LIFE helping to secure a future for Europe's most endangered songbird: as governments adopt new action plan to protect aquatic warbler

28 May 2010 Europe's rarest songbird, the aquatic warbler (Acrocephalus paludicola) will be better protected following decisions taken at a key meeting of the United Nations Environment Programme's Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS).

The meeting (see UNEP press release) in Biebrza National Park (Poland) agreed to extend the geographical coverage of the CMS agreement on the aquatic warbler (which originally comprised 15 countries) to include seven new countries in Europe and Africa along the migration route of the aquatic warbler and in its wintering areas in sub-Sahelian Africa: Luxembourg, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Portugal, Slovakia and Switzerland.

The meeting also adopted a new international species action plan for the aquatic warbler, prepared by CMS's partner BirdLife International on behalf of the EU. It will help to protect the aquatic warbler throughout its range and help its breeding populations expand to sites that had been lost in the past.

At the meeting, LIFE project beneficiary, the Polish partner of BirdLife International, the Polish Society for the Protection of Birds (OTOP) shared data with the scientific community on new technologies to restore the aquatic warbler's sensitive peatland habitat. This is part of conservation work started in 2005, (LIFE05 NAT/PL/000101) in nine sites in Poland and Germany, covering 42,000 hectares.

As a result of the project’s work, fauna and flora in the fen mires that are key to the natural balance of watersheds have now regained their former diversity in the Biebrza Valley. Apart from a very small remnant population in West Siberia, breeding grounds for aquatic warbler are completely confined to Europe. As well as the Polish project (see website) LIFE has funded three other projects focusing on the species along their migration route across stop-over sites. Projects in Spain and France targeted resting and feeding areas, while those in Poland and Germany targeted breeding sites.

LIFE project actions:

• Conservation of the Aquatic Warbler in Brittany (LIFE04 NAT/FR/000086)
• Conservation of the aquatic warbler in the ZEPA “La Nava-Campos” (LIFE02 NAT/E/8616)
• Wetland restoration and management: Canal de Castilla Special Protection Area (LIFE06 NAT/E/000213)

New environmental tool launched for European footwear companies

26 May 2010 Some 90% of the EU’s footwear industries are located in Spain, Italy, Portugal, Greece and Slovenia, and a new LIFE + project has been launched recently to plug environmental information gaps for footwear businesses in these five Member States.

Most European footwear companies are SMEs and have a small workforce, of around 20 employees. Such a business structure can create challenges for the sector when it comes to compliance with environmental requirements that apply to the EU’s footwear industry. Initiatives are needed to facilitate better access for these companies to information about environmental legislation in order to help provide them with the necessary tools and technical support to improve their environmental performance.

The SHOELAW (LIFE08 ENV/E/000147) project sets out to develop and demonstrate an innovative self-diagnostic tool for footwear companies that allows them to assess and improve their compliance with up to date environmental legislation affecting the sector. The project’s goals aim to help create win-win results for EU footwear companies by strengthening self-regulation capacities in order to improve both environmental benefits and business competitiveness. This ‘green-growth’ approach is a good example of the type of sustainable economic development approach being promoted by the EU.

Running for a period of 30 months, SHOELAW will use LIFE + funds to co-finance its work piloting and fine-tuning the new self-regulation tool in 50 different European footwear companies.

The web-based tool will comprise a set of questions designed to increase footwear companies’ awareness about legal compliance requirements concerning environmental issues. If non-compliance is detected, the tool is able to make recommendations to the companies about how to strengthen environmental performance.

Another innovative characteristic of the self-diagnostic tool is the alert system. This can be tailored to each company and will allow a rapid update of any new environmental requirements applying to the footwear industry in individual countries.

Furthermore, the tool includes a statistics viewer which will allow footwear factories to see their environmental situation compared with other footwear factories, not only at a regional or national level, but also in relation to other countries participating in the LIFE + project.

Following testing, the SHOELAW tool is expected to be adopted by a wide range of footwear companies throughout the entire EU.

For more information see the project website

LIFE celebrates World Biodiversity Day

25 May 2010 The first World Biodiversity Day took place last Saturday (May 22). The aim of this day was to raise awareness of the problem of biodiversity loss and show the implications of these losses in our daily lives. As well as supporting an interactive PR campaign involving a website, social media and video clips, the European Commission marked the occasion with a series of family events in six focus EU Member States: Bulgaria, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, Romania and Spain.

These important European efforts will feed into the wider debate on a global post-2010 target and strategy on biodiversity. In this context, the United Nations has made 2010 its International Year of Biodiversity under the slogan “Biodiversity is life. Biodiversity is our life.”

The LIFE programme and biodiversity

The LIFE programme has generated substantial learning and innovation, and achieved some success in the fight against biodiversity loss in Europe. Projects have used a variety of techniques to protect a wide variety of important habitats - from forests to the marine environment – and species. LIFE has contributed to improving the conservation status of an impressive range of endangered biodiversity.

‘Best of the Best’ LIFE project awards

21 May 2010 The ‘Best of the Best’ 2009-2010 LIFE Nature and LIFE Environment projects have been selected and will be awarded at the conference ‘LIFE Nature and Biodiversity – preparing the future’ and during the EU’s Green Week (1-4 June).

