Deadline: 16 July 2020
LIFE Nature & Biodiversity aims specifically at contributing to the development and implementation of EU policy and legislation in the area of nature and biodiversity. Projects financed must have a European added value and be complementary to those actions that can be financed under other EU funds during the period 2014–2020.
Priority Areas
The priority area LIFE Nature & Biodiversity focuses on:
- contributing to the development and implementation of EU policy and legislation in the area of nature and biodiversity, in the Union Biodiversity Strategy to 2020, and the Birds and Habitats Directives;
- supporting the further development, implementation and management of the Natura 2000 network; and
- improving the knowledge base for the development, implementation, assessment, monitoring and evaluation of EU nature and biodiversity policy and legislation, and for assessing and monitoring factors, pressures and responses that impact on nature and biodiversity.
Thematic Priorities
- LIFE Nature projects: activities for the implementation of the Birds and/or Habitats Directives in particular:
- Activities aimed at improving the conservation status of habitats and species, including marine habitat and species, and bird species, of Union interest;
- Activities in support of the Natura 2000 network bio-geographical seminars;
- Integrated approaches for the implementation of prioritised action frameworks.
- LIFE Biodiversity projects: activities for the implementation of the Union Biodiversity Strategy to 2020, in particular:
- Activities aimed at contributing to the achievement of Target 2;
- Activities aimed at contributing to the achievement of Targets 3, 4 and 5.
LIFE Nature
- General scope and objectives: LIFE Nature projects aim to support the further development, implementation and management of the Natura 2000 network in particular by applying, developing, testing and demonstrating approaches, best practices and solutions.
- Geographic scope: LIFE Nature projects must take place on the terrestrial and/or marine territory of the EU Member States where the EU Birds and Habitats Directives apply.
- Project topics: According to the LIFE multiannual work programme for 2018–2020, the following project topics contributing to Target of the Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 to fully implement the Birds and Habitats Directives are given priority:
- Improvement of the conservation status of habitat types or species of Community Interest under the EU Birds and Habitats directives, targeting Natura 2000 sites proposed or designated for these habitat types or species.
- Projects aimed at improving the conservation status of habitat types or species of Community Interest, provided, their status is not ‘favourable/secure and not declining’ or ‘unknown’ according to the most recent overall assessments that Member States have provided at the relevant geographic level according to Article of the Habitats Directive or to the most recent assessments according to Article Birds Directive and EU-level bird assessments.
- Implementing the marine component of the Habitats and Birds Directives and related provisions under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive descriptor, where such projects focus on one or several of the following actions:
- completing and finalising national inventories for setting up the offshore marine Natura 2000 network of sites,
- restoration and management of marine Natura 2000 sites, including the preparation and implementation of site management plans,
- actions addressing species-, habitat- or site-related conflicts between marine conservation and fishermen or other ‘marine users’, as well as actions which combine conservation measures with a sustainable use of Natura 2000 sites, and/or
- demonstrative or innovative approaches to assess or monitor the impact of human activities on critical marine habitats and species and their application as a tool to guide concrete conservation measures.
LIFE Biodiversity
- General scope: LIFE Biodiversity projects must contribute to implementing the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 targets and actions, with a view to achieving the objectives of the 2020 headline target of “halting the loss of biodiversity and the degradation of ecosystem services in the EU by 2020, and restoring them in so far as feasible, while stepping up the EU contribution to averting global biodiversity loss”, other than those already covered by LIFE Nature.
- Geographic scope: LIFE Biodiversity projects generally take place on the terrestrial and/or marine territory of the EU Member States. This includes the French Overseas Departments (DOMs).
- Project topics: According to the LIFE Multiannual Work Programme for 2018-2020, the following project topics focusing on the implementation of Targets 2, 3, 4 and 5 of the Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 are given priority:
- Development and implementation of Green Infrastructure plans and actions improving the condition of ecosystems and the services they provide and/or the connectivity between Natura 2000 sites and/or other protected areas.
- Development and application of tools aimed at integrating biodiversity into financial and business decisions so as to ensure, through the conservation and restoration of biodiversity carried out during the project, no net loss of biodiversity and/or enhanced income delivering ecosystem services.
- Addressing Invasive Alien Species by testing and implementing the following three steps on an appropriate spatial scale within a comprehensive framework:
- preventing the introduction of invasive alien species, in particular by tackling the priority pathways of their introduction,
- establishing an early detection and rapid eradication system, and
- eradicating, controlling or containing established invasive alien species.
Eligibility Criteria
Any entity registered in the EU can make a proposal for LIFE traditional, integrated, preparatory, and technical assistance projects under the sub-programmes for environment.
You could be a:
- public body operating under a national government’s authority, e.g. local authority, national administration etc.
- private commercial organisation
- private non-commercial organisation (NGOs etc.)
For more information, visit https://ec.europa.eu/easme/en/section/life/2020-life-call-proposals-traditional-projects-nature-and-biodiversity