·        a co-ordinated regional approach in addressing often neglected important issues and defining adequate mechanisms to cope with them.

The increasing frequency of natural and technological disasters and the impact on people, property, livelihoods, heritage and the environment in European and southern Mediterranean countries proves that, despite the constantly improved awareness of hazards and response capacity to disasters, the reduction of vulnerabilities and improved knowledge of risk and preparedness of societies remain far more complicated tasks to achieve.

Although the increased vulnerability of our societies to disaster is partly due to the ongoing lack of sufficient preparedness, it is nonetheless predominantly caused by inadequate consideration of disaster risk in socio-economic development and the intrinsic dynamic of risks. There is a scientific consensus that climate change is causing a rise in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events while changes to land use, in particular deforestation and urbanisation, contribute to increasing the potential threat to people, property and the environment. In that context, international co-operation has proved to be an efficient tool to promote disaster risk reduction worldwide by facilitating access to aid and expertise, developed to mitigate the effects of disasters and to speed up recovery.

Accordingly, the objective of this Medium-Term Plan 2021-2025 is to provide the Major Hazards Agreement (EUR-OPA) with an updated political and technical instrument containing new priorities and guidelines for implementation over the next five years. It seeks to improve the effectiveness of its work in increasingly more vulnerable European and southern Mediterranean societies.

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The Sendai Framework 2015-2030, adopted at the 3^rd United Nations World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction held in March 2015, constitutes a global reference for the Agreement’s future action. Endorsed by all States parties to the EUR-OPA Major Hazard Agreement, it calls for a clear role for regional organisations in its implementation and empowers them as vehicles for successful achievement of its goals by disseminating good practices, sharing experience, fostering co-operation, promoting resilience measures and enhancing scientific and technical work.

The Framework further sets goals aimed at preventing new risk, reducing existing risk and strengthening resilience, in addition to laying down guiding principles, including the primary responsibility of States to prevent and reduce disaster risk as well as all-of-society and all-of-State institutions engagement. In addition, the scope of disaster risk reduction has been broadened significantly to focus on both natural and man-made hazards and related environmental and technological risks.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating effect on individuals, families and communities across Europe and the wider world and forced governments to make fast, difficult and often controversial policy choices. It has demonstrated the fundamental importance of everyone’s right to health protection. The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, in her statement of 15 September 2019, called for “greater unity between member States, to foster international co-operation and to uphold the rights and responsibilities of all members of society”. She further noted that “the COVID-19 pandemic requires urgent and co-ordinated action to support member States in their efforts to protect public health. There is also a need for the Organisation’s programmes and activities to be refocused in order to promote co-ordinated responses, to exchange good practice, and together to learn the lessons of the crisis in the quest for a quicker recovery”.[2] The co-operating States, having included biological hazards among the major risks falling within the scope of the Agreement in 2020,[3] will focus on addressing risks posed by such hazards and identify and promote best practices in biological disaster risk prevention, mitigation and preparedness.   

Four priority areas for focused action within and across sectors by States at local, national, regional and global levels were identified:

Priority 1: Understanding disaster risk.

Priority 2: Strengthening disaster risk governance to manage disaster risk.

Priority 3: Investing in disaster risk reduction for resilience.

Priority 4: Enhancing disaster preparedness for effective response and to “Build Back Better”

in recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction.

In order to ensure continuity of EUR-OPA’s past and ongoing activities, the Medium-Term Plan 2021-2025 is aligned with priorities of the Sendai Framework, EUR-OPA’s current Medium-Term Plan 2016-2020 and Programme of Work 2020-2021. Building on the core values of the Council of Europe’s mission, the Plan promotes a human rights-based and community-led approach ensuring in particular that the most vulnerable groups are not left behind when it comes to disasters. 

The principal goal of the Medium-Term Plan 2021-2025 is to make, by 2025, significant quantifiable progress to meet the seven global measurable targets set by the Sendai Framework.[4]

The EUR-OPA Major Hazards Agreement Medium-Term Plan 2021-2025 will meet these targets through focused action, in particular within the four Priority Areas, consisting of the following input:

·           scientific and technical work developed by the network of European and Mediterranean Specialised Centres of the Agreement integrating all specialised centres to better assess evolving risks and adapt the resilience strategies accordingly;

·           reports prepared by consultants to meet the specific requests of its governance bodies;

·           contributions from governments of member States to projects or research of particular relevance to other States;

·           information compiled by working groups created under the Agreement to examine technical matters of common interest;

·           collaborative projects carried out with other national and international bodies active in disaster risk reduction, in particular with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction and the European Forum for Disaster Risk Reduction, to better define the role to be played by authorities in DRR as well as to foster the population’s active participation (as individuals and as a community) in DRR;

·           promotion of risk reduction culture among the population (adults, children and vulnerable groups).

