As an extension of the RIVM Environmental Incident Service (EIS or MOD in Dutch), the Netherlands developed an international response unit, the Environmental Assessment Unit (EAU), in 2008. Similar to the MOD operating in the Netherlands, this unit is able to assess the consequences of hazardous substances which are released during natural and environmental disasters quickly and thoroughly. The BEAU project builds on the EAU to upgrade the EAU and continue to offer its advanced expertise on sampling, analysis and impact assessment of environmental emergencies to the European Civil Protection Pool (ECPP) in the coming years.

Background

The EAU can by deployed all over the world and is supported by the back office of the MOD. The unit was developed based on a mobile laboratory manned by a team of technical experts in environmental sampling, detection and analysis, and a team leader with back-office expertise in (eco)toxicology and exposure and risk assessment. The EAU is registered as an “other response capacity” (ORC) in the (ECPP). Experiences from recent deployments, large-scale exercises, recent help requests, scientific developments, and recommendations from the reregistration process have served as input for a refit of the EAU to live up to maintain its state of readiness and availability to tackle current and future needs in this field.

The Union Civil Protection Mechanism (‘UCPM’) governed by Decision No 1313/2013/EU European Union (European Union ), strengthens cooperation between the Union and the Member States and facilitates coordination in the field of civil protection to improve the Union's response to natural and human-induced disasters. Within this Decision No 1313/2013/EU the legal framework of the European Civil Protection Pool (ECPP) is defined. This pool consists of voluntarily pre-committed response capacities of the Member States and includes modules, other response capacities (ORCs) and categories of experts. The Decision No. 1313/2013/EU also sets out the eligibility of actions for financial assistance, for the adaptation of Member States’ response capacities “to a state of readiness and availability that makes them deployable as part of the European Civil Protection Pool”.

Goals

The objective of BEAU is to better respond to current and future international help requests after natural and environmental disasters. This is envisaged by upgrading three main areas of interest: materials (including an advanced packaging strategy for rapid deployment), methods (water analytics), and manpower (extension of the pool of experts both for the field and in the back office). An additional goal is to increase its visibility, both with regard to its potential stakeholders as well as actual visibility in the field.

All outcomes of BEAU contribute to the general call objective and BEAU will specifically contribute to the expected outcomes defined by the EU; “an increased ability of the EU to respond to disasters, through a strengthened European disaster preparedness” and “being able to intervene in more diverse operating conditions during international deployments”.

The project will cover 24 months and has already had its kick-off meeting in March 2025. The final report is scheduled on one March 2027.

Consortium

BEAU is an initiative of RIVM, that does not include international or external national partners. However, to build on the expertise on mobile water analytics, national expertise beyond the limit of RIVM will be consulted.

RIVM role

RIVM coordinates and performs all activities within the whole project. Karin Mahieu is the overall coordinator of the project at RIVM, as different types of expertise are involved for the different tasks. The defined tasks are distributed evenly between the coordinator and the deputy coordinator Kyra Herrema. Other RIVM colleagues involved are Niels Masselink (recruitment and education, training and exercise), Edith van Putten, Margot Boshuis-Hilverdink (both analytics).

Funding

This project has received funding from the European Commission within the context of the legal framework of the European Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) under grant agreement No. 101191529 and receives cofounding support from the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management.