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PROJECTS

We complement our core operations with a range of projects carried out in partnership with various organisations. For more details, explore the ongoing projects section in the menu.

OUR PROJECTS

LIFE Operating Grant

Duration 2022-2024

The LIFE Operating Grant drives Eurosite’s mission by strengthening cooperation, expanding networks, and enhancing organisational capacity to protect Europe’s nature.

Key Objectives:

  • Networking for Europe’s Nature: Facilitating Twinning initiatives on emerging topics like Nature-Based Solutions, climate, health, and disaster control, while expanding Eurosite’s membership and partnerships.
  • Thematic Cooperation for Natura 2000: Supporting EU nature directives through Working Groups focused on agriculture, biodiversity, ecosystem services, recreation, peatland restoration, and more.
  • Eurosite and EU Institutions: Enhancing Eurosite’s visibility at the European level, raising awareness of ecosystem services, and fostering cooperation between site managers and farmers to promote nature-friendly products.
  • Organisational Development: Strengthening Eurosite’s Secretariat and Board with the resources and expertise needed to diversify income, improve communication, and sharpen its public profile.

This grant is key to advancing European nature conservation while fostering collaboration and innovation.

 

Peat Pals for LIFE

Duration 2023-2026

Peat Pals for LIFE, a collaboration between Natuurmonumenten, Natuurpunt, Wageningen University, and Eurosite, focuses on improving peat ecosystems in Natura 2000 areas across the Netherlands and Flanders. Officially launched in Veenhuizen in October, the project aims to enhance hydrology and monitor carbon and greenhouse gas dynamics, providing insights into the impact of restoration on reducing CO2 emissions.

Objectives:

The project works to restore degraded, carbon-rich peatlands, improving habitat conditions for species in unfavourable status. Restoration efforts focus on creating resilient peat ecosystems in the Fochteloërveen (Netherlands) and the valleys of the Abeek, Dommeldal, and Veewei (Flanders).

 

TUNE IT project

Duration 2023-2025

The Erasmus+ project Nature Benefits: from Theory to Practice TUNE IT aims to develop a course and train site managers and local (regional) authorities responsible for managing natural areas. The training will enable them to use existing knowledge and tools to benefit nature and transfer them into their daily work.

Nature Benefits, or ecosystem services, are the vital contributions of ecosystems to human well-being, from food and water to carbon capture and climate regulation. This project transforms scientific knowledge into a multilingual training course empowering conservation practitioners.

The year-long course consists of three modules focusing on understanding, applying, and planning for nature benefits in conservation efforts.

This initiative, which has ten partner organisations across five countries, aims to deepen knowledge, integrate socio-economic elements into site management, and strengthen the link between nature and well-being.

EUKI Project: Building the European Peatlands Initiative

Duration 2023-2025

The EUKI project aims to establish a long-term European alliance of governments and stakeholders dedicated to peatland-based climate protection. While peatlands are vital for carbon storage, Europe faces massive peatland degradation. Restoring and rewetting peatlands is critical to reversing this trend and achieving sustainable land use.

The project aims to establish the European Peatlands Initiative by fostering collaboration, updating data, developing strategies, and providing practical guidance. This initiative will ensure the long-term restoration and sustainable management of peatlands across the continent.

The project “Building the European Peatlands Initiative: a strong alliance for peatland climate protection in Europe” is part of the European Climate Initiative (EUKI). EUKI is a project financing instrument by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK). The EUKI competition for project ideas is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. It is the overarching goal of the EUKI to foster climate cooperation within the European Union (EU) to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.

MOSAIC project

Duration 2023-2027

Mosaic project: Aims to transform European land management

The EU-funded MOSAIC project, joined by twenty organisations, embarks on a five-year mission to improve European land management. Aligned with the EU Green Deal and other strategies targeting climate and biodiversity crises, MOSAIC addresses the complexities of land use, society, and economics that challenge current policies and make decision-making for policymakers difficult.

At its core, MOSAIC will analyse decision-making processes in land use, focusing on climate change and biodiversity. Policy Labs in six European regions — Belgium, Denmark, Hungary, Portugal, Switzerland, and at a European continental level — will facilitate the development of innovative policy options through community and organisational involvement.

The impact of these options will be evaluated using advanced modelling techniques.

