In May 2005, the European Forest Institute (EFI) approved the creation of the Regional Project Centre PHOENIX (2005-2009), a consortium of EFI member institutions and other relevant partners carrying out specific research on fire ecology and post-fire management. The consortium currently includes 21 members from Mediterranean countries.

The objectives of the consortium are: (1) to obtain a sound database gathering the state-of-the-art of existing scientific knowledge concerning the fire characteristics of the different forest types and respective species; (2) to develop a set of criteria which can be used to classify forest types in terms of the associated fire hazard and resilience; (3) to define the potential and limitation of the various post-fire management options; (4) to help developing the transfer mechanisms needed between research and its application by end-users in this specific issue.