Regional Workshops and Transfer of Knowledge/Expertise Activities for Addressing Specific Natural Disasters Challenges

The activities designed under this action aim at increasing the cross-border collaboration of stakeholders related to Copernicus, increase the uptake of Copernicus services on a regional and international level and contribute to the addressing of specific regional challenges. The different activities will include Regional workshops, as well as transfer of knowledge and expertise activities for covering observational needs. Specifically, the Regional workshop will focus on the flooding of Evros Delta, that has severe impact on 3 countries (Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey). The transfer of knowledge and expertise activities implemented in the Eastern Europe Region, will target natural disasters, as follow-up to capacity building Actions.

A. Regional workshop on the flooding of Evros Delta, with the collaboration of stakeholders from Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey

The flooding of Evros Delta is a great challenge that countries around the river face. The regional workshop aims at bringing together regional stakeholders in order to discuss about the problem and its consequences, while introducing the services of Copernicus in an effort to monitor and provide information for addressing the problem. The workshop will engage civil protection authorities from Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey as well as start-ups and SMEs that already use

Copernicus tools and services or want to develop related solutions, in an endeavour to connect regionally and start developing common solutions. The workshop will be organised in the region of Alexandroupoli, which is the Greek region affected by the flooding or in Sofia (Bulgaria).

B. Transfer of knowledge and expertise activities targeting natural disasters for Eastern Europe

The proposed activity events will take place in Romania and Georgia. Specifically, the transfer of knowledge and expertise activities will be focused

on the thematic areas of monitoring natural disasters, such as floods and fires. Special care will be paid to invite participants from public authorities and Local and Regional Authorities (LRAs) because they are expected to boost the demand for EO applications and services. The activities in Romania and Georgia will be covered based on NOA’s vast experience (more than 10 years) in EO monitoring of natural disasters. The FloodHUB and FireHUB services of the BEYOND center will be the main products where the training sessions will be focused on. In the planned 2-days events, the knowledge gained by the participants with respect to the 2 monitoring platforms, will be fostered through hands-on training in practical level.