Hosted by the Hamburg Fire and Rescue Service as part of the German Chairmanship of the CBSS Civil Protection Network and EUSBSR PA Secure, the event focused on children and youth participation in disaster risk reduction, energy security, early warning systems, and dumped munitions.
The BEP was opened by Marko Florek, Chief Fire Officer at the Hamburg Fire and Rescue Service, Amb. Grzegorz Poznański, Director General of the CBSS Secretariat and Dr Florian Rudolph, Chair of the CBSS Committee of Senior Officials, Federal Foreign Office of Germany.
On the first day, participants learned about youth participation examples in the BSR, introduced by Franziska Seufert from the CBSS and Taina Hankikoski from the Finnish Nation Rescue Association. Barbara Voors from Safe the Children Sweden and Olivia Lind Haldorsson from the CBSS presented strategies for organising meaningful children and youth participation in civil security.
During the second block, participants discussed energy security and independence, sharing examples from their own countries. What do countries and their citizens do in case of a blackout? How does the status of energy independence look like? What can citizens do to save energy?
The first day was concluded with a study visit on Hamburg’s flood protection measures and early warning system. Jürgen Krempin from Hamburg Fire and Rescue Service showed how Hamburg is actually protected and explained how the population is informed about the risks of flooding because only informed people can take measures for their own protection.
The second day of the BEP focused on early warning systems in the countries of the BSR, various channels and tools for warning and informing the population and challenges faced by participating countries.
The last block of the event addressed the issue of dumped munitions, including how to locate and handle unexploded ordnance from WWII, what the situation is with dumped munition in the Baltic Sea, the state of the ammunition, risks, environmental impact and recent developments.
PA Secure Flagship, since 2012, each Presidency of the CBSS has organised a BEP, and during these last 11 years, more than 150 experts holding key leadership positions in civil protection and law enforcement from all CBSS Member States have been trained. Each BEP is a building stone in our efforts to create a common societal security culture in the Baltic Sea Region.