PRINCIPLES APPLIED

1.      Disaster risk reduction activities within the Agreement must cover the entire disaster management cycle. The necessary attention to response to disasters and protection of vulnerable persons must be complemented by adequate involvement of the population as well as by preparedness actions at all levels.

2.      Created as an intergovernmental co-operation tool, the main goal of the Agreement should be to provide member State authorities with additional tools to better define their own national strategies for disaster risk reduction (DRR) and to ensure that revamped national strategies will also provide the opportunity to adequately address transboundary risk.

3.      The Agreement will continue streamlining its actions with other Council of Europe priorities in particular through strengthening its co-operation with all other concerned entities of the Council of Europe, such as the Parliamentary Assembly, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities and the Council of Europe Development Bank.

4.      Co-operation with other international organisations remains a key element of its work in order to benefit from increased synergies and avoid any work duplication. Particular effort will be made towards reinforcing existing collaboration with the other European and Mediterranean organisations involved in disaster risk reduction, and in particular:

·           the European Commission, through the development of joint initiatives in domains where member States of the Agreement can play a significant role;

·           UNESCO, through reinforced collaboration on topics of common interest such as risk education and awareness or cultural heritage protection;

·           World Health Organization, through development of dialogue on importance of implementation of International Health Regulations (2005) aimed at prevention, protection against, control and provision on public health response to the international spread of disease;

·           Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), in line with the OSCE Ministerial Council Decision No. 6/2014 “Enhancing Disaster Risk Reduction” to strengthen the exchange of knowledge and experience, notably through continuing cooperation in the field of water management, flood risk management, and fire management.

           

5.      The statutory organs of the Agreement (Committee of Permanent Correspondents, Bureau and Network of Specialised Centres) will continue to improve their synergies and streamline their activities within their fields of action to increase the contribution made by the Agreement. Collaboration with non-member States and other partners will also be promoted to ensure a more comprehensive approach as well as broader dissemination of the Agreement’s results in national and international forums. A Platform for exchange of information and use of collaborative IT tools will be developed.

6.      Networking between the Specialised Centres of the Agreement will be reinforced as necessary, ensuring that they provide the appropriate technical and scientific support needed to fulfil the disaster risk reduction objectives and goals set by the member States. Funding by the Agreement to Specialised Centres will focus on projects contributing to the priority fields of action useful for all member States.

PRIORITIES FOR ACTION

Priority 1:       Understanding disaster risk

                        Using scientific and technological knowledge to better assess evolving risks and adapt the resilience strategies accordingly

The risks faced by contemporary societies and the associated tasks assigned to national, regional and local authorities to identify and assess them with a view to preventing, mitigating or otherwise managing and coping with them are permanently evolving. To support authorities in this constant endeavour, international co-operation can be of great benefit, by sharing knowledge and resources and building on experience gained by other countries. Where experience is lacking, a common methodology and guidance need to be developed and facilitated.

At all stages of the risk cycle, better technical and scientific knowledge are necessary to define more accurate prevention measures but also to improve preparation plans and to ensure efficient intervention. To ensure that the technical and scientific work developed is useful, information concerning both the sources of the risk and its behaviour when it materialises must be collected and shared with all relevant actors.

The actions developed in this domain will contribute to the implementation, within its member States, of the first Priority for Action of the Sendai Framework, namely “Understanding disaster risk”.

The parties to the Agreement will work closely together to strengthen technical and scientific capacity to capitalise on and consolidate existing knowledge and to develop and apply methodologies and models to assess disaster risks, vulnerabilities and exposure to all hazards, including in particular high technologies such as technological hazards. To achieve this goal, the co-operating States will periodically share their assessment of disaster risks, vulnerability, capacity, exposure, hazard characteristics and their possible sequential effects on inhabited areas and ecosystems.

a.      Risk awareness as a basis for public policies

Better awareness of the sources of risk is a first step in designing pertinent prevention actions and adequate preparedness measures. Reviewing and identifying existing knowledge gaps will make it possible to gain a better understanding of existing risks. Relevant actions will be taken to review emerging risks, as - by definition - their sources and implications are less well known than those which have already been identified and benefit from many years of research and practical experience.

