The Voices of LIFE: 20 Years of Getting Things Done” Do Not Necessarily Reflect the Opinions of the Institutions of the European Union

TheVoices 20 years of ofLIFE getting things done

Environment European Commission Environment Directorate-General

LIFE (“The Financial Instrument for the Environment”) is a programme launched by the European Commission and coordinated by the Environment Directorate-General (LIFE Units - E.3. and E.4.).

The contents of the publication “The Voices of LIFE: 20 years of getting things done” do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the institutions of the European Union.

Authors: Gabriella Camarsa (Environment expert), João Pedro Silva (Nature expert), Justin Toland, Eamon O’Hara, Tim Hudson, Wendy Jones, Jon Eldridge, Ed Thorpe, Christophe Thévignot (AEIDL, Communications Team Coordinator). Managing Editors: Angelo Salsi and Hervé Martin, European Commission, Environment DG, LIFE E.3 and E.4 – BU-9, 02/1, 200 rue de la Loi, B-1049 Brussels. LIFE Focus series coordination: Simon Goss (LIFE Communications Coordinator), Valerie O’Brien (DG Environment Communications Coor- dinator). Production: Monique Braem (AEIDL). Graphic design: Daniel Renders, Anita Cortés (AEIDL). Photos database: Sophie Brynart. Acknowledgements: Many thanks to all the people who agreed to be interviewed for this publication. Thanks also to everyone across Europe who helped arrange interviews and provided feedback, photos and other useful material for this report. Photographs: Unless otherwise specified, photos are from the respective projects. This publication is published in English with a print of 10 000 copies and is also available online.

Europe Direct is a service to help you find answers to your questions about the European Union. New freephone number: 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 Additional information on the European Union is available on the Internet. It can be accessed through the Europa server (http://europa.eu). Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Union, 2012

ISBN 978-92-79-22675-5 doi:10.2779/86780

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Environment The Voices of LIFE 20 years of getting things done 1

Celebrating 20 years of LIFE’s people

Europe’s wildlife and natural resources To hear these individuals, commu- have been benefitting from LIFE sup- nities and businesses in their own port for 20 years. It was back in 1992 words is to understand directly the when the EU’s financial instrument for value, impact and inspiration of LIFE: the environment first opened its doors its value as a source of support for to help provide co-finance for projects established conservation organisa- involved in implementing European tions and programmes; its impact environmental policy. Much of this on people who took a new interest initial work concentrated on launching in nature and the environment as a actions through the then 12 Member result of their interaction with the States to establish an embryonic Nat- programme; and its inspiration for ura 2000 network. Since then, LIFE’s countless green business initiatives. mandate has grown and flourished. It has strengthened its focus on nature We’ll hear the voices of people from conservation and expanded its reach all over the EU - and indeed from to a wide range of environmental pro- neighbouring countries - whose expe- tection and information dissemination riences reflect the LIFE programme’s services. Today, LIFE is operating in broad perspective on the relevance all 27 Member States, where it continues to build on its their time and energy converting LIFE funds into prac- of holistic support for Europe’s environment as a whole. impressive portfolio of results in tackling key challenges tical, tangible, on-the-ground benefits for Europe’s en- such as biodiversity decline, habitat loss, resource effi- vironment. They also include the politicians from local, We hope you will find this publication both enlighten- ciency and climate action, among other important inter- regional, national and European levels who have persis- ing and inspirational. The stories it contains demon- vention areas. tently backed and promoted LIFE’s case throughout the strate LIFE’s considerable scope for connecting with years. Equally important are all the tens of thousands of a wide cross-section of different peoples’ environ- Central to LIFE’s success has been the role of people. individuals from the local communities and businesses mental convictions. They also underscore the pas- Therefore what better way to mark the 20th anniversary who have participated in LIFE projects and contributed sion and commitment that exists for sustaining our of the programme than to focus on the people who have to their accomplishments. Not forgetting of course the environmental inheritance. Together, they show that helped LIFE to get things done? These include the coor- dedicated personnel from countless governing bod- LIFE remains in good stead to continue its productive dinators and team members from the more than 3 500 ies around Europe who have administered and steered and popular support for Europe’s environment into the projects over the last two decades who have invested LIFE’s outputs so effectively since 1992. next 20 years. FOREWORD 2 The Voices of LIFE 20 years of getting things done

