Protection of the Community's forests against fire
The Community system of information on forest fires was established in 1992 by Regulation EC No 2158/92. The scheme has permitted the development of Community cooperation on forest fires and its continued development will provide an effective instrument for better evaluating forest-fire protection measures and for better analysing the causes of fires. Under the system, 60 million hectares of forest, equivalent to about half of European forests, have been classified as fire-risk zones. Given that the scheme is due to expire at the end of 1996, the Commission has now published a proposal for the extension of the Regulation for a further five years from 1 January 1997 to the end of 2001. The proposed budget for the continuation of the scheme is ECU 70 million.