Set up in 1998, this group includes experts from the national environmental or forestry administrations and representing representing over 40 countries from the EU and its Eastern and Southern neighbourhood. The group is a key forum for the Commission to review the current trends to more frequent and catastrophic wildfires, and to help determine adequate and effective European responses. Managed jointly by the Commission’s Environment and Joint Research Centre Directorate-Generals, the group meets twice a year - ahead and after the main forest fire season. The current work of the group focuses on the development of common criteria for forest fire risk assessments, and on recommendations for fire risk reducing land use and forest management – both expected to be available in early 2019. In addition to these key activities, the group also contributes to: • the further development of the European Forest Fire Information System EFFIS (please see link (1) below) • the drafting of the Commission’s annual ‘Forest fires in Europe, Middle East and North Africa’ reports (please see link (2) below) • information exchanges on forest resilience and sustainable forest management • exchanges on good forest fire prevention practices and lessons learned throughout the entire fire cycle