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Call key data
Nature and Biodiversity
Funding Program
LIFE - sub-programme “Nature and Biodiversity”
Call number
LIFE-2024-SAP-NAT-NATURE
deadlines
Opening
18.04.2024
Deadline
19.09.2024 17:00
Deadline - 2nd stage
Opening
26.04.2024
Funding rate
60%
Call budget
€ 155,000,000.00
Estimated EU contribution per project
between € 2,000,000.00 and € 13,000,000.00
Link to the call
Link to the submission
Call content
short description
Proposals under this topic will contribute to European Union objectives for the protection, maintenance and restoration of the Union’s natural capital in its marine, freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems.
Call objectives
Projects should fall under at least one of the two areas of intervention:
- Intervention area: “Space for Nature”
- Any project aimed at improving the condition of species or habitats through area-based conservation or restoration measures falls within the eligible scope of the intervention area “Space for Nature”. This may include, for example, projects for restoring or improving natural or semi-natural habitats, or habitats of species, both within and outside existing protected areas. This may also include projects for creating additional protected areas (or improving the biodiversity focus and contribution of existing protected areas), ecological corridors or other green infrastructure, projects testing or demonstrating new site management approaches, projects acting on pressures, etc.
- Intervention area: “Safeguarding our species”
- Any project aimed at improving the condition of species (or, in the case of invasive alien species, reducing their impact) through any relevant activities other than area-based conservation or restoration measures falls within the scope of the intervention area “Safeguarding our species”. Considering the broad range of threats that may act on species in addition to the degradation of their habitats, such projects may apply to a wide range of relevant measures, spanning from hard infrastructural works to awareness raising of stakeholders.
Applicants should take into account, when conceiving their project applications, that only wild flora and fauna and natural and semi-natural habitats may be targeted by LIFE Nature and Biodiversity projects.
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Expected effects and impacts
Applicants are expected to define, calculate, explain and achieve the expected impacts as described in the Award criterion ‘Impacts’ in terms of conservation benefit.
Considering the limited LIFE budget availability, projects requesting high EU contributions (e.g. above 5 M EUR) have to present, in particular, exceptionally clear and convincing evidence of the EU added value of their proposals in terms of impact and value for money. The requested contribution has to be clearly justified by an exceptional impact benefitting urgent conservation needs/priorities. While projects with higher budgets benefit from economies of scale, the applicants need to demonstrate the cost efficiency of their projects and provide detailed cost breakdown in the ‘detailed budget table’ mandatory annex. All LIFE proposals will have to report on their expected outputs and impacts taking into account the LIFE Key Performance indicators (KPIs). These KPIs will contribute to evaluating the impact of the LIFE proposal on an environmental but also socio-economic level (e.g. via actions impacting the local economy and population). All the indicators measured should be coherent with the conservation or biodiversity problem addressed and the type of activities planned.
Applicants should review relevant indicators in Part C of the eGrant application and complete them with the estimated impact of the project. Part C data should be coherent with the description of impacts of section 2 of Part B of the Application Form.
In case Part C does not include impact indicators that are important for the specific project, applicants should make use of the indicator “Other project specific KPIs” in Part C and provide a relevant description of such indicators in section 2 of Part B of the Application Form.
If relevant, projects must upload a Geographic Information System (GIS) file and associated data of the specific geographical area where the intervention took place as a deliverable in their final report. This map should enable to spatially visualise the impact already reported in the KPI database. The specific format and technical requirements of the GIS files will be provided to the supported projects during their implementation.
More detailed information will be requested during project implementation.
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Expected results
Under both areas of intervention, having clearly defined specific outcome-based biodiversity-related objectives for projects and their activities is a pre-condition for an objective prioritization of the proposals.
