A better and more sustainable future The countries in the world have […]
A better and more sustainable future
The countries in the world have committed themselves to improve the planet and lives of its citizens, and UN has defined this in 17 life-changing goals. These Goals should be reached by 2030.
This means that all countries, companies, and individuals should strive for and contribute to making it possible.
CFPA Europe, as a European and Global association, want to support and contribute to this important work, and our work mainly concerns four of UN’s Goals:
• Goal 3 – Good Health and Well-being • Goal 4 – Quality Education • Goal 11 – Sustainable Cities and Communities • Goal 13 – Climate Action
How we contribute to UN’s Climate Action Goal: Adaptation to climate change – A statement of CFPA Europe
Climate change is increasingly becoming worldwide an issue for society, as well as for CFPA Europe as an association of national fire protection organisations in Europe. Here, mitigation with the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is mostly on the agenda.
In parallel, adaptation to climate change is becoming increasingly essential, to limit the impacts of climate change on people, nature and society. This step is reasonable, as extreme weather events and changes in meteorological parameters, e. g regionally and seasonally rising of average temperatures or/and shifting of precipitation distributions are expected to increase because of climate change. These negative consequences are due to ongoing climate change and delayed and insufficient mitigation efforts. The typical impacts of climate change are e. g. flooding caused by heavy rainfall away from water bodies, heat waves, drought in summer and associated wildfires, storms, and hail. They are already recurring in European countries and have caused fatalities, severe damage to nature, to property and considerable economic activities impairment.
The protection against natural hazards, and, thus also against extreme weather events has been a topic of CFPA Europe since 2012. Based on experiences of member organisations of CFPA E, the following recommendations are already developed and published:
These guidelines are available on the CFPA Europe website for free download. New guidelines on structural protection against heavy rain, and hail, and the supply of fire-fighting water in extreme weather conditions are currently under intensive development. Related to the last cases in recent years, the “forest fires” guideline will be updated.
Protection against natural hazards is also taken into account e. g. in the guideline on IT facilities (Guideline No.14: 2019 F) interdisciplinary, parallel to fire protection. The possible interactions with mitigation are also addressed in the development and the updating of technical recommendations. This is the case with Guideline No. 37: 2018 F “Photovoltaic systems: recommendations on loss prevention”, as renewable energy can effectively contribute to mitigation and extreme weather event impact PV installations on roofs or facades. All recommendations are intended to help the identification of hazards and the management of associated risks.
The development and updating of recommendations on protection against natural hazards are done by CFPA Europe in cooperation with experts from Insurance Europe, the umbrella organisation of insurers operating in Europe.
As a European player, CFPA Europe will continue to address climate change in its guidelines with practical recommendations as supporting contribution to adaptation to climate change.
How CFPA Europe contribute to some other Goals
We contribute not only to UN’s Goal about Climate Change, and here are some examples.
CFPA Europe try to reduce the number of fires and every fire that can be avoid has a positive effect on the well-being. However, since each fire gives carbon dioxide emissions, it is important to keep the number of fires as low as possible.
“Good Health and Well-being”(Goal 3) are important for all human and CFPA Europe has e.g. published Guidelines that gives advice how to reduce risks for fires in homes and how to reduce the consequences. • Guideline No.24:2016 F Fire safe homes • Guideline No.6:2011 F Fire safety in care homes for the elderly
“Quality education” (Goal 4) is, of course, a key to escaping poverty but also to make people aware of risks. In case of fire risks and other risks, it is also necessary to know how to act. CFPA Europe has for more than two decades harmonized training courses in Europe, and the interest for these courses are increasing also outside Europe. Our courses are mainly about fire safety, but we have also many security courses. They are on several qualification levels. Some of the basic courses are useful for all citizens in the whole world. CFPA Europe wish that all children should be offered some hours education in safety, because we are sure that the high numbers of fire death among young children in poor countries will reduce significant with just a few hours safety education for all children.
“Sustainable Cities and Communities” (Goal 11) is in focus in most of all our Guidelines and is also conveyed in our educations. What we have found is the best practice to reduce risks and bring better safety we summarize in Guidelines, and all these publications we are offering for free to everyone. CFPA Europe and its members have long experience and together we wish to use our knowledge to make a better and safer world.
Individual members have their own projects
Some of CFPA Europe’s members are working in project that contribute to UN’s 17 Goals. One example is the member Majaczech from Czech Republic.
Majaczech conducts several activities, including research and strategic studies, with their members/partners. These activities are mostly focused on climate action (Goal 13) and good health and well-being (Goal 3) on both national and international levels. Examples are “Occupational safety of volunteer firefighters”, “Increasing disaster resiliency of local communities during disasters”, and “Occupational safety in context of climate change”. Majaczech is also working under the UN’s National Development Program and collaborate the project “Integration of fire hazard and risk assessments into disaster risk analysis system through transfer of knowledge and Czech experience in Bosnia and Herzegovina”.
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