The Agreement will thus use the competence of its network of scientific and technical specialised centres to provide the national authorities with the required information on hazards and vulnerability in order to plan their action in advance. Such a user-oriented approach will require a significant effort on the part of the scientific and technical specialised centres and authorities alike to identity concrete actions to be implemented by the pertinent authorities.

The co-operating parties will collaborate on the development and dissemination of science-based methodologies and tools to record and share information on disaster losses and relevant disaggregated data and statistics, as well as methodologies and tools that strengthen disaster risk modelling, assessment, mapping, monitoring and multi-hazard early warning systems. In particular, the Agreement will create a catalogue of non-sensitive data and information, as appropriate, communications and geospatial and space-based technologies and related services which should be shared and used by all co-operating States.

Risk assessment tools for the protection of cultural heritage will be discussed and developed with a view to adopting a recommendation.

The Agreement will promote scientific research on disaster risk patterns, causes and effects. It will identify best practices as regards dissemination of risk information (including the best use of geospatial information technology), guidance on methodologies and standards for risk assessments, disaster risk modelling and the use of data. It will identify research and technology gaps and lay down recommendations for research within priority areas in disaster risk reduction.

b.        Monitoring of risks as a tool for public action

Considering that many of the existing risks have already been properly identified, and given that the awareness of emerging risks will continue to improve, the co-operating States will strive to promote collaboration in the setting up of adequate monitoring mechanisms in order to share information on transboundary risks.

The Agreement will thus promote the development, through its network of specialised centres, of tools for monitoring hazards and vulnerability that would provide national authorities with real-time information, enabling them to better assess the actual extent of the event and, if necessary, adjust actions taken either as regards prevention (if the disaster has not yet materialised) or in terms of intervention (if such preventive actions are no longer possible).  

The Agreement will consider adopting a recommendation on the greater use of media, including social media, traditional media, big data and mobile phone networks, to support national measures for successful disaster risk communication, as appropriate and in accordance with national laws. Where applicable, development of standards for technological communication based on the existing emergency number 112, or other tailor-made and interoperable early-warning communication systems will be promoted, in particular for vulnerable groups.

The co-operating States will discuss and promote local, national, regional and possibly global user-friendly systems and services for the exchange of information on good practices, cost-effective and easy-to-use disaster risk reduction technologies and lessons learned on policies, plans and measures for disaster risk reduction. Members will share information on technology standards related to communication with civilians and early warning systems in border regions of neighbouring countries.

The Agreement will promote a model using a triple helix approach (academia/industry/ government) to DRR knowledge-sharing by disseminating best practices of collaboration by academic, public and private entities.

Priority 2:       Strengthening disaster risk governance to manage disaster risk

            Developing co-operation among all decision-makers to better define an adequate role for authorities in disaster risk reduction (DRR)

Defining precise strategies for national authorities is being made more complex by the growing role played by other actors, such as local and regional authorities, non-governmental entities or private firms. In most economies, a predominant share of overall investment is made by the private sector, which does not systematically consider disaster risk in detail in its portfolio of risks. Consequently, national authorities have to envisage a significant shift in their current role, moving from a top-down directive role, where they dictate the way all the participants must behave, to a more transversal leadership role, where they co-ordinate what the various stakeholders actually do. The goal is to identify ways to better exploit synergies between various actors within the economic process, to promote multi-sectoral risk assessment and to highlight the strengths of such increased co-operation.

The actions developed in this domain will contribute to the implementation within the Agreement’s member States of the second Priority for Action of the Sendai Framework, namely “Strengthening disaster risk governance”.

a.        Overcoming national challenges

The responsibility for adopting and implementing national and local disaster risk reduction strategies and plans, across different timescales, with targets, indicators and time frames, aimed at preventing the creation of risk, reducing existing risk and strengthening economic, social, health and environmental resilience rests with the national and local authorities of every State.

Mechanisms to ensure comprehensive public and community consultations during the development of such strategies and plans, as well as in respect of laws and regulations to support their implementation, need to be identified and implemented. Clear roles and tasks need to be assigned through relevant legal frameworks to community representatives within disaster risk management institutions, processes and decision-making. Best practices in respect of follow-up to, periodical assessment of and public reporting on progress on national and local plans for disaster risk reduction, also involving public scrutiny and institutional debates, including by parliamentarians and other relevant officials, will be examined and shared by the Agreement.

