Background In Estonia, 52% of the mainland is covered by forests – a total of 2.26 million hectares - of which about half is private land. A notable environmental concern is that during the ten years preceding the project, about 8 900 ha of forest land had burned down in Estonia. Forest fires are a threat to production forest as well as to protected areas. Environmental impacts as a result of forest fires include the loss of biodiversity, the loss of forests as a carbon sink and greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere. Forest fires also incur economic costs both through loss of forest stock and the costs of fire fighting. The protection and sustainable management of forests is also an important environmental issue for the EU as a whole. Before the project, forests were estimated to cover around 37% of the total European territory and to provide habitat to a significant proportion of European biodiversity. At the same time, 45 000 forest fires were affecting European forests every year. The EU had an overarching objective to halt the loss of biodiversity by 2010. Combating forest fires therefore offered an important means of contributing to this goal. Yet, European efforts in forest fire prevention were mostly limited to the Mediterranean countries of Southern Europe. Objectives The overall aim of the FFPE project was to raise awareness on forest fire prevention in Estonia, provide training in the field with a focus on local conditions and improve networking amongst the key stakeholders. This ultimately sought to reduce the environmental damage caused by forest fires in Estonia and provide an example for other EU regions. The project planned to conduct awareness raising campaigns aimed at specific stakeholders, support networking and organise training and other events to achieve the following goals: to increase awareness of forest fires and measures to address them in everyday life; to enhance the implementation of forest fire prevention measures; to enhance networking around forest fire prevention at regional and local levels; to help achieve the priorities of the EU Forest Action Plan: protection of forests against biotic and abiotic factors; and to considerably contribute to fulfilling the EU’s overarching objective to halt the loss of biodiversity.Results The FFPE project successfully produced a range of awareness-raising materials, reached out to key stakeholders on the issue of forest fire prevention and developed networking amongst decision-makers in Estonia. Although the project should only be seen as the start of a process to reduce the impact of forest fires, it provides both a positive example and useful materials for other countries in Northern and Eastern Europe. The project produced a set of awareness-raising materials aimed specifically at: 1. visitors to forests in Estonia; 2. forest owners; and 3. youngsters. Materials - in Estonian and Russian - included three leaflets on forest fire prevention, two technical publications for fire fighting agents, information on camp fires and St Johns Day fire safety for the public, a presentation on the legal framework around forest fires and a mobile exhibition. The project selected demonstration sites and best practice examples to use in training. Project events were held in six counties that have high or medium fire risk in Estonia. Altogether 632 people were reached directly with the campaigns. Additionally, 179 professional and volunteer fire fighting agents were trained on fire prevention in the context of the vegetation, flat landscape and fire development characteristics of Estonia. As an added value of the project, its work inspired the Tallinn Forest Owners Society to organise another seminar on forest fire prevention with its own resources. Near to the end of the project, the final conference was held with more than 130 participants, including international experts. The project initiated ongoing networking amongst specialists from the Ministry of Environment, The Centre of Forest Protection and Silviculture, Rescue Service, Ministry of the Interior, State Forest Service and Environmental Board. This was the first time these responsible organisations had come together to discuss fire prevention. Proposals emerging from these meetings were recorded and submitted to the relevant higher authorities. The dissemination activities were picked up by TV and radio broadcasts, as well as in newspaper articles and electronic media. Project materials have been assembled into an electronic toolkit, which will continue to be made available through the project website www.eramets.ee/life. The project identified that despite the successes of the dissemination carried out, more time is needed to increase the engagement of key target groups around preventing forest fires. Although the incidence and extent of forest fires was seen to decrease in 2011 in Estonia, it was not possible to prove a direct link with the project. In the longer term it will be possible, however, to monitor indicators of impact including: use of financial assistance by forest owners to improve fire safety; decrease of illegal man-made fires in forests; continuing co-operation between the various agents; and new or updated legislation around forest fires. Further information on the project can be found in the project's layman report and After-LIFE Communication Plan (see "Read more" section).