Investing in infrastructure: Costs, benefits and effectiveness of disaster risk reduction measures. Presentation made by: José Oliveira Deputy Director for Prevention and Risk Management National Authority for Emergency and Civil Protection PORTUGAL

1. Wildifires – the road to a new model
José Oliveira
Deputy Diretor for Prevention and Risk Management
National Authority for Emergency and Civil Protection
PORTUGAL
OECD – High Level Risk Forum
Paris 18-19 September 2019

2. Portugal is exposed to several (and potential severe) risks
 Earthquakes
 Tsunamis
 Dam breaks
 Floods
 Wildfires
 Industrial accidents
 …
01-NOV-1755

3. Wildfires represent the biggest challenge!!!
 Frequent - occur every year
 Impact on people – potential victims
 Impact on local economy (forest, agriculture, agrofood, …)
 Impact in the environment
 Visibility
Public opinion - political pressure!

4. Who is affected?
 People living in small villages - remote areas
 Elderly, low income
 Owners of small farms
 No insurance policies

5. Consequences
 The end of local economy
 Land abandonment
 Fostering vulnerability for local communities
 Huge economic losses – more than 1 billion euros (worst years)
 Environmental consequences (carbon emission targets), rivers, landslides

6. 1st aproach to solve the problem!
 2006 – reform of the civil protection system - following the forest fires of 2003 & 2005
 Strengthening responde (firefighting)
 New Decree-law for prevention
Visible results
 Improvement on fire fighting operations (response side)
 But… Still not enough… no effective changes in landscape…
Why? No economic value… progressive abandonment of rural areas, ageing of population

7. Trigger to change the model
 Wildfires in 2017
• 17 June
• 15 October
both outside critical period - ~110 victims
 2 independent commissions of technical experts have reported the need
for structural and significant changes in several dimensions

8. Reccomendations from Techical experts:
 Governance
 Land management
 Knowledge
 Qualification
 ICT support and integration
 Risk communication (population)
 Council of Ministers Resolution – nº 157-A/2017, of October 27th
 Integrated National wildfire Management Plan 20-30

9. Council of Ministers Resolution nº 157-A/2017, of October 27th
4 strategic areas (72 initiatives)
 Reform the functional model
 Improve communities resilience
 Improve territory resilience
 Capacitation and Qualification

10. Governance
To manage risk efficiently
 Integrate prevention & combat (response)
 Integrate plans – land use plan, municipal wildfire defence plans, civil
protection plans – include forest fire risk in land use planning and
decision!
 Support local organizations who are involved in wildfire mitigation efforts
 Dedicate material and financial resources to community mitigation efforts
– fuel management, communitary machinery, water points, structural
shelters reinforcement …
CMR 157-A/2017

11.  “Safe Village, Safe People” programme - 1961 villages covered until now
 Improve risk communication
 national campaign on self protection and risk reduction (behavior)
 automatic population warning network implemented at district level (almost 20M
SMS sent in 2018 and 12M SMS in 2019 (sept) )
Improve community resilience
> To modify human behaviour
CMR 157-A/2017

12. 3 integrated initiatives –> 1 programme
“Safe village” , “Safe people”, “Warning systems”
Program “Safe village”
• establish "structural measures for the protection of people and property, as well as buildings
situated at the urban-forest interface
• implementation and management of buffer zones to protect the clusters and strategic
infrastructures
• identifying critical points and places of refuge and shelters.
Program "Safe People"
Aims to promote awareness-raising campaigns against risky behaviour, encourage self-protection
measures and stage evacuation drills, in liaison with local authorities.“
Warning Systems
Implementation of warning systems to inform the population during periods of high forest fire risk.
CMR 157-A/2017

13. Stakeholders
• National Civil Protection
– Overall coordination of the Programmes
– Definition of guidelines
– Implementation of national awareness campaigns and national warning systems.
• Municipalities and Parishes
– Implementation of the Programmes at local level (direct link with the population).
• Local safety officers
~ 1550 already nominated
“Safe village, Safe people” programme
 Village leaders
 Volunteers that facilitate dialogue between CP authorities and population
 Assist awareness, warning, evacuation and shelter/refuge activities

14. • Identification of critical clusters and creation of buffer zones
to protect the clusters;
• Implementation of expedited warning mechanisms to alert
the population;
• Kits of signs for shelter and direction
• Identification and signalling of shelters or places of refuge in the
clusters;
• Evacuation Plans (728), identifying and signalling evacuation routes;
• Drills (204) to test plans and warning mechanisms;
• Local awareness campaigns of self-protection measures

15.  TV spots
 Radio announcements
 Advertisements in newspapers
 Social media
 Website
 Interactive game (online)
• Leaflets in Portuguese (1M/y)
• Leaflets in English
• Leaflets in other 5 languages

16. Investment
• Civil Protection – national level
2,2 M euros investment (2018, 2019) + 1 M euros investment for SMS
• Local level – Municipalities (9 M euros available for projets – start 2020)
 Fuel reduction equipments
 Awareness campaigns
 Improvement of operational centers
“Safe village, Safe people” programme

17.  Credit lines for fuel management (Municipalities Private Owners) – 50 M€/year
 Reduced VAT for forestry services
 Forestry fund reinforced
 Fiscal beneficts available for forestry related investments
 Programme for maintenance of wildfire defence structures with pasturage – pilot projects ongoing
 Promotion of biomass transformation units
National campaign for fuel management
 National Programme for Ignition Reduction, with a call center for supporting citizens wishing to burn in
a safe context
Improve Territory resilience
CMR 157-A/2017

18. Investment
Known budgets – public entities
 Prevention - Forest & conservation agency (agriculture and environment)
 Monitoring and inspection - National Guard (internal affairs)
 Fire suppression - Civil Protection, Fire Brigades, aereal assets (internal affairs)
Investment Prevention Response
2016 28 M 115 M (80%)
2019 163 M 192 M (54%)
 Municipalities
 Private entities
 Unknown budget

19. Integrated National Wildfire Management Plan 2030

20. Phases
1. Planning
Governance
6. Post-event
5.
Suppression
&
emergency
Qualification 2.
Preparedness
3.
Prevention IT & Risk
Communication
4. Pre-
suppression

21. Integrated National Wildfire Management Plan 2030
 Strategic objetives
 Activities / Calendar
 Targets / goals
 Key indicators
 Budget (annual / multiannual)
 Involved entities (Responsible / Sponsor / …)

22. Conclusions / Challenges
 Economic problem // Social problem
 Changing paradigm for investment – from response to prevention
 Accountability - need to know integrated budget, need to improve risk communication
 DRR efforts need to have integrated view
 Promote territorial cohesion
 Programmes to promote local business, agrofood related activities…
 Effective tax breaks to foster rural economy
 Increase resilience - self protection
 Public acceptance / support
 Who benefits from wildfires?

23. Thank you for your attention!