In order to allow for effective comparison of merits of proposals, the following principles will be applied for a first level prioritisation which defines the urgency under the two areas of intervention:
- For proposals targeting species and habitats covered by the EU Habitats Directive, priority is given to those that are clearly targeting habitats or species in unfavourable and declining conservation status based on the latest Article 17 reports assessments (https://nature-art17.eionet.europa.eu/article17/), in particular when their status is unfavourable bad and declining (U2-) both at the EU- and national biogeographical region(s) level, where the project is taking place.
- For the EU 27 Member States, for bird species, and species and habitats not covered by EU Nature legislation, priority is given to proposals clearly targeting those that are in higher extinction risk categories (in particular: endangered or worse) in the relevant EU red lists of habitats or species. For EU Outermost Regions and Overseas Countries and Territories priority is given to those in higher extinction risk categories (in particular: endangered or worse) in the (Pan) European or Global IUCN red lists respectively.
Further prioritisation of the proposals will be based on the policy priorities below:
- EU Birds and Habitats Directives: Proposals for improving the conservation status or trends of species and habitats of EU importance, notably where such projects are implementing objectives and measures as outlined in national or regional Prioritized Action Frameworks (PAFs). In particular:
- In relation to the intervention area “Space for Nature”, priority is given to projects that focus their activities on the implementation of conservation objectives for existing Natura 2000 sites, notably where such conservation objectives are clearly established, improving the condition of species and habitats for which the sites are designated.
- In relation to the intervention area “Protecting our species”, priority is given to projects that focus their activities on reducing the mortality of these species (where this mortality is induced by human activities, e.g. poisoning, illegal killing, by-catch), preventing stakeholder conflicts, improving acceptance and promoting co-existence with protected species.
- Invasive Alien Species Regulation. Priority will be given to:
- invasive alien species included on the list of invasive alien species of Union concern pursuant to Article 4(1) of the Regulation (EU) No 1143/2014, and/or invasive alien species of Member State or regional concern pursuant to Articles 12 and 11 of the Regulation respectively; or
- other invasive alien species that negatively affect the conservation status or trends of species and habitats of EU importance, other species protected under EU legislation, or listed as threatened species in EU or global red lists (the latter for species groups and/or regions not covered by EU red lists).
- EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030
- Establishing a coherent network of protected areas. Priority will be given to:
- Proposals focused on increasing the share of EU land or marine area under protection (within the definition of “protected areas” in the relevant EU Guidance under the Biodiversity Strategy). This may in particular be achieved through additional designations or enlargements of Natura 2000 site or nationally protected areas, or improving the biodiversity focus of existing protected areas. In addition, this may also consider alternative approaches that, while fulfilling the criteria agreed between the Commission and Member States, such as “Private land conservation” approaches, “Other effective area-based conservation measures” (OECMs), etc., will secure the sustainability of area-based activities through an appropriate long-term protection status or guarantee, to be achieved by the end of the project at the latest. In this context, priority is also given to the set-up of ecological corridors, such as green and blue infrastructure that reduce land or seascape fragmentation and pressures/threats, and that directly contribute to the resilience, effective management, and connectivity of protected areas.
- Proposals focused on increasing the share of EU land or marine area under strict protection (within the definition of “strictly protected areas” in the relevant EU Guidance under the Biodiversity Strategy). This may in particular be achieved through improving the level of protection of existing protected areas or through additional designations or enlargements of Natura 2000 site or nationally protected areas, including strict protection of remaining EU primary and old-growth forests, but may also consider alternative approaches that ensure equivalent sustainability, such as “Private land conservation” approaches, OECMs, etc. (provided this is in line with he criteria for strictly protected areas as agreed between the Commission and Member States).
- Implementing EU nature restoration targets for species and habitats.
- Once Member States have submitted their commitments or pledges in relation to this target, projects that are focused on implementing any such national commitments or pledges, including through trans-national or trans-boundary approaches are given priority for LIFE support.
- Restoring degraded and carbon-rich ecosystems; prevent and reduce the impact of natural disasters
- Proposals with a focus on restoring degraded carbon-rich ecosystems are given priority for LIFE support. For forests, this includes proposals aimed at forest restoration to primary forest structure, composition and functioning.
