KaraMon

KaraMon

Improving resilience to natural disasters in the Karavanke Geopark through the development of a common digital network for monitoring, communication, prevention and intervention.

The entire program area, particularly over the past 10 years, has been heavily impacted by extreme weather events. Windbreaks, ice storms, heavy rainfall combined with 100-year flood events, massive landslides, and forest fires have primarily affected the border area of the project region.

One such heavily affected border region is the Karawanken-Karavanke UNESCO Global Geopark, where massive challenges arise with the occurrence of these extreme weather events across the entire Geopark area, on both sides of the border.

The overall project objective is to improve disaster risk assessment and early warning for population protection by establishing a specifically designed monitoring system. This will enhance cross-border communication between crisis management teams of municipalities and response organizations, leading to better disaster evaluation and, subsequently, more effective preparedness.

Pilot actions will focus on improving risk assessment based on scientifically and technically improved modeling, strengthening communication during disaster events, and enhancing bilateral assistance. This includes the early detection of crisis situations, and the development of protocols for response and assistance, including an overall concept for better bilateral intervention in natural disasters.

The project aims both to prevent the consequences of extreme weather events through risk assessment in Work Package 1, and to more effectively respond to extreme weather events through the targeted strengthening of resources in fire brigades to meet new challenges in the whole area in Work Package 2. Additionally, Work Package 3 seeks to improve the political strategy for future prevention and intervention measures. This will be achieved through unique cooperation between local decision-making levels (municipalities and fire brigades) and national and regional involvement of the relevant expert levels.

The project approach is primarily based on the lessons learned from past natural disasters in the Geopark area. The intention is to link the risk assessment modeling of both sides of the border, integrating additional detailed data from the area to improve assessments. Many extreme weather events in the Geopark have originated in geographic areas that lack reference data measurements, particularly near the border. By collecting additional weather and landslide data and combining the models, better predictions are expected, which should eventually support the establishment of an early warning system.

The establishment of a bilateral network for crossborder crisis communication and management, including the design of an operational corridor, also represents further innovations in bilateral cooperation on climate change adaptation measures.

Leadpartner: 

EVTZ Geopark Karawanken m.b.H.

Project partners: 

Geološki zavod Slovenije
GeoSphere Austria
RRA KOROŠKA regionalna razvojna agencija za Koroško regijo d.o.o.

Duration: 1.11.2024 – 31.10.2027

Approved ERDF contribution: 1.549.319,61 €