Page 10 - Environmental_Ecology

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EU Green Week will examine how EU policies such as the European Green Deal can help protect and re-
store nature, leaving it room to recover and thrive. This year’s Green Week will also act as a milestone on
the path to the Conference of the Parties (COP 15) to the Convention on Biological Diversity, now planned
for 2021, where world leaders will adopt a 10-year action plan for biodiversity – a new global deal for
people and nature. In May 2019, the LIFE Programme announced the winners of the LIFE 2018 awards.
The three winners come from Italy (Nature category), Spain (Environment category) and Greece (Climate
Action category).

LIFE Award for Nature: LIFE WOLFALPS (Italy) – coordinated conservation actions in the Alpine regions of
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France, Italy and Slovenia. Minimising conflict with people has helped increase the number of wolf packs
and the species’ range. The LIFE WOLFALPS project, co-funded by the European Union in the framework
of the LIFE+ 2007-2013 “Nature and Biodiversity” programme, aims to implement coordinated actions for
the long-term conservation of the Alpine wolf population. Among the objectives of LIFE WOLFALPS, there
is the identification of functional strategies to ensure a stable coexistence between the wolf and traditional
economic activities, both in areas where the wolf is already present for a long time and in areas where the
process of natural recolonization is currently underway.

Source: https://dinalpbear.eu/nomina-ai-life-awards-2020/

Operation M10.1.19 focuses on result-oriented and focused Rural Development Programme (RDP) inter-
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ventions to stabilise endangered habitats, species and plants and thus reverse the decline of biodiversity in
Austria’s agricultural regions.To fight the ongoing decline of biodiversity in Austria, it is necessary to adopt
result oriented, focused and specific interventions in targeted regions that are habitats for endangered
species. Operation M10.1.19 - Nature conservation provides targeted solutions to achieve this. The
primary objective of Operation M10.1.19 is the conservation and enhancement of endangered habitats,
species and plants. It supports activities like the implementation of specific combinations of nature pro-
tection commitments, which are decided by farmers, ecologists and the nature conservation departments
of the federal provinces.Evaluation studies show that the abundance of the Whinchat (a small, perching
migratory bird), which is an indicator species for traditionally cultivated hay meadows, increased in
accordance with the type of interventions adopted. Nature conservation commitments had positive effects
on a high proportion of arable land.About 31% of the breeding areas for the Great Grey Shrike
(a large songbird) had adopted nature conservation commitments.

1 http://www.lifewolfalps.eu/il-progetto-in-breve/
2 https://enrd.ec.europa.eu/projects-practice/nature-conservation-austrian-rural-development-programme_en