The empowerment of local authorities, as appropriate, through regulatory and financial means, to work and co-ordinate with civil society, communities and indigenous peoples and migrants in disaster risk management at the local level will also be promoted, with best practices identified and shared.

Some of the issues affecting international co-operation in Disaster Risk Reduction stem from the particularities of strategies adopted at national level. The necessary sharing of responsibilities between various national entities and among different layers of authority at local, regional and national level constitutes an important variable which needs to be considered carefully when designing and implementing such national strategies. The Agreement will focus on optimising such national governance, in particular through examining, sharing and drawing on the lessons learned in other countries.

The vulnerabilities of individuals, communities and the environment are major factors that increase exposure to disaster risk, although these risks do not affect everybody in the same way. Underprivileged people and socially disadvantaged groups are the most exposed and directly suffer the consequences of disasters. Yet the most vulnerable people are often not sufficiently considered in prevention strategies or operational manuals. The Agreement will continue to focus its activities on the resilience of vulnerable groups such as migrants, asylum seekers, refugees, people with disabilities and children. It will support projects with a view to preparing recommendations for reducing the exposure of vulnerable persons to hazards.

The Agreement will also examine and draw on the experience of member States with operating mechanisms and incentives designed to ensure high levels of compliance with the existing safety-enhancing provisions of sectoral laws and regulations, including those addressing land use and urban planning, building codes, environmental and resource management and health and safety standards. In particular, lessons learned from large-scale training exercises organised in parallel in a number of member States will be shared and best practices will be identified.

Particular attention will be paid to the mainstreaming of disaster risk assessments into land-use policy development and implementation, including urban planning, land degradation assessments as well as rural development planning and management of features such as mountains, rivers, coastal flood plain areas, drylands, wetlands and all other areas prone to drought and flooding, including through the identification of areas that are safe for human settlement, and at the same time preserving ecosystem functions that help to reduce risks.

The Agreement will also identify and support the protection of cultural and collecting institutions and other sites of historical, cultural heritage and religious interest.

The private sector has become a major player in designing, constructing, maintaining and operating critical infrastructure essential for national disaster risk reduction strategies. Mutually beneficial co-operation between private interests and public needs has to be developed, including licensing and control by the state authorities, in such a way that their potentially divergent interests are channelled in the right direction. The Agreement will consider how co-ordinated action between public and private sectors can contribute to better preparation for disasters and more efficient intervention when they occur.

Regular and up-to-date national and municipal initiatives to inform, raise awareness and consolidate adequate skills among all groups of the population, including the most vulnerable groups, are key components of disaster risk reduction. One of the most effective ways to maintain a high level of preparedness within the population are through national and municipal campaigns on disaster risk prevention, mitigation and preparedness. The Agreement will examine best practices in awareness-raising campaigns and share them among all co-operating States.

b.        Resolving international challenges

The Agreement, as an international co-operation instrument, will explore the problems that may arise among its member States when jointly addressing (either bilaterally or multilaterally) common transboundary risks. It will explore the technical and administrative issues identified on the ground that currently stand in the way of adequate collaboration. The Agreement will further promote ways to overcome such bottlenecks among member States.

It will also consider the various technical, legal and economic proposals aimed at facilitating international co-ordinated actions in all the phases of the disaster risk cycle. The Agreement will capitalise on its unique role as a European and Mediterranean platform to discuss and share information on legal provisions which could have a cross-border effect with a view to anticipating corrective measures for transboundary risk management.

The Agreement will look into crisis management strategies among States and international co-operation among crisis management bodies. The aim of this reflection is to identify vulnerabilities in production strategies and supply chains, to make supply chains more resilient without weakening price competitiveness and to plan ahead for the supply of vital stocks. Respective roles of public authorities and private enterprises will be examined, and examples of good practices identified.  

           

           

Priority 3:       Investing in disaster risk reduction for resilience

            Fostering the population’s active participation (as individuals and as a community) in disaster risk reduction

A sustained and carefully targeted awareness-raising effort on the part of authorities is an important prerequisite for successfully mobilising the population. To be effective, when confronted with a potential disaster, it must be backed up by concrete actions of prevention and preparation. People are more likely to take an active role if they are fully aware of the potential impact of disasters, in particular if they are convinced that their actions, individual and collective alike, will have a significant impact on overall resilience to disasters. In all cases, appropriate individual attitudes are a major asset in ensuring the effectiveness of many DRR measures taken by the authorities, while wrong decisions generally imply the failure of such measures.