4 BBehindehind thethe scenesscenes 16 MEETMEET THETHE COMMUNITIESCOMMUNITIES

Lifting the lid on the LIFE LIFE and the regional programme...... 5 record-breaker...... 17 The founding father...... 5 A city-wide environment The namer...... 6 of innovation...... 18 The legislator ...... 7 Building a partnership for better city living...... 20 The leader...... 7 LIFE the ‘trigger’ for two decades The energiser ...... 10 2 of restoration...... 22 CONTENTS The good neighbour...... 11 LIFE’s help for the forests of The “LIFEer”...... 12 the Holy Community of The helper...... 13 Mount Athos...... 24 The monitoring team coordinator.....14 Positive partnership memories The monitor...... 14 from a neighbouring state...... 26 The communicator...... 15 Combatting marine 1 pollution in the Med...... 28 Building river restoration communities through LIFE...... 30 Waiting for the flood...... 32 Biomass boilers improve village life in Slovakia...... 33 Helping agriculture to innovate...... 34 The Voices of LIFE 20 years of getting things done 3

36 MEETMEET THETHE CITIZENSCITIZENS 56 MEETMEET THETHE GUARDIANSGUARDIANS 80 MEETMEET THETHE BUSINESSESBUSINESSES

LIFE involves residents A passion for conservation Building the BASTA...... 81 in initiatives to meet with ponies...... 57 Cooling off the greenhouse gases.....82 Kyoto obligations...... 37 Fostering a fondness for nature...... 59 Distributing healthy food Snakes Alive!...... 38 View from a Swedish plateau4...... 62 without causing harm...... 84 Art for LIFE’s sake...... 40 Crofting is a LIFE choice...... 63 A breakthrough ‘biotyre’...... 87 A special week for waste LIFE’s graziers Research and reuse of winery 2 reduction...... 42 of the Hungarian grasslands...... 66 ‘wastes’ continues to grow...... 88 A Finnish household embraces Living with the wolf at the door...... 69 The brewer: A toast LIFE waste prevention ...... 44 Turning the tide on sea to nature conservation...... 90 Turning rivers into a classroom...... 45 turtle conservation in Sardinia...... 71 LIFE marks ‘turning point’ Children’s friend Boo...... 47 Helping a Rhine fisherman for rural tourism in Latvia...... 92 LIFE builds relationships achieve a lifelong dream...... 74 Restoring national pride to tackle heath fires...... 49 Solving a biogas problem...... 76 in North Karelia...... 94 LIFE lays a foundation Pig farming cleans up its act...... 77 Camping: “It’s a way of life!”...... 95 for renewable building...... 52 Linking LIFE to the farm LIFE 20 years competition...... 97 3 on Anglesey and Lleyn...... 79 5 4

1 BBehindehind thethe scenesscenes

From its conception over 20 years ago, through its development during successive programming periods, many aspects of the LIFE programme have remained somewhat invisible to the wider public. In this section of the brochure we shine the spotlight on some of these “behind the scenes” activities and on some of the people and organisations that have helped to make LIFE the programme it is today. Behind thescenes during theParliament’s budget procedurein1989,he on his election promise, and when the opportunity arose Once re-elected, Mr Muntingh set about making good he recalls. I asked for it to be included in the election programme,” ronment Fund.”Infact,thiswas alreadypartypolicyand de Arbeid,PvdA) proposedtheideaofaEuropean- Envi campaign, his party, theelection the Dutch Labour Party (Partij van During in1979. elected been first having seeking toholdhisseatintheEuropeanParliament (EP), The storyofLIFEbeganin1989,whenMrMuntinghwas ways certain. However, for HemmoMuntinghthisoutcomewasnotal- environment. the for instrument financial main EU’s the as established firmly now is billion, €2 over of budget tablished in 1992, the LIFE programme, with a current From themodest €70millionprogrammethatwases- 20 yearsago. the programmehehelpedtoestablishmorethan Hemmo Muntingh, still has a strong attachment to (MEP), Parliament European the of Member tired LIFE,re- of thefather being with credited Often The founding father on theLIFEprogramme Lifting thelid The Voices ofLIFE20yearsgettingthingsdone ing anamount. 1. P.M orProMemory, aprocedureusedtoinscribebudgetlinewithout specify- European CommissionthebudgetcontainedonlyaPM the and Council European the of decision joint the in but 1995. TheEuropeanParliament acceptedtheproposal, that would be equivalent to 1% of the total EU budget in Environment Fund. “As a goal, I mentioned an amount included anamendmentproposingabudgetlinefor an million in the second reading but during the very difficult difficult very the during but reading second the in million with aPM.“Ofcourse,theEPreintroduced theECU81 where for asecondtime,the budget amountwasreplaced this proposal butonceagainitran agroundintheCouncil, accepted budget, the of reading first its in EP, The amount fromECU31millionto81million.” further amendmentinthebudgetcommitteetoraise and alsodeclareditapriorityoftheEP. Therewasevena cepted thisamendmentoftheenvironmentcommittee troduced tothebudget.TheEP’s budgetcommitteeac- committee, and an amount of ECU 31 million was in- lowing year, thistimeviatheParliament’s environment the budgetprocedureof1990.“Itrieditagainfol- effortshis during redoubled Muntingh Mr perturbed, Not without anamount.” 1 , had originallyproposed, waseventuallyaccepted. Itwas ever, a budget amount ofECU31million,the amount I negotiations thatfollowed ithadtobewithdrawn.How- Hemmo Muntingh 5 BEHIND THE SCENES 6 The Voices of LIFE 20 years of getting things done

