Blog

By Nasser Kamel, UfM Secretary General.

“The summer of 2023 will be remembered as one of extremes on both sides of the Mediterranean: storms, drought, heatwaves, wildfires, and earthquakes. As Croatia, Italy and Algeria braved flash floods, the historic lack of rain continued to take its toll on Spain, blazes raged across Tunisia, and the Mediterranean Sea broke yet another heat record. Morocco also experienced its biggest quake in well over 100 years only months after violent tremors shook Turkey and Syria.”

18-19 October 2023, Valencia – The Fourth UfM meeting of Civil Protection Directors-General of the Member States this week in Spain brought together a hundred officials from across the Euro-Mediterranean region to discuss the logistics of improving regional disaster risk management cooperation. Participants exchanged ideas surrounding the creation of a Mediterranean Framework on Civil Protection,Read more

18-19 October 2023, Valencia – In the Ministerial Declaration emanating from the 5th UfM Regional Forum (27 November 2020), it was emphasised that: “The UfM Platform on Civil Protection should play a key role in discussing common challenges and concrete actions to be developed within the framework of the Action Plan for a Euro-Mediterranean CivilRead more

The ‎“Prevention, Preparedness and Response to natural and ‎man-made Disasters”‎ (PPRD) Mediterranean programme was launched today in Rome, only a few weeks after fatal floods claimed more than a dozen lives, displaced over 20,000 people, and caused extensive damage to thousands of homes and acres of cropland in the Emilia-Romagna region. The programme aims toRead more

5, 6 and 7th June 2023, Rome – A  high level event will be hosted by the Italian Ministry of Foreign affairs in Rome on 5, 6 and 7th June 2023 (and the Dipartamento de Protezione Civile), co-organised by the Directorate-General for European Civil protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO) and supported by the UnionRead more

23-24 February 2023, Bucharest – The UfM Secretary General, in response to an invitation extended by Dr. Raed Arafat, Romanian Secretary of State and Head of the Department for Emergency Situations, attended the EFDRR Roadmap Action-oriented Dialogue: “Understanding and communicating existing and future risks: ensuring evidence-based communication”. This event was co-organised with the European Forum forRead more

14 December 2022, Barcelona. As part of the NEMAUSUS project, which brings together 7 EU countries, a meeting aimed at bringing together and fifteen experts in forest fires, called “Reference group” was held on December 14 at the UfM, which supports this project. Funded by DG ECHO, it aims to prefigure the creation of future thematicRead more

27-29 June, Brussels.  In the run-up to the 7th European Civil Protection Forum (28-29 June 2022), a series of warm up sessions were organized around the main policy axes of the Forum. ‘Europe and the World: The Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) as a regional cooperation model´ (27 June) is the fourth and last warm-up session.  It will takeRead more

In February 2022, the entire population of Morocco and beyond held their breath during four long days. In a small town near the city of Chefchaouen, five-year-old Rayan Oram fell into an open well, plunging more than 30 meters through the pit’s narrow opening. Rescue operations, led by Morocco’s Civil Protection Directorate, started on aRead more

25 february 2021 – UfM member states met on 25 February 2021 to review and discuss the follow-up of the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Barcelona Process/5th UfM Regional Forum, held on 27 November 2020. During the meeting, UfM Senior Officials welcomed the New Agenda for the Mediterranean adopted by the European Commission,Read more