Key findings and stakeholder insights will be shared online, supporting decision-makers in implementing effective land use policies, ultimately shaping a sustainable future for Europe’s landscapes.

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Biodiversa+ SPEAR: Strengthening Bird Conservation

Duration 2023-2027

The EU-funded Biodiversa+ SPEAR project improves bird conservation by enhancing Europe’s protected areas network to adapt to climate change. It identifies priority areas, assesses network resilience, and develops cost-effective management and governance tools for wetlands and harvested species, securing a sustainable future for biodiversity.

The project is supported by the European Biodiversity Partnership.

 

Co-funded by the European Union with EU flag

LIFE MultiPeat

Duration: 2021-2016

Peatlands are vital carbon stores, but when degraded, they emit significant greenhouse gases (GHGs). The EU is the second-largest emitter from drained peatlands globally. LIFE Multi Peat addresses this by restoring peatlands across Poland, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Ireland, turning GHG sources back into carbon sinks.

Objectives:

  • Restore degraded peatlands to stop GHG emissions and reinstate carbon sink functions.
  • Develop replicable techniques for peatland restoration and emission measurement.
  • Create a peatland policy toolkit with an EU-wide policy catalogue, data portal, and guidance for stakeholders.

LIFE Multi Peat brings together partners like NABU, Eurosite, and Natuurpunt to contribute to EU climate goals through innovative peatland restoration.

 

LIFE Nardus and Limosa

 

Duration 2019-2025

The project’s central objective is the cross-border restoration of meadow-heathland systems rich in Nardus grasslands (6230*) with healthy meadow bird populations. The five project areas are the best areas in the Campine region where somewhat nutrient-richer heath systems occur, with many grassland birds. The LIFE project Nardus & Limosa focuses on studying, testing and implementing a P-mining method that considers breeding birds. The project focuses on restoring 255 ha of Nardus grasslands (6230*), which are rich in the typical meadow birds. At the same time, as a result of diverse hydrology, geomorphology, and soil, inland dunes grasslands (2310 and 2330), wet heaths (4010), and to a more limited extent, dry heaths (4030) will be restored in close interdependence with the Nardus grasslands.

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LIFE ENPLC project

 

Duration 2020-2024

The LIFE ENPLC project brings together landowners and conservationists to protect and restore private land for nature and the climate across Europe.

Our project’s vital part is strengthening trust and cooperation between all stakeholders. To this end, Eurosite and ELO have established the Conservation Landowners Coalition (CLC) as a European partnership of landowners and conservationists.

We build a community of European land conservation practitioners who work together on testing and upscaling the most promising tools for private land conservation, advocating for better financial incentives, engaging citizens, and raising public awareness. 

Climate breakdown and biodiversity loss constitute existential threats to land in private ownership. To preserve the land’s health and value for the next generations, we strive to support private landowners in finding the right tools, incentives, information, and contacts for the long-term conservation and restoration of nature on their properties. 

We communicate best-practice approaches to private land conservation, including the involvement of volunteers and citizen scientists. We raise public awareness of the relevance of private land for reaching the EU’s biodiversity policy targets and showcase successful initiatives in peer-to-peer networks by creating a community of Private Land Conservation Ambassadors. They tell their stories to fellow private landowners and decision-makers.  

Care-Peat

Duration 2017-2023

Care-Peat is an Interreg North-West Europe project uniting 12 partners across Belgium, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, and the UK to reduce carbon emissions and restore the carbon storage capacity of peatlands. The project focuses on developing and testing innovative restoration techniques and carbon measurement methods, engaging stakeholders to maximise socio-economic benefits.

Why Peatlands Matter
Peatlands, covering just 3–5% of the northern hemisphere’s land, store about 33% of global soil carbon. When drained, they release significant greenhouse gases, with emissions from degraded peatlands doubling those from aviation annually. Restoring peatlands is vital to preserving their role in climate regulation and carbon storage.

Key Actions and Outputs

  • Restoration Pilots: Seven sites (1–250 hectares) demonstrate techniques like peat moss cultivation and manual management, preventing annual emissions of 8,137 tonnes of CO2 by 2023.
  • Innovative Technology: Drones, satellites, and carbon models enhance restoration efforts and carbon measurement accuracy.
  • Stakeholder Collaboration: Partnerships with local landowners, farmers, and innovative companies boost the impact of restoration efforts.
  • Practical Tools: A decision-support tool and socio-economic models guide restoration efforts, ensuring results are scalable across North-West Europe.