not as much as the EP wanted but it was an important invented by the rapporteur of the step forward - ‘reculer pour mieux sauter’ as they say!” EP’s budget committee, Mr Alain Lamasourre.” (See box: The namer) During its passage though the institutions, the Environ- mental Fund acquired the name by which it eventually The story did not end there, however, came to be known: LIFE. “As far as I remember, the name, and it soon emerged that the Commis- l’Instrument financier pour l´environnement (LIFE), was sion and the EP had very different ideas about how the new programme should be operationalised. “The controversy became so

hot that the EP resorted to an unusual method to The namer safeguard its position: it blocked the creation of any new “I am retired now and I have to content

Alain Lamassoure, the French MEP who played posts in the Commission until such time as it came up myself with the beautiful nature in my garden here in a large role in establishing the LIFE programme, with an acceptable proposal for LIFE. The Commission Friesland. But I still follow LIFE from a distance and I am responded by drawing up a new Regulation for LIFE. I pleased to see the very good work it has been doing for says that he got the idea for its name after din- “ ner one night in his hotel room in the Métropole, saw the first concept and nature conservation. I can Brussels. LIFE is in fact an acronym: L’Instrument it seemed okay, and be- only hope that this contin- Financier pour l’Environnement (“financial in- cause I was the rappor- I am very proud of LIFE and the ues in the future. In the teur for the environment coming years I think the Alain Lamassoure strument for the environment”). contribution it makes, especially Mr Lamassoure’s original idea was to create an committee in the EP I had environment and nature extra Structural Fund. “There were already three Structural Funds: regional, the possibility to steer the to nature conservation, which has in the newer EU Member social and rural development. It was a period when environmental concerns final concept in the right always been my passion in life States will come under started to appear in most Member States, and my original idea was to direction. intense pressure arising “ from the implementation complement the three Structural Funds with one dedicated to protecting the environment,” he says. “I could tell you a lot more about this. In fact, I already of the EU’s agriculture and regional policies. I hope that While a programme with financial means was agreed, it did not go so far as introduced the concept of an Environment Fund in the LIFE can help to offset this and demonstrate how we can a Structural Fund. Mr Lamassoure regrets that the amount of funds avail- EP in 1979 and 1980. But it was not accepted. So, for do things differently in future, and avoid the mistakes of able was not higher, but he says that “it has been very helpful in many over 10 years I had to fight all the way. But it was worth the past.” countries, particularly on biodiversity and now new renewable energies. it. The environment and nature conservation has been Hopefully, it will be beefed up in the next general framework.” my life’s work. Even before I became an MEP I was the “It’s become a very important programme in the EU… It’s my child, but it’s Director of the Dutch Society for the Preservation of the grown up. I’m proud of it… but I trust those in charge in the Commission and Wadden Sea (Waddenvereniging). All my life, even as a the Parliament to reorient it whenever necessary and point it in the right young boy, I have always been happiest when I am close direction,” he says. to nature; bird watching or trying to get a glimpse of some special plant or animal. coastal management. Arecommendationwaspreferred to followedprojects, of byfuture the on consultation public a the of finding main the of summary a of publication the six themesintotal,”saysMsBurrill. Thisprocessledto one Another projects. was lookingatpublicparticipation aspects.Therewere different the of aspects legal at For instance,therewasthisone fellow whowaslooking projects. pilot the of aspects particular the at looking were A teamofconsultantsalsoworked ontheinitiative.“They see whatworkswellanddoesn’t,”shesays. different approaches to integrated coastal management to “These were private projects that we were doing to test out programme. INTERREG the under financed were projects Other 1995). in launched were projects 20 (some projects stration process,accountingfor aroundtwo-thirdsofthe demon- this financing for instrument main the was LIFE we coulddrawon.” that experience some projects, private some have actually solution, sowedecidedthatthebestthingtodowas a up make to try and office our in sit to us for idea good area”, saysAnneBurrill.”We didn’tthinkthatit wasavery ment, buttheEUrecognisedthatitwas“averycomplex Europe’s coasts required a joined-up approach to manage- grated CoastalZoneManagement. onInte- recommendation the of drafting the on ENV,worked DG Unit, of Head Deputy Burril, Anne zones. coastal of management the policy: shaping for instrument useful very a were particular, projects in LIFE area, one In issues. of range wide past 20yearshaveimpactedonlegislationa have projects LIFE the over and forpolicymakers implications strong of findings and results The The legislator The Voices ofLIFE20yearsgettingthingsdone ommendation”. rec EU the by ranean countries, was“verymuchinspired al management,whichestablished aprotocolfor Mediter- According toMsBurrill,theBarcelona Conventiononcoast- things shouldbecovered inthesepolicies.” integrated coastalmanagement and itsetsoutthekindof mandates theMemberStatesto setnationalpolicieson It projects. pilot the from derived had we that principles of tries. Sotherecommendationthatcameoutwasaseries quite a considerable range of approaches in different coun- and to use a recommendation. We saw in the pilot projects that the best approach was to allow quite a lot of flexibility larly therelationshiptolanduseplanning,itwasdecided Because ofthesensitivitysomeissues,particu- being adoptedandhavesomewhatfollowed itsincethen. policy up to [thepoint]wherethe recommendation was The DeputyHeadofUnitexplainsthatshe“managedthe the wholeEU.” and relativelylong-terminputfromsamplesitesacross EU countries.LIFEwastheonlyvehiclethathadin-depth across spread were projects “Our reach. geographical its Ms BurrillsaysthatoneofthechiefadvantagesLIFEis was adopted. tation ofIntegratedCoastalZoneManagementinEurope and CouncilRecommendationconcerningtheimplemen- a directive,andon30 May 2002,aEuropeanParliament Anne Burril - The leader the endofourteens andwearenow becoming anadult you think of it in human terms, I would say we are at this hasnotmadeinstrument anylessrelevant.If many yearstocome.Twenty havegoneby but vironment willcontinuetoneed publicinvestmentfor there, theyhavenotgoneaway, andIfear thattheen- “The concernsthatledtothecreation ofLIFEarestill beneficiaries andthoseoutsidetheprogramme. gramme, having won the appreciation and confidence of that LIFEisnow reachingastageofmaturityaspro- From its conception in the early 90s, Mr Salsi believes achieve, andfor me,LIFE’s bestdaysarestilltocome.” there isagreatsenseofprideinwhatwearetryingto States, Member the and beneficiaries the to programme this communityofpeople.From thosewhomanagethe “I feel very honoured to be part of this experiment, and Nature Unit. tion asHeadoftheLIFE Unit, tohiscurrentposi- Deputy Head oftheLIFE gramme, having moved from being a LIFE Desk Officer to has beencloselyalignedtodevelopmentoftheLIFEpro- ernment ofEmilia-Romagna.Sincethen,hiscareerpath worked asanagro-meteorologist for theregionalgov- the EuropeanCommissionin1994,havingpreviously joined Italy,Salsi of Mr north the in Bolzano, of native A Unit. – Angelo Salsi, the current head of the LIFE Nature constant one least at been has there time this of most for but history, 20-year its in developments The LIFE programme has seen many changes and “ the creation ofLIFEare still there The concerns thatled to Angelo Salsi 7