The actions developed in that domain will contribute to the implementation within its member States of the third Priority for Action of the Sendai Framework, namely “Investing in disaster risk reduction for resilience”.

a.        Individual action

The Agreement will promote appropriate individual decisions to reduce the overall level of risks within contemporary societies. A strong source of motivation for people to take decisions relating to their own protection against disasters is the realisation that disasters can affect them directly and that their own individual decisions can be vital for their personal protection. As regards prevention, this can be expressed by making housing choices that would take into account potential risks or undertaking specific work to better protect their home. Preparedness may include devising individual evacuation plans in the event of a disaster and stocking the necessary emergency products.

The Agreement will also stress the importance of considering individual opinions when setting up procedures designed to prevent, prepare and cope with disasters. The goal is two-tiered: to personally involve each member of the public in the success of such strategies as well as to consider all the relevant factors put forward by the broadest possible spectrum of the public. The capacity to transform each individual’s involvement into actual commitment, through voluntary work for example, must also be explored and steps need to be taken to identify ways of promoting it.

The Agreement will promote best practices for disaster-resilient public and private investments, building better from the start to withstand hazards through proper design and construction, retrofitting and rebuilding; nurturing a culture of maintenance; and taking into account economic, social, structural, technological and environmental impact assessments.

b.        Collective action

The Agreement will explore the added value of actions by groups of persons, organised in communities, including NGOs or other types of associations, to foster resilience of societies as a whole. By either proposing concrete actions or simply raising the issues at the appropriate level (local, regional, national or even international), these groups can significantly contribute to the promotion of DRR by helping to protect a sizeable part of the community.

Involving non-state organisations in disaster prevention and preparation constitutes a potential valuable asset to better protect societies against hazards. The authorities must seek ways to involve such actors and local communities in decision-making and aim to harness their potential and resources in order to support the proposed measures. Collective action can also be an efficient means of changing individuals' perceptions of risks and, by extension, modifying their actual behaviour in terms of being more risk-sensitive.

Priority 4:       Enhancing disaster preparedness

            Promoting a risk culture among the population (adults, children and vulnerable groups)

It is an essential role of the authorities to anticipate hazards and prepare for disasters, as they are the ones who are in charge of the technical services involved in DRR and will ultimately intervene if a major event occurs. However, many past events have shown that the preparation of the population is equally crucial to guarantee successful intervention by the authorities. Consequently, the role of the population at all stages of the disaster risk cycle is also a priority for the competent authorities, and addressing it can be split into two equally important phases.

The actions developed in that domain are intended to contribute to the implementation within its member States of the fourth Priority for Action of the Sendai Framework, namely “Enhancing disaster preparedness”.

Risk awareness on the part of the population is a major factor in implementing successful DRR actions . It is important, therefore, to promote a “risk/safety culture” within society to support DRR measures. Making everybody understand the actual limits of any potential intervention in the event of a disaster is a major factor in implementing successful DRR actions. Confronted with the increased human and economic losses associated with emerging risks, the need for good perception (not fear) of potential risks is even more crucial to support the measures adopted by authorities when trying to cope with them, including their financial implications.

The Agreement will lay special emphasis on information on risks aimed at the adult population in order to provide the knowledge and skills necessary to take adequate decisions regarding potential risks. There will be a special focus on promoting measures to train the workforce in disaster response and strengthen technical and logistical capacities to ensure better response in emergencies as well as regular disaster preparedness. The Agreement will promote best practices for response and recovery exercises, including evacuation drills, training and the establishment of area-based support systems with a view to ensuring continuity of operations and planning, including social and economic recovery and the provision of basic services in the post-disaster phase.

The Agreement will continue to explore the best ways to reach the population via traditional and online media by developing appropriate communication tools capable of reaching all segments of the audience. It will promote guidelines for the media that would specify their role at local, national, regional and global levels in contributing to the raising of public awareness and understanding. The Agreement will also stress the importance of adopting specific disaster risk reduction communications policies and disseminating accurate and non-sensitive disaster risk, hazard and disaster information in a simple, transparent, easy-to-understand and accessible manner.

The Agreement will continue its drive to promote initiatives to increase knowledge of disaster risk among young people through formal school curricula and also through extracurricular activities, such as the BeSafeNet Olympiad for secondary school pupils. It will explore non-formal or informal training initiatives to identify the best methods, such as attractive audio-visual products or the use of social networks to disseminate pertinent information on potential risks, hazards and disaster preparedness and response.