- Proposals with a focus on deploying Green and Blue Infrastructure in line with the EU guidance as well as other nature-based solutions and restoration actions that would help prevent or reduce the impact of natural disasters, including river restoration projects, are given priority for LIFE support.
- Improving the health and resilience of managed forests
- Proposals for demonstrating “closer to nature forestry” practices, meaning practices that try to achieve management objectives with minimum necessary human intervention and combine conservation with productivity objectives, are given priority for LIFE support; these are also defined as continuous cover forestry, reduced impact logging, retention forestry, mimicking natural disturbances. EU guidelines developed pursuant to the Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, once available, will be the reference for closer-to-nature forestry.
- Reversing the decline of pollinators
- Project proposals for the restoration of habitats where pollination by animals plays an important role, need to outline how the improvement of their associated pollinator communities is taken into account by the project activities.
- Furthermore, even where proposals do not directly address pollinators, applicants are invited to measure the project’s success against, among others, the improvement of pollinator communities. Indicators for improvement could be based, for example, on measuring changes in the diversity or abundance of Apoidea, Syrphidae, Lepidoptera or any other relevant taxonomic groups. Proposals that have a positive impact on pollinator communities based on at least one of the above requirements are given priority for LIFE support.
- Bringing nature back to agricultural land
- Proposals that demonstrate innovative approaches to restoring high-biodiversity landscape features in agroecosystems, that also bring benefits for farmers and communities (such as preventing soil erosion and depletion, filtering air and water, and supporting climate adaptation) and communicate such approaches, are given priority for LIFE support.
- Greening urban and peri-urban areas
- Proposals for the restoration of healthy and biodiverse ecosystems in urban and peri-urban areas, as well as for the development of green infrastructure and nature-based solutions that bring about significant benefits for biodiversity while providing solutions to urban challenges and increasing access to nature, are given priority for LIFE support, especially if they implement biodiversity objectives and measures in urban greening plans.
- Measuring and integrating the value of nature
- Proposals that lead to an effective accounting, measurement and integration of biodiversity values into public and private decision-making applying the guidance, methods, criteria and standards developed by the Commission are given priority for LIFE support.
- Establishing a coherent network of protected areas. Priority will be given to:
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Eligibility Criteria
Regions / countries for funding
Moldova (Moldova), Iceland (Ísland), North Macedonia (Северна Македонија), Ukraine (Україна)
eligible entities
Education and training institution, International organization, Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) / Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Other, Private institution, incl. private company (private for profit), Public Body (national, regional and local; incl. EGTCs), Research Institution incl. University, Small and medium-sized enterprise (SME)
Mandatory partnership
No
Project Partnership
In order to be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must:
- be legal entities (public or private bodies)
- be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.:
- EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories (OCTs))
- non-EU countries:
- listed EEA countries and countries associated to the LIFE Programme (associated countries) or countries which are in ongoing negotiations for an association agreement and where the agreement enters into force before grant signature (list of participating countries)
- the coordinator must be established in an eligible country
Entities from other countries (not listed above) are exceptionally eligible, if the granting authority considers their participation essential for the implementation of the action (see work programme).
Natural persons are NOT eligible (with the exception of self-employed persons, i.e. sole traders, where the company does not have legal personality separate from that of the natural person).
International organisations are eligible. The rules on eligible countries do not apply to them.
EU bodies (with the exception of the European Commission Joint Research Centre) can NOT be part of the consortium.
Entities which do not have legal personality under their national law may exceptionally participate, provided that their representatives have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf, and offer guarantees for the protection of the EU financial interests equivalent to that offered by legal persons.
