Since its first conception in 1998, the activities for the development of EFFIS supported EC initiatives and regulations. The main EC initiatives supported by EFFIS were:
On Forest Fires Prevention:
On Enhancement of cooperation in forest fire preparedness and fighting:
On the enhancement of regional development on areas affected by hazards:
Other policies related to forests and forest fire monitoring
In the year 2003 EFFIS became part of the Regulation (EC) No 2152/2003 (Forest Focus) of the European Council and Parliament on monitoring of forests and environmental interactions. The regulation followed from the previous regulations on Forest fire prevention EEC No 2158/1992 and EEC No 804/94, which initiated the establishment of harmonized fire information systems in the Member States and set-up the so-called common core database on forest fires at the EU level.
Although the Forest Focus regulation expired in 2006, foreseen activities for the enhancement and operation of EFFIS will continue under its umbrella until 2009. Further to the activities foreseen under Forest Focus, the European Parliament called in its Resolution of European Parliament of September 2006 (P6 TA (2006) 0349) for the further improvement of EFFIS in several areas that were not sufficiently developed. These on-going improvements that are financed through the so-called "Forest Protection pilot project" by DG ENV are described in the "modules under development" section.
The Commission Communication on Reinforcing the Union's Disaster Response Capacity [COM(2008)130 final] of 05.03.2008 is addressing the overall challenge of disaster prevention, mitigation and response and refers explicitly to the support in this area provided by EFFIS.