Scaling Impact
In 2021, a capitalisation project expanded the scope to new areas and target groups, including farmers. It developed a unified methodology for assessing GHG emissions, making the tools applicable across various peatland types and regions.

 

Co-funded by the European Union with EU flag

LIFE European Land Conservation Network (ELCN)

 

The European Private Land Conservation Network is a LIFE Preparatory project and an initiative of the European Commission.

The project is being coordinated by NABU (Germany). Besides Eurosite, other project partners are Xarxa de Custòdia del Territori (XCT) (Spain), Natuurpunt (Belgium), Montis (Portugal), Fundacion Biodiversidad  (Spain), Fundatia ADEPT (Romania), ELY Centre Lapland (Finland), IMA Europe (EU) and WWF Oasi (Italy).

The project’s final goal is quite ambitious: establishing a European Land Conservation Network (ELCN), with Eurosite acting as the secretariat that will be charged with the long-term management of the network after the project has ended.

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Nature and Cities 

 

Specific objectives of the project Nature and Cities (awarded under Europe Aid funding for Supporting Civil Society Dialogue Between the EU and Turkey) are to enhance dialogue, know-how transfer and cooperation between civil society organisations of both Turkey and The Netherlands on environmental and sustainable development within the scope of EU acquisition and policies on the environment. Additionally, it aims to promote nature-based solutions and green infrastructure in cities as an effective tool for raising awareness of the environment. This is also important to Turkey’s potential EU membership. The project is led by the Turkish Nature Conservation Centre (DKM). To sum up, the primary goals, outcomes and results are:

  • Improved knowledge of nature-based solutions and green infrastructure in Turkey through the experience of EU member states (The Netherlands)
  • Enhanced dialogue and cooperation between Turkish stakeholders from various sectors to promote nature-based solutions and green infrastructure in cities
  • Joint agreements signed between CSOs in Turkey and The Netherlands for sustainable and long-term cooperation on nature-based solutions and green infrastructure in cities
  • Awareness of nature-based solutions and green infrastructure was raised in Turkey and the Netherlands.

E-BIND

 

The ‘Evidence-Based Improvements in the Nature Directives’ is to advise the European Commission, Member State authorities and other stakeholders on better use of scientific knowledge and networks to support the implementation of the nature directives. This project shall mobilise the scientific community to support better and more effective implementation of the EU nature legislation. The two critical aspects of this are to make better use of scientific knowledge and networks and to mobilise the scientific community, both in support of the outcome of the Fitness Check – which requires better and more effective implementation of the EU nature legislation. The lead partner is Wageningen Environmental Research.

Farmer’s Pride

 

Farmer’s Pride, a project funded under Horizon 2020 and led by the University of Birmingham, is establishing the European Network for In Situ Conservation of Plant Genetic Resources. It will bring together stakeholders and sites across the region and coordinate actions to conserve diversity for crop enhancement and adaptation in the future.

Farmer’s Pride will:

build relationships between existing diverse PGR stakeholder networks, and where necessary, create new partnerships to establish a unified network of stakeholders involved in PGR conservation and sustainable use;
enhance existing knowledge of European land-race and crop wild relative genetic diversity and showcase how it can be effectively secured and managed;
use social science and economic tools to establish the value of in situ PGR populations and individual traits, as well as a cost-effective means of conserving them;
use predictive characterisation methods to identify valuable features in situ PGR populations, targeting those most vital for satisfying future agricultural and market needs;
establish a mechanism to facilitate the flow of plant genetic material from in situ populations to the user community, both directly and via ex situ collections;
develop and establish a durable governance and resourcing structure for the European network of in situ PGR conservation sites and stakeholders;
promote public awareness of the value of PGR for agriculture and consumers; and
design and implement a network of European sites and stakeholders that conserves the breadth of PGR diversity found in situ.
Through these activities, Farmer’s Pride will significantly strengthen European capacities for the conservation, management and sustainable use of in situ PGR as a foundation for increased competitiveness in the farming and breeding sectors and ultimately for long-term food and nutritional security in Europe.

 

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This website is co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or CINEA. Neither the European Union nor CINEA can be held responsible for them.