Silva Mediterranea

Over 90 years of Mediterranean forest management

Technical workshop of the Working Group on Forest Fires of Silva Mediterranea

From 20-23 November 2018 the 38^th Meeting of the Expert Group on Forest Fires of the European Commission and a technical workshop of the Working Group on Forest Fires of Silva Mediterranea was held at the Center for the Defense Against Forest Fires (CDF) in León (Spain) supported by the Spanish Forest Fire Service of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Regional Government of Castilla y León.

The meeting objectives were widely achieved during the week, ensuring that:

• International collaboration was promoted, and the exchange of knowledge and experience was reinforced on forest fires at different levels.
• New approaches addressing forest fire-related issues were explored and the efficient use of resources is invested in prevention and suppression.

In particular, on 20 November, at the meeting of the Expert Group on Forest Fires of the European Commission, the participating countries (Austria, Belgium, France, Finland, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Russia, Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom) presented their results of the 2018 campaign and discussed the strategic lines to support the European Commission in developing a common document on forest fire prevention.

On 22 and 23 November, at the session of the Working Group on Forest Fires of Silva Mediterranea a first draft of the position paper on Wildfires in the Mediterranean was reviewed and received input from the countries and organizations present (Italy, Sudan, Spain, Turkey, the FAO, and DG AGRI and JRC from the EC) and of others who sent their contributions in advance (France and Portugal). As a result of these two work sessions, the position paper is being revised and will be shared with all members of Silva Mediterranea to approve the final version. This document will serve as a reference for managers, policy makers, and decision makers in the Mediterranean region and will be presented in the next WILDFIRE Conference to be held in Brazil in October of 2019.

A joint field trip was organized on 21 November to allow participants from both groups to interact and get acquainted with forest-fire prevention, preparedness, suppression, and restoration measures developed in Spain. The National Helitack Crew of Tabuyo del Monte, belonging to the Ministry of Agriculture, was part of the visit. Different preventive silviculture treatments and prescribed burn areas, carried out by this brigade in support of the Regional Government, were also observed.

Elena Hernández Paredes (MAPA)