PPRD Med 4^th Steering Committee in Barcelona

The PPRD Med project stays on course

Despite a challenging geopolitical context affecting several of its 10 partner countries, the PPRD Med project stays on course thanks to the programme’s flexibility and the strong engagement of the partner countries and the PPRD Med team. This was confirmed at the 4th PPRD Med Steering Committee hosted by the European Commission Representation in Barcelona, Spain, on 24 November 2025.

 “Our flexibility lies in the fact that we work in a completely country-specific way, which allows us to adapt to the geopolitical context and the situation we encounter in a country”, said PPRD Med Team leader Philippe Geffroy.

Organised alongside the 2^nd Mediterranean wildfire workshop, the Regional Forum of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) and the UfM’s 30^th anniversary celebration, the Steering Committee in Spain provided an opportunity to look back at the beginnings of the PPRD Med project and highlight the lessons learned and progress achieved over the past two years, including regional pilot projects and technical assistance.

The PPRD Med team also presented upcoming activities and training related to the partner country’s roadmaps before the programme's end in July 2026. Participants were provided with technical updates on the secured digital SAVE (Space Analytics for Visual Environment) platform and the Standing Operative Procedures (SOPs), and a progress report on the Multi-Country Study programme, analysing the disaster risk landscape and the disaster response capacities of 22 countries in 3 regions..

Strengthening resilience by cooperation

During the opening, Giovanni di Girolamo, Head of Unit C.2 ‘Middle East and North Africa’ at the European Commission, DG ECHO, and Valentin Forand, Civil protection and Disaster Risk Management Expert at the UfM stressed the importance of close cooperation between the PPRD Med countries, the UfM, DG ECHO and the Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) in order to strengthen the resilience of the Mediterranean region which is subject to the serious consequences of climate change.

“For the European Commission this cooperation is very important, because it creates links beyond civil protection. We will do our best to continue it, hopefully with additional resources”, said Mr. Di Girolamo. 

A look back…

The PPRD Med team leader and his Deputy Alexandre Custaud proposed to look back at the three past Steering Committees (SC) and the pilot projects realised in the partner countries: from the first key decisions at the SC1 in October 2023 in Barcelona, including the choice of the directors-general to focus on flood risks awareness, cascade effects and the use of Earth observation satellite data, through the signing of national roadmaps by each country at the SC2 in June 2024 in Noordwijk, to the SC3 in January 2025 in Aix-en-Provence, where most countries presented their pilot projects, mostly using flood simulation tools, including a first cross-border Algerian-Tunisian pilot.  

“The beginning of PPRD Med was scientific and gradually we transformed the scientific aspect into technology, and now we are arriving on the ground”, said Mr. Geffroy.

….and forward

The next six months will be dedicated to continue the activities outlined in the national roadmaps and to translating the digital knowledge acquired during the pilot projects into Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for civil protection personnel in the field. The goal is for each country that participated in a pilot project to be able to use it via the secure SAVE platform to deliver training.

The future of PPRD Med

A potential “PPRD Med 2” would focus again on disaster preparedness with emphasis on new technologies.

The meeting made it clear that the use of satellite imagery and new technologies and tools using artificial intelligence (AI) and enabling the translation of spatial data into operational capabilities in partner countries will remain a central element of the future PPRD Med.