Water for life – LIFE for water
A Conference of the LIFE Programme
Background information
LIFE Nature and Biodiversity – preparing the future A Conference of the LIFE Programme Europe is striving to halt the erosion of biodiversity on its territory and 2010 has been designated Year of Biodiversity in an attempt to mobilize stakeholders around that goal. The LIFE programme, through its LIFE Nature branch, has already made a major contribution in the protection of habitats and species around the continent. It is the major source of funding for the NATURA 2000 network of protected areas which was decided at EU level 18 years ago. But in spite of considerable efforts and noteworthy progress, the erosion of biodiversity continues. It has become clear that new approaches are needed and it is in recognition of this that the EU launched LIFE+ Biodiversity in 2007, a component of the multifaceted LIFE + programme. As the Commission is beginning to think beyond LIFE+, it will be seeking stakeholders' views on what has worked well in the LIFE Nature programme and what should be changed, trying to have an open and productive discussion. With the help of participants, the Commission will be seeking to clarify what the needs, the gaps and the constraints are in this field, as well as what expectations are regarding possible LIFE+ Biodiversity projects. The conference ‘LIFE Nature and Biodiversity – preparing the future’ organised by the LIFE Unit of the DG Environment will take place in Brussels on 31 May and 1 June 2010. Over 300 participants will be invited, among them LIFE projects beneficiaries, national and international Nature Conservation Authorities, NGOs, media and other stakeholders. Link to Conference programme. The conference will take place just before the EU Green week 2010, whose overarching theme is Biodiversity. Link to Green week website Background LIFE+, which replaced the LIFE III programme at the end of 2006, includes two strands focussing on nature protection and biodiversity. LIFE+ Nature co-finances best practice or demonstration projects that contribute to the implementation of the Birds and Habitats Directives, whereas LIFE+ Biodiversity co-finances innovative or demonstration projects that contribute to the implementation of the objectives of Commission Communication (COM (2006) 216 final), ‘Halting the loss of biodiversity by 2010 – and beyond’. Link to LIFE website During 2010 the Community will assess the success of the 2010 targets, and develop a post-2010 biodiversity vision and target. This process has been started with the Commissions communication (COM 2010 4 final) ’options for an EU vision and target for biodiversity beyond 2010’. The first two years of implementing the LIFE+ Biodiversity strand has been a learning process for everyone concerned. The Commission will use the conference to identify further needs for innovation and demonstration projects for biodiversity conservation, to discuss with stakeholders which gaps and constraints exist in this field, and to explain what its expectations are regarding possible LIFE+ biodiversity projects. Part of the conference will be dedicated to collecting stakeholder views on the operation of the LIFE nature programme. The Commission is beginning to think beyond LIFE+ and invites Member States representatives, Nature protection NGOs, the Research Community, beneficiaries of ongoing and closed LIFE nature projects to share experience on successes and to contribute to the discussion on needs for improvement of the programme, the regulation and financial/administrative rules. The commission expects that stakeholders experience can contribute to designing an even more successful tool in the future. This is an opportunity for all those involved in the protection of Europe’s biological diversity to put their views across and to help shape the future nature conservation instrument. Participation
The LIFE projects which will be presented during the conference will highlight innovative solutions and ongoing challenges in all four areas, and throughout Europe, in order to facilitate the identification of results with interest for EU policy, replication and exchange of good practices in water protection.