Financial support to third parties is allowed under the following conditions:
- the calls must be open, published widely and conform to EU standards concerning transparency, equal treatment, conflict of interest and confidentiality
other eligibility criteria
Additional conditions:
- Sustainability: When designing their project, applicants need to take into account an obligation to maintain ecological effect of the project activities for at least 30 years after the project end. Applicants need to ensure that any LIFE-related investments into the management or restoration of natural or semi-natural habitats and habitats for species will lead to improvements that can be sustained in the long term. This often requires that such actions are taking place on areas that do already benefit from legal protection (as Natura 2000 sites or nationally protected areas), or that an adequate level of legal protection can be given to such areas during the lifetime of the project. Where the actions involve land acquisition and habitat restoration, the area in question should receive the most appropriate legal protection (nationally protected area, Natura 2000 etc.) with the view to contribute to the establishment of the Trans European Nature Network (TEN-N). For other investments that involve reducing pressures and threats (e.g. blocking of ditches or reducing nitrogen run off from agricultural land) on land which does not in itself have high natural value to justify designation, but acts as a buffer zone around Natura 2000 sites and/or protected areas, a long term contractual agreement (at least 30 years) to ensure that the pressures and threats are irreversibly alleviated is required. When this is not possible, the applicant should provide evidence that the investment made is backed by an appropriate land use planning at the most relevant administrative level. Private land conservation initiatives can also be supported in this context.
- Specific conditions for the following activities are listed in the call document (p. 15-23)
- Activities inside Natura 2000
- Activities outisde Natura 2000
- Species re-introduction and other conservation introductions/translocations within natural range
- Ex situ conservation actions
- Land purchase
- Long-term land lease, purchase of rights and one-off compensation payments
- Short term land lease or temporary compensation payments
- Ineligible costs concerning land purchase, one–off compensation payments and lease payments
- Ongoing management of habitats and recurring activities
- Infrastructure
- Green Infrastructure
- Compensatory measures
- Proposals following on previous LIFE projects and coordination requirements for multiple proposals aimed at the same/similar issue
- Annexes to the Application Form
Additional information
Topics
Relevance for EU Macro-Region
EUSAIR - EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region, EUSALP - EU Strategy for the Alpine Space, EUSBSR - EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, EUSDR - EU Strategy for the Danube Region
UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs)
project duration
between 36 and 84 months
Additional Information
Proposals must be submitted electronically via the Funding & Tenders Portal Electronic Submission System (accessible via the Topic page in the Search Funding & Tenders section. Paper submissions are NOT possible.
Project acronym — Your project acronym must include the word LIFE.
Proposals must be complete and contain all the requested information and all required annexes and supporting documents:
- Application Form Part A — contains administrative information about the participants (future coordinator, beneficiaries and affiliated entities) and the summarised budget for the project (to be filled in directly online)
- Application Form Part B — contains the technical description of the project (to be downloaded from the Portal Submission System, completed and then assembled and re-uploaded)
- Part C — contains additional project data and the project’s contribution to EU programme key performance indicators (to be filled in directly online)
- Mandatory annexes and supporting documents (to be uploaded):
- detailed budget table (mandatory excel template available in the Submission System)
- participant information (including previous projects, if any)
- Non mandatory annexes (but crucial to complement Application Form Part B when applicable)
- maps (template available in the Submission System)
- description of sites (template available in the Submission System)
- description of species and habitats (template available in the Submission System)
- co-financing declaration (template available in the Submission System): compulsory if external co-financing is foreseen
- letters of support (no specific template available)
- Annual activity report – N/A
- Other annexes – N/A
Proposals are limited to maximum 120 pages (Part B).
In case you have a co-financer contribution, kindly upload the related signed declaration among the optional annexes. Please indicate either "Confirmed" or "To be confirmed". If the status is "To be confirmed", this must be explained. Note that at a later stage, if successful in the selection process, you will be required to provide a signed declaration with status "Confirmed" as a pre-condition to sign the Grant Agreement
The maximum funding rate (% of eligible costs) is 60% with the following exceptions:
- 67% for projects targeting both priority and non-priority habitats and/or species
- 75% for projects targeting exclusively priority habitats and/or species
Call documents
LIFE-2024-SAP-NAT Call documentLIFE-2024-SAP-NAT Call document(1094kB)
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