Forest Fires in Europe 2009

When huge parts of nature are burning as a result of a combination of weather conditions, fuel accumulation, and human intervention and this becomes a recurrent issue, we should find ways together to counteract. This is particularly true as regards protected forest areas for which so many efforts have been undertaken by the Member States with EU support, especially for protecting biodiversity-rich land. The present report is the tenth of the series and is based on the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) which delivers, inter alia, all the data needed to forecast forest fire danger in Europe, to assess the damages caused by forest fires and to analyze their causes. The development of EFFIS has been supported by the Commissioners in charge of Environment and Research through the close collaboration of the Directorate General Environment and the Joint Research Centre. EFFIS has become a vehicle to further support the ¿forest fire community¿ in the Member States. The system is an example of how Member States and the Commission can work together on a purely voluntary basis and we would like to thank the competent national authorities for their active contribution. The year 2009 is subject of the present report. 2009 has been a rather unspectacular year as regards forest fire damages in Europe. Despite this, and recognizing the relevance of the forest fire issue, during that period several Commission services were again involved in promoting EU actions aiming at mitigating damages caused by forest fires to human beings and the environment. New initiatives have been taken focusing on an enhanced forest fire prevention and on adapting our forests to challenges resulting from climate change. In these fields, the European Council issued two Council conclusions on ¿forest fires prevention¿ and ¿preparing our forest to climate change¿ during the first semester of 2010, the Commission adopted the ¿Green Paper on forest protection and information¿ and the Parliament took initiatives in the field of forest fire prevention. The Commission recognizes and appreciates the active involvement of the Member States and hope that further common ground can be found to safeguard European forests which are an essential element of our cultural heritage. The Commission services working in the field of forest fires count on the support of all Member States, including those for which forest fires are not yet a priority. The collaboration of all involved services in the EU and the Member States will help in finding ways and efficient solutions to avoid burning land with all its negative consequences on our environment.JRC.DDG.H.7-Land management and natural hazard

Forest Fires in Europe 2010

This is the 11th “Forest Fires in Europe” report published by the European Commission. The report contains a summary of the 2010 fire season in Europe, with official statistics on number of fires and burned areas compiled by the contributing countries. In addition to country reports with a summary of the past fire season provided by the countries, the report Forest Fires in Europe informs about the latest developments in terms of forest fire prevention and initiatives of the European Commission to support forest fires fire protection activities in the European Union. Furthermore it provides the results of the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) operating during the fire season, with special emphasis on the EFFIS Danger Forecast, providing daily maps of meteorological fire danger forecast of EU, and the EFFIS Rapid Damage Assessment, performing the daily mapping and assessment of main land cover and Natura2000 areas affected by fires of at least 40 ha during the fire season.JRC.DDG.H.7-Land management and natural hazard

Forest Fires in Europe 2008

This is the ninth -Forest Fires in Europe- report published by the European Commission. The report contains a summary of the 2008 fire season in Europe, with official statistics on number of fires and burned areas compiled by the contributing countries. In addition to country reports with a summary of the past fire season provided by the countries, the report Forest Fires in Europe informs about the latest developments in terms of forest fire prevention and initiatives of the European Commission to support forest fires fire protection activities in the European Union. Furthermore it provides the results of the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) operating during the fire season, with special emphasis on the EFFIS Danger Forecast, providing daily maps of meteorological fire danger forecast of EU, and the EFFIS Rapid Damage Assessment, performing the daily mapping and assessment of main land cover and Natura2000 areas affected by fires of at least 50 ha during the fire season.JRC.H.7-Land management and natural hazard

Exploratory spatial analysis of human migration behavior along the U.S. -- Mexico border

Includes bibliographical references (p. 64-68)This study explores the phenomenon of illegal immigration from Mexico to the United States in a spatial and temporal context. Existing literature on this issue suggests that migration patterns change according to local conditions at the origin in Mexico and patrolling strategies at the border. A demographic indicator called the Migration Propensity Index (MPI) is used to quantify the amount of immigration from the state and municipio of origin in Mexico to the sector of destination in the U.S. This index is calculated using population counts for areas in Mexico and amounts of total apprehended immigrants originating from those areas. Using apprehension data from 1999 to 2006, this study identified Mexican states that had higher and lower sending rates of illegal immigrants to each of the ten Border Patrol sectors of the southwest U.S.-Mexico border (Livermore, San Diego, El Centro, Yuma, Tucson, El Paso, Marfa, Del Rio, Laredo, and McAllen). Having identified those states, it showed a consistent trend in the study period. Investigating further at a higher spatial resolution, the municipio level, allowed the validation of patterns found at the state level. Finally, global and local spatial autocorrelation indexes were used to identify clustered areas of municipios showing high and low MPI values; and census and socio-economic variables for selected municipios were used to find correlation between MPI and conditions of life at the origin

Design and Function of the European Forest Fire Information System

International audienc

Data schemas for multiple hazards, exposure and vulnerability

Purpose – Using risk-related data often require a significant amount of upfront work to collect, extract and transform data. In addition, the lack of a consistent data structure hinders the development of tools that can be used with more than one set of data. The purpose of this paper is to report on an effort to solve these problems through the development of extensible, internally consistent schemas for risk-related data. Design/methodology/approach – The consortia coordinated their efforts so the hazard, exposure and vulnerability schemas are compatible. Hazard data can be provided as either event footprints or stochastic catalogs. Exposure classes include buildings, infrastructure, agriculture, livestock, forestry and socio-economic data. The vulnerability component includes fragility and vulnerability functions and indicators for physical and social vulnerability. The schemas also provide the ability to define uncertainties and allow the scoring of vulnerability data for relevance and quality. Findings – As a proof of concept, the schemas were populated with data for Tanzania and with exposure data for several other countries. Research limitations/implications – The data schema and data exploration tool are open source and, if widely accepted, could become widely used by practitioners. Practical implications – A single set of hazard, exposure and vulnerability schemas will not fit all purposes. Tools will be needed to transform the data into other formats. Originality/value – This paper describes extensible, internally consistent, multi-hazard, exposure and vulnerability schemas that can be used to store disaster risk-related data and a data exploration tool that promotes data discovery and use