News 2023
UNDRR Action-oriented dialogue on the “Reducing Risk Together: Community Engagement in Disaster Risk Reduction"
On 13-15 December 2023, the Executive Secretary of EUR-OPA Major Hazards Agreement participated in the Action-oriented dialogue on the “Reducing Risk Together: Community Engagement in Disaster Risk Reduction” convened by the UNDRR and the Ministry of the Interior of Finland. The Action-Oriented...
International Conference on Resilient Systems (ICRS2023)
The Executive Secretary participated in the International Conference on Resilient Systems (ICRS) 2023 organised jointly by Escuela de Gobierno y Tranformación Pública, the Singapore-ETH Centre (SEC), the Stevens Institute of Technology and the Netherlands’ 4TU Centre for Resilience Engineering...
BeSafeNet 2023 Olympiad Award Ceremony
The 2023 BeSafeNet Olympiad laureates and their teachers celebrated their winning performance on the occasion of the Award Ceremony held at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg on 1 December. The top three were team geOLTgrafias, Romania (1st), team Amigos III, Greece (2nd) and the Green team,...
First Technical Workshop of the Global Fire Management Hub
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in cooperation with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) organised on 14-16 November 2023 the First Technical Workshop of the Global Fire Management Hub Workshop. It was attended in person by Professor Johann Goldammer,...
Joint Meeting of the Committee of Permanent Correspondents and the Directors of Specialised Centres
The EUR-OPA Committee of Permanent Correspondents and the Directors of Specialised Centres held their (80th) joint meeting in Strasbourg on 6 and 7 November. The main aim of the meeting was to discuss the priorities of work for 2024, taking into account the Medium-Term Plan 2021-2025 and the...
World Congress on CBRNe Science & Consequence Management
On 23 - 26 October 2023 the Executive Secretary of the Agreement participated, on behalf of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, in the World Congress on CBRNe Science & Consequence Management, held in Cavtat, Croatia, where he delivered an address. In his statement the Executive...
12th Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe Annual Advisory Forum
At the invitation of the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe (EPA), the European Institute of Cultural Routes and the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland, the Executive Secretary participated as a speaker in the 12th Cultural...
OASP-ECPFE Workshop on Seismic Assessment and Retrofitting of Masonry and Preserved Structures
On 13 September 2023, the Earthquake Planning and Protection Organization and the European Centre on Prevention and Forecasting of Earthquakes (ECPFE) organised in Athens a workshop on Seismic Assessment and Retrofitting of Masonry and Preserved Structures. The workshop constituted one of the...
DPPI SEE Regional Meeting
On 31 May and 1 June, the Disaster Preparedness and Prevention Initiative for South-Eastern Europe held its 45th regional meeting and an advisory board meeting in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. EUR-OPA’s Executive Secretary participated in the meeting and delivered a statement, in which he...
International Conference on Wildland Fire
On 16-19 May, two representatives of the EUR-OPA Network of Scientific Centres attended the 8th International Wildland Fire Conference in Porto, Portugal. Professor Johann Goldammer, Director of the Global Fire Monitoring Center (GFMC) at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry (Freiburg...
UN Midterm Review of the Implementation of the Sendai Framework for DRR
On 18 and 19 May in New York, the Executive Secretary participated and delivered a statement at the High-Level Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on the Midterm Review of the Implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. The meeting was convened by the President...
Destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam in the Kherson region of Ukraine: statement by Council of Europe leaders
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia and Council of Europe’s President of the Committee of Ministers, Edgars Rinkēvičs, the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Tiny Kox and the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Marija Pejčinović Burić made the...
79th Committee of Permanent Correspondents Meeting
The Committee of Permanent Correspondents of the EUR-OPA Major Hazards Agreement held its 79th meeting on 11 May 2023 by videoconference. The main aim of the meeting was to discuss the use of social media to support national measures for successful disaster risk communication. The permanent...
PACE report on Political strategies against natural disasters
On 26 April, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe will debate a report (Doc. 15738) drafted by PACE Rapporteur Mr Simon Moutquin (Belgium, SOC) on Political strategies to prevent, prepare for, and face the consequences of natural disasters. Ending a recent three-day visit to...
40th Anniversary of the European University Centre for Cultural Heritage
On 15 April, the Executive Secretary of EUR-OPA Major Hazards Agreement attended a ceremony to mark the 40th Anniversary of the European University Centre for Cultural Heritage (CUEBC), that has been one of the cornerstones of cooperation within the Network of EUR-OPA Specialised Centres. At the...
5th International Conference on Civil Protection & Science
On 29 March, the Executive Secretary of EUR-OPA Major Hazards Agreement participated in the 5th International Conference on Civil Protection & Science organised by the Observatory of Civil Protection & Safety and ISEC Lisboa - Higher Institute of Education and Sciences, where he delivered a...
Results of the 2023 BeSafeNet Olympiad
Team geOLTgrafia from National College “Ion Minulescu”, Romania has emerged as winner of the 2023 BeSafeNet Olympiad held on 10 March. Team Amigos III from Geitonas School, Greece and the Green Team from 40 Secondary School “Louis Pasteur”, Bulgaria came second and third. 174 secondary schools...
EUR-OPA Bureau Meeting
The Bureau of the Committee of Permanent Correspondents met virtually on 21 March for its first meeting of the year to discuss the implementation of the work programme of the Agreement and to prepare the forthcoming Meeting of the Committee of Permanent Correspondents, to be held on-line on 11...
Meeting on Understanding and Communicating Risks
On 23-24 February, the Executive Secretary of EUR-OPA Major Hazards Agreement participated in a meeting on “Understanding and communicating existing and future risks: Ensuring evidence-based communication” organised in Bucharest, Romania by the Romanian Ministry of Interior in cooperation with...