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The European Commission has approved funding for 210 new projects under the third call for the LIFE+ programme (2007-2013), the European fund for the environment. The projects are from across the EU and cover actions in the fields of nature conservation, environmental policy, and information and communication. Overall, they represent a total investment of €515 million, of which the EU will provide €249.8 million.

Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik said: "The LIFE+ programme continues to fund high quality, innovative projects with a high level of added value for the EU. I believe that these new projects will not only make a significant contribution to nature conservation and to improving the environment, they will also help raise awareness across Europe of the key environmental challenges facing us, notably biodiversity loss, water scarcity and climate change."

The Commission received more than 600 applications from public or private bodies from the 27 EU Member States during the call for proposals, which closed in November 2009. Of these, 210 were selected for co-funding through the programme’s three components: LIFE+ Nature and Biodiversity, LIFE+ Environment Policy and Governance and LIFE+ Information and Communication.

LIFE+ Nature & Biodiversity projects improve the conservation status of endangered species and habitats.

LIFE+ Environment Policy & Governance projects are pilot projects that contribute to the development of innovative policy ideas, technologies, methods and instruments. 

LIFE+ Information and Communication projects disseminate information and raise the profile of environmental issues, and provide training and awareness-raising for the prevention of forest fires. 

The LIFE+ programme

LIFE+ is the European financial instrument for the environment and has a total budget of €2.143 billion (two billion one hundred and forty three million euros) for the period 2007-2013. During this period, the Commission will launch one call for LIFE+ project proposals per year.

More information

For more detail on each of the new Nature & Biodiversity projects see: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/publications/lifepublications/compi...

For more detail on each of the new Environment Policy & Governance projects see: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/publications/lifepublications/compi...

For more detail on each of the new Information & Communication projects see: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/publications/lifepublications/compi...

For all information on LIFE+ see http://ec.europa.eu/life

It is also possible to contact the relevant national authorities: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/contact/nationalcontact/index.htm