Simon Goss, LIFE Communications Coordinator, DG ENV will present the LIFE Nature Awards at 6.45pm on 31 May in the GASP Room and the LIFE Environment Awards on 2 June at 2.00pm in the Salon Rouge.

Selections were made by Member States working in co-operation with the European Commission to produce a shortlist of projects. From this number five were awarded ‘Best of the Best’.

The winners of the LIFE Nature Awards (in alphabetical order):

• Kinnekulle (LIFE02 NAT/S/008484) – Kinnekulle plateau mountain - restoration and conservation
• PRIOLO (LIFE03 NAT/P/000013) – Azores bullfinch habitat recovery in Pico da Vara/Ribeira do Guilherme SPA
• Scottish salmon (LIFE04 NAT/GB/000250) – Conservation of Atlantic salmon in Scotland
• Tiroler Lech (LIFE00 NAT/A/007053) – Wild river landscape of the Tyrolean Lech
• Weidmoos (LIFE03 NAT/A/000010) – Habitat management in the SPA Weidmoos

The winners of the LIFE Environment Awards (in alphabetical order):

• BASHYCAT (LIFE06 ENV/F/000125) – Basic hydrogmetallurgy on catalysts
• EnviFriendly (LIFE05 ENV/GR/000245) – Environmental friendly technologies for rural development
• HVD (LIFE05 ENV/D/000207) – Hydro-mechanical descaling process based on high-pressure vacuum technology using scales as abrasive blast medium
• MICROPHILOX (LIFE05 ENV/E/000319) – Energy recovery from landfill’s biogas by the use of microturbines and biological removal of hydrogen sulphide and siloxanes
• WET (LIFE06 ENV/NL/000167) – Wastewater and effluent treatment

More information on the selected projects, including links to project summaries, layman’s reports and websites for each of the best LIFE Environment projects 2009-2010 is available on the Best Projects section of the LIFE website. Finally, a new brochure, Best LIFE Environment Projects 2009-2010 will be published in the summer.

Contributions welcome for LIFE Nature & Biodiversity Wiki

19 May 2010 The Land Stewardship Network of Catalonia (Xarxa de Custodia del Territori) has created a new Wiki to collect information, suggestions and recommendations on how the LIFE+ Nature & Biodiversity financing instrument could better implement nature stewardship.

The information collected on this page will be used at the Commission conference ‘LIFE Nature and Biodiversity – preparing the future’ scheduled for 31 May -1 June 2010.

Contributions should be made in one of the following languages: Catalan, English, French and Spanish.

Launch of €1.75 million Irish ‘MulkearLIFE’ river restoration project

12 May 2010 The official press launch took place on 4 May, in Co. Limerick (Ireland) of MulkearLIFE, a new €1.75 million European Commission co-funded LIFE Nature project working on the restoration of the Lower Shannon special area of conservation (Mulkear River catchment) for the Atlantic salmon (salmo salar), European otter (lutra lutra) and sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus).

MulkearLIFE (LIFE07 NAT/IRL/000342) is one of the first and most important integrated catchment management projects in Ireland: The Mulkear, together with its principal tributaries (Dead, Bilboa and Newport rivers) drains a catchment area of approximately 650 km² spanning the counties of Limerick and Tipperary. The Mulkear is one of the top five salmon rivers in Ireland when its relative size is considered, producing a significant annual salmon run. It also holds substantial populations of sea lamprey and otter are known to be widespread. However, recent evidence suggests numbers of these three priority species (i.e. listed in Annex II of the Habitats Directive) are in decline.

The main aim of the project is to restore, through in-stream rehabilitation works, degraded habitats along stretches of the Mulkear and its principal tributaries. This work, while beneficial to many species, will be of key importance in supporting stocks and protecting the habitats of the targeted species,

The project is being coordinated by the Shannon Regional Fisheries Board, the project beneficiary, working in partnership with the Office of Public Works and Limerick County Council and other stakeholders to implement the project over the next four years.

Speaking at the launch, Martin Territt, Director of the Commission Representation in Ireland, said: "One of the biggest problems affecting our environment is the destruction of eco-systems by invasive species and loss of habitat. The actions being undertaken by the MulkearLIFE team, its partners and the local community should not only help to restore the natural balance in one of the Shannon's most important tributaries, but it should also become a model for restoring river catchments throughout Europe to their natural state."

For more information see the project website.

LIFE+ 2010 Call for proposals now open

04 May 2010 The fourth LIFE+ call for proposals has been published on 04 May 2010, with up to €243 million available for co-financing of projects under three headings: nature and biodiversity; environment policy and governance; and information and communication.

Project proposals should be sent to the relevant national authority no later than 01 September 2010. Thereafter, national authorities will send project proposals on to the European Commission by 04 October 2010, and the Commission will check the outline projects against the LIFE+ eligibility criteria and will assess proposals on the basis of the LIFE+ selection and award criteria.

Final announcement of the projects chosen for funding is expected in July/August 2011, with projects starting at the earliest on 1 September 2011. Project promoters are encouraged to make best use of the time available up to the deadline for submission of proposals to national authorities (01 September). Project proposals should be carefully checked to ensure that they are in line with all the criteria set out in the call documents.

View the funding section