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LIFE+ programme
Annika Varik
21. October 2010
What is LIFE+? (1)
Financial instrument for the environment co-funding:
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Nature conservation activities (LIFE+ Nature and
Biodiversity);
Other environmental fields that are of European interest
(LIFE+ Environment Policy and Governance);
Information and communication activities for the environment
(LIFE+ Information and Communication).
What is LIFE+? (2)
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Duration: 01.01.2007 to 31.12.2013;
Budget: over 2 billion EUR;
Every country has an indicative annual allocation;
Budget distribution:
- 78% for project grants, of which
- 50% for nature and biodiversity
- 15% target for transnational projects
Is the LIFE+ the right programme for you? (1)
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One Call for Proposals per year until 2013;
The 2011 call for proposals: February 2011
submission of
the application May 2011;
Applicants: Public or private bodies, actors or institutions
registered in the EU;
Maximum 50% co-financing (75% exception - concrete
conservation actions for priority species or habitat types of the
Birds and Habitats Directives);
Average project: grant of 1 million EUR (EU contribution).
Is the LIFE+ the right programme for you? (2)
 Payments: one or two pre-financing payments and one final
payment;
 Ca 40% of realization of the Estonian indicative annual
allocation;
 Average project duration: between 2 and 5 years;
 Language: any of the official EU languages (except Irish or
Maltese);
 Actions within the EU only;
 Programme for “ideas”.
Three approaches (1)
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Best Practice
Applies appropriate, cost-effective, state-of-the-art techniques and
methods for the conservation of species/habitats.
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Demonstration
Project puts into practice, tests, evaluates and disseminates actions
and methods that are to some degree new or unfamiliar in the
project’s specific context and that should be more widely applied in
similar circumstances.
Three approaches (2)
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Innovation
Project applies a conservation technique or method that has not
been applied/tested before or elsewhere and that offers potential
advantages compared to current best practice.
NB! It must be innovative at EU level.
What is LIFE+ Nature and Biodiversity? (1)
Aims to contribute to the implementation of community policy and
legislation on nature and biodiversity. A project may be either:
 LIFE+Nature - long-term sustainable investments in Natura
2000 sites and the conservation of species and habitats targeted by
the Birds and Habitats Directives;
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Approach: best practice and/or demonstration;
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Land purchase and long-term lease or compensation eligible
What is LIFE+ Nature and Biodiversity? (2)
 LIFE+Biodiversity - the demonstration of measures and
practices that contribute to halting the loss of biodiversity, other
than those related to the implementation of the objectives of the
Birds and Habitats Directives;
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Activities may be outside Natura 2000 sites;
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Approach: demonstration and/or innovation;
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Only short term lease or compensation are eligible
What is LIFE+ Nature and Biodiversity? (3)
Similar:
 Recurring actions can not be financed;
 Projects must have at least 25% of their budget earmarked
for concrete actions.
What is LIFE+ Environment Policy and
Governance? (1)
 Objective: Implementation, updating and development of
Community environmental policy and legislation;
 Approach: demonstration and/or innovation;
 Priority areas: climate change, water, air, soil, urban
environment, noise, chemicals, environment and health, waste
and natural resources, forests, innovation, strategic
approaches.
What is LIFE+ Environment Policy and
Governance? (2)
LIFE+ Environment proposals should NOT include:
 Research and technological development activities;
 Studies not specifically addressing the objective aimed at by the
proposal;
 Development of industrial capacity;
 Land purchase or any other related costs;
 Recurring actions.
What is LIFE+ Information and
Communication? (1)
Types of projects:
 Awareness raising campaigns;
 Awareness raising campaigns and training activities for
forest fire prevention.
 Character: Highly visible communication and awareness
raising targeting a defined environmental problem;
 Do NOT have to be innovation nor demonstration.
Communication and dissemination
Obligatory for all LIFE+ projects:
 A convincing and well-thought out communication and/or
dissemination plan;
 Project website, notice boards.
For demonstration and innovation projects:
 A significant set of actions to disseminate results.
Information
 http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/funding/lifeplus.htm
 http://www.envir.ee/1009610
Thank you!
Contact: [email protected]
+372 62 62 961
Indicative list of themes for LIFE+ Nature and
Biodiversity projects (1)
LIFE+ Nature
 Projects aimed at the direct conservation of habitats and species covered by the
Habitats and Birds directives and, in particular, supporting the set-up and
management of NATURA2000. These are the classic LIFE+ Nature projects
(site or species related) that will remain the main axe of LIFE+ Nature
financing. Ex-situ actions are also possible if justified.
 Projects for improving the ecological coherence/connectivity of the NATURA
2000 network ("Green Infrastructures").
 Projects aimed at fulfilling the obligations deriving from article 8 (1) and 8 (2)
of the Habitats Directive (i.e. identification of the financial needs and
corresponding measures).
 Projects for the support and development of surveillance of the conservation
status of habitats and species (article 11 of the Habitats Directive).
 Projects for the control and eradication of invasive alien species.
Indicative list of themes for LIFE+ Nature and
Biodiversity projects (2)
LIFE+ Biodiversity
 Projects targeting threatened species that are not included in the annexes of the
Habitats Directive but that have a status of "endangered" or worse in the
available European Red Lists or in the IUCN Red List for those species that
are not covered by the European red Lists IUCN Red List.
 Projects addressing ecosystem functions and services. The focus of LIFENature has been, until now, on the conservation of habitats and species, for
themselves and not for the functions and the services they deliver to society.
 Projects addressing biodiversity and soil. The Commission welcomes projects
aiming at increasing the protection of soil biodiversity and its many ecological
functions.
 Projects for the control and eradication of invasive alien species.
Priority area “Forests” (1)
Provide a concise and comprehensive basis for policy
relevant information on forest in relation to climate change
(impact on forest ecosystems, mitigation, substitution effects),
biodiversity (further develop the existing baseline information
and protected forest areas), forest fires, forest condition and
the protective functions of forests (water, weather, soil and
infrastructure) as well as contributing to protect forests
against fires.
Priority area “Forests” (2)
Priority area of action
 promoting the collection, analysis and dissemination of policy-relevant
information concerning EU forests and interactions between forests
and the environment;
 promoting harmonisation, efficiency, and effectiveness of forest
monitoring activities and data collection systems and making use of
synergies by creating links between monitoring mechanism established
at regional, national, European and global level;
 stimulating synergies between specific forests related issues and
environmental initiatives and legislation (e.g. EU soil strategy, Natura
2000, Water Framework Directive, Sustainable Production and
Consumption, Green Public Procurement, Energy Efficiency, etc.);
Priority area “Forests” (3)
 contributing to sustainable forest management in particular by
collecting data related to the carbon balance of EU forests, forest
biodiversity and the improved Pan-European Indicators for Sustainable
Forest Management as adopted by the MCPFE Expert Level Meeting
7-8 October 2002, Vienna, Austria;
 building capacities at national and European Union level to allow for
coordination and guidance on relevant and EU representative forest
monitoring;
 strengthening forest ecosystem services by (re)-establishing functional
or spatial linkages between forested areas which also guarantee the
permeability between forest areas and open land as part of Green
Infrastructure.