Civil defence
The total defence consists of civil and military defence. The County Administrative Board is the highest civilian total defence authority within the county. The county administrative boards are divided into six civil defence regions.
The civil defence includes the whole of society and all the operations that must function, even during heightened state of alert and war. Civil defence activities are carried out by many different actors: government authorities, municipalities, regions, businesses and voluntary organisations. Together with the Swedish Armed Forces, we coordinate civil and military defence.
The civil defence's goals
The civil defence will:
- protect the civilian population,
- ensure the most important social functions,
- maintain a necessary supply,
- contribute to the capability of the military defence in the event of an armed attack or war in our surrounding world,
- maintain society's resilience against external pressures and contribute to strengthening the will to defend,
- contribute to strengthening society's ability to prevent and manage severe pressures on society in peace,
- contribute to the ability to participate in international peace-promoting and humanitarian efforts, with available resources.
The County Administrative Board's work with civil defence
The County Administrative Board coordinates the planning and preparations of the county's civil defence and cooperates with the Swedish Armed Forces in planning our total defence. We also support municipalities and regions in their work with civil defence. Among other things, this entails that we offer skill enhancement in total defence and support their work with safety protection and war organization.
Civil defence work is built on society's existing war preparedness where the County Administrative Board coordinates the county's war preparedness before, during and after a societal disruption.
During heightened state of alert and war, the County Administrative Board is the highest civilian total defence authority in the county. We will work towards achieving the highest possible total defence in the county by:
- conducting the civil defence in a uniform direction,
- ensuring that the county's resources are used to promote defence efforts,
- coordinating actions within the civil defence,
- summarizing regional situational awareness,
- coordinating the civil and military defence together with the Swedish Armed Forces.
During heightened state of alert, the County Administrative Board must be connected with the Government, relevant authorities, the county administrative board responsible for the civil area and neighbouring county administrative boards. If the connection is broken with the Government, the County Administrative Board will take over certain parts of the government's tasks. The County Administrative Board will then, independently, implement measures for the civil defence and in support of the Swedish Armed Forces.
Beyond the County Administrative Board's responsibility for coordination during a heightened state of alert, there are certain tasks that are added to these areas:
- disposal of property and services,
- war veterinary service,
- border surveillance,
- road traffic officer,
- embezzlement and destruction of property,
- designation of cultural property,
- evacuation,
- international law advice,
- rescue service.
Sweden's six civil defence regions
Sweden's County Administrative Boards are divided into six civil defence regions. The purpose of the division is to strengthen the country's resistance during peacetime crisis situations, heightened state of alert and war. Each area has an appointed responsible county administrative board where the county governor (landshövding) is the manager of the civil area. The six civil defence regions are the North, Central, West, Southeast, East and South.
The North civil defence region
Civil region responsible: County Administrative Board in Norrbotten county.
County Administrative Boards included in the region: Jämtland, Norrbotten, Västerbotten and Västernorrland
The Central civil defence region
Civil region responsible: County Administrative Board in Örebro county.
County Administrative Boards included in the region: Dalarna, Gävleborg, Södermanland, Uppsala, Värmland, Västmanland and Örebro
The West civil defence region
Civil region responsible: County Administrative Board Stockholm.
County Administrative Boards included in the region: Stockholm and Gotland
The Southeast civil defence region
Civil region responsible: County Administrative Board in Östergötlands county.
County Administrative Boards included in the region: Jönköping, Kalmar and Östergötland
The East civil defence region
Civil region responsible: County Administrative Board in Västra Götaland.
County Administrative Boards included in the region: Halland and Västra Götaland
The South civil defence region
Civil region responsible: County Administrative Board Skåne.
County Administrative Boards included in the region: Blekinge, Kronoberg and Skåne
The civil regions work with civil defence
The County Administrative Board responsible for the civil defence regions holds a certain amount of tasks beyond their county-specific tasks. It must work to ensure that the civil defense within the civil region has a unified focus by:
- coordinating the planning between public authorities,
- coordinating the planning between the public authorities and the Swedish Armed Forces,
- cooperate with the Swedish Armed Forces in questions regarding the total defence,
- support the county administrative boards' planning and preparations within each county,
- initiate action and coordinate planning and preparation of civilian aspects of host country support.
During a heightened state of alarm, the civil region must work to ensure that the biggest possible defensive effect is achieved by:
- coordinating actions within the civil defence,
- summarizing situational awareness and keeping the government informed,
- coordinatin the civil part of the host country support,
- coordinating the civil and military defence in consultaiton with Swedish Armed Forces.
The County Administrative Board responsible for the civil region must also guide other County Administrative Boards within that civil region in coordinating their work.
During a heightened state of alarm, The County Administrative Board responsible for the civil region must be connected with the Government, relevant authorities, County Administrative Boards within the civil region, and other County Administrative Boards responsible for civil regions.
The Swedish Armed Forces' military regions
Sweden is divided, beyond it's six civil regions, into the Swedish Armed Forces' five military regions: North, Central, West, South and Gotland. Regional cooperation and planning is conducted within each military region.
The Southern military region
The Swedish Armed Forces' Southern military region includes Skåne, Blekinge, Kronoberg, Jönköping and Östergötland counties. A document called "higher regional basic view 2021-2025" (högre regional grundsyn 2021-2025) describes the work in the military region. There are two overall objectives in the document:
- Developed, well-established total defense planning for all parties within the southern military region.
- Developed joint ability for collaboration and management.
The Northern military region
The Swedish Armed Forces' Northern military region includes Norrbotten, Västerbotten, Jämtland and Västernorrland counties. The work within the military region is based on the regional action plan, "Regional handlingskraft", which describes the direction for the coherent planning during year 2021-2025. The following focus areas in "regional handlingskraft" is pointed out as:
- Contingency plans and war organization
- Management and collaboration
- Supply readiness
- Give and receive support
- Willingness to defend
- Strengthened information and cyber security.
The Central military region
The Swedish Armed Forces' Central military region includes Stockholm, Uppsala, Södermanland, Västmanland, Dalarnas and Gävleborgs counties. A document called "higher regional basic view 2021-2025" (högre regional grundsyn 2021-2025) dictates the work in the military region. The following focus areas in "higher regional basic view 2021-2025" are pointed out as:
- established and strengthened will to defend throughout society,
- developed and concretized total defense planning,
- developed ability for cooperation, coordination and management,
- developed ability to prioritize and maintain socially important functions,
- developed ability to give and receive support within the scope of host country support.
The Western military region
The Swedish Armed Forces' Western military region includes Västra Götaland, Halland, Örebro and Värmlands counties. A document called "higher regional basic view" (högre regional grundsyn) dictates the work in the military region. The following focus areas in "higher regional basic view" are pointed out as:
- management,
- cooperation between regional actors,
- work with situational awareness,
- robustness and suppy,
- staff and educational needs,
- safety protection,
- work with crisis communication.