Heads of civil protection agencies in the Baltic Sea Region met in Hamburg to discuss how to strengthen resilience of the region

The event, which was hosted by the Hamburg Fire and Rescue Service, the current chair of the CBSS Civil Protection Network, offered an opportunity to discuss member states’ efforts to strengthen resilience of the Baltic Sea Region (BSR), including cooperation between authorities and volunteer organisations, involvement of young people in disaster risk reduction, and assistance to Ukraine.

Your work really matters not only in these challenging times but also in the future. 

Grzegorz Poznanski, the Director General of the CBSS Secretariat.

Prof. Dr. Johann Georg Goldammer, Director of the Global Fire Monitoring Center (GFMC) delivered a keynote speech on wildfire threats by land mines and unexploded ordnance during and after armed conflicts. He highlighted challenges and experiences for crisis resilience in the Baltic Sea region and beyond, particularly increasing wildfire risk because of temperature anomalies. Prof. Goldammer also focused on armed conflicts and landscape fires in Ukraine, South Caucasus, Syria and Israel and presented concrete activities on how communities can increase their resilience against wildfires.

CBSS presented ongoing and planned future activities to strengthen cooperation between authorities and volunteer organisations to build a more resilient Baltic Sea Region and develop a BSR Network of Volunteers. 

With the Corona pandemic and the war in Ukraine, the need to improve cooperation and trust between state authorities and volunteer organisations has only grown. The window of opportunity is here, you need to grab it.

Vineta Polatside, Senior Adviser for Safe and Secure Region of the CBSS Secretariat

Directors General welcomed the Youth Volunteer Statement on Strengthening the Role of Young Volunteers in Civil Protection presented by the young fire cadets from the Danish Civil Protection League. Young volunteers asked Directors General to increase integration of young people in all areas of civil protection.

We are young, but we have willingness, strength, and ability to help. We want to be asked to help and develop solutions, we know young people and their concerns. Teach us now because we are the future.

Tobias, a young fire cadet.

Youth fire cadets asked civil protection authorities to enable young people to learn and develop their skills in civil protection-related issues. They also encouraged authorities to create more opportunities for young volunteers active in civil protection to meet each other, exchange knowledge and skills and hold joint training, to use more widely digital communication tools (for example, TikTok, Snapchat, etc.) to ensure that relevant information reaches young people on the communication channels they use. Danish Youth cadets also highlighted the need to work towards reducing cultural norms and prejudices that are obstacles to meaningful and equal participation of young people in civil protection activities.

Discussions on cooperation with volunteers were followed by the presentation of General Serhii Kruk, DG of State Emergency Service of Ukraine who joined the meeting online. Serhii Kruk presented a status update on the work of Emergency Service and the consequences of the explosion inside the Kakhovka dam. He informed the participants about the most urgent needs of the Emergency Service at the moment. All the CBSS Member States expressed their strong support for Ukraine and discussed the assistance civil protection authorities have provided so far and possible future support.

Andrew Mackay Bower, Country Support Programme Manager at the UNDRR presented a global perspective of strengthening disaster resilience. He highlighted the achievements and challenges outlined in the Midterm Review of the Sendai Framework. He concluded his presentation with recommendations going forward such as the need to cooperate on transboundary and common risk and disasters, to pay greater attention to systemic nature of risk and integrated risk management and to double efforts on the risk financing agenda. 

Hanna Jahns, DG ECHO Director B – Disaster Preparedness and Prevention expressed concerns about Disaster Risk Management (floods, fires, increasing numbers of incidents etc.). She pointed out that European Commission is preparing for «fire season» and is concerned with wars in Ukraine, Sudan, and Afghanistan. On behalf of the EC Hanna Jahns thanked the CBSS Member States for their help to Ukraine. She also informed that in 2022 EUCPM had 232 activations, which is a significant increase in activations compared to the year before when EUCPM was activated 30 times.  

After the insights into the larger international context through UNDRR and then EU’s DG ECHO, CBSS shared an overview of the latest regional developments and activities under the German CBSS Presidency. While looking at the different priorities of the “Joint Position on Enhancing Cooperation in Civil Protection Area”, concluded and newly approved projects were introduced, such as the roundtable on submerged munitions and projects like VOALA & BYFORES, Secure Kids or NEEDS. The NEEDS project had a chance to present its newly developed Policy Recommendations to the Directors General. The recommendations derive from project results on the skills gap and mismatch between the societal security education and practical knowledge needs, and they suggest on how to work further on the topic even in the future.

The meeting was concluded with a presentation by the incoming CBSS Finnish Presidency. Finland will continue the work started during the German CBSS Presidency and will put emphasis on building Comprehensive Security and Resilience in the Baltic Sea Region.

CBSS expresses its gratitude to Hamburg and Berlin Fire and Rescue Services for the successful German Chairmanship of the CBSS Civil Protection Network.