The kick-off meeting of the MedFireWise project (Interreg NEXT MED) took place on 17 July.
The MedFireWise project, co-funding by European Commission, addresses the threat of forest fires in Mediterranean forests by promoting the use of prescribed burning and silvopasture as nature-based solutions (NbS) for wildfire risk management (WRFM).
The project kick-off meeting was held online and involved all project partners:
- National Observatory of Athens (Coordinator, GR)
- D.R.E.Am. Italia (IT)
- Pau Costa Foundation (ES)
- Edirne Forest Management Directorate (TR)
- National Research Institute for Rural Engineering, Water, and Forestry (TN)
- Algerian Space Agency (DZ)
- University of Balamand (LB)
The Project Officer and Communication Officer also attended the meeting on behalf of the European Commission.
On 17 July, the activities to be carried out during the three years of the project were presented. The first in-person event will take place in Athens between October and November.
Through transnational cooperation, the project aims to mitigate the risk of forest fires in ecosystems by exploiting ecological processes to improve resilience and reduce the intensity and severity of fires.
The development of innovative tools and frameworks will improve awareness for assessing sustainable interventions in strategic management areas, thus refining risk management systems.
Implementation in seven different regions of Greece, Spain, Italy, Turkey, Tunisia, Algeria and Lebanon will demonstrate the effectiveness of NbS, benefiting local communities, the economy and ecosystems.
It will provide tools for more effective WRFM, increase management capacity, raise public awareness and transfer its results to regions within and outside the project areas, contributing to making Mediterranean forests more resilient to the impacts of climate change.
For more information, visit the project page
