EUKN - European Urban Knowledge Network - Political agreement on LIFE+ reached

Political agreement on LIFE+ reached

30-03-2007

The Council of the Europe Union and the European Parliament have reached an agreement on LIFE+, the new financial instrument for the environment. LIFE+ will bring simplification by regrouping a broad range of existing environmental programmes and instruments in a single framework. These existing instruments include the current LIFE programme and the Urban Environment programme. LIFE+ will run from September 2007 to 2013.

The new programme is divided into three strands:

“LIFE+ Nature and Biodiversity” focuses on the implementation of the European Union (EU) directives on the conservation of habitats and of wild birds. It will also support further strengthening the knowledge needed for developing, assessing, monitoring and evaluating EU nature and biodiversity policy and legislation.
“LIFE+ Environment Policy and Governance” covers the other priorities of the sixth Environment Action Programme – climate change, health and quality of life, natural resources and waste – as well as strategic approaches to policy development, implementation and enforcement.
“LIFE+ Information and Communication” provides information on environmental issues.

The overall budget agreed for LIFE+ reaches almost 2 billion euros. The Council and the European Parliament have agreed that at least 78 per cent of the budget resources shall be used for project action grants. The first call for project proposals will most probably be opened in autumn 2007.

Source: European Commission

Links
For more information, please visit the LIFE+ website

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