“ BEHIND THE SCENES 8 The Voices of LIFE 20 years of getting things done

to suggest that the project methodology was integrated into the RDP.

“Since 2000, the policy units and the LIFE programme have been managed separately and this has made integration more difficult. So the day after I was appointed

Head of Unit, the first thing I did was to set up a strat- egy to improve the bridge

between these units, and this The moment people start to has already started to pay dividends. In the last couple of perceive land and nature as a part “ years we have been involved of our shared heritage, just like in 10-15 court cases relating historical sites or precious art to the protection of a bird or who knows its abilities and potential and is looking to the Since becoming head of “ site, for example. The policy future with even bigger ambitions than before. This is the LIFE Nature and Bio- collections, it will be become a units would instigate these reflected in the Commission’s proposal for the new LIFE diversity Unit in 2009, Mr major unifying force that will go cases but we would support Regulation for 2014-2020, which is more innovative and Salsi has worked hard at them by providing information ambitious, while also preserving the key elements that achieving this balance well beyond what we imagine or data gained from projects have made LIFE a success.” and at ensuring better in- on the ground. tegration between the financial instrument and the policy. Making it work “In fact, just yesterday I received an e-mail from a col- “When I first joined the Commission, the same Unit league who identified a potential problem in relation to With responsibility for one of the three main compo- that was responsible for nature policy was also re- certain species in France, linked to the building of roads. nents of the LIFE programme, Mr Salsi will have a key sponsible for the nature component of LIFE; they This information comes directly from a LIFE project and role to play in realising these future ambitions. were two sides of the same coin. At the time I was could result in action being taken by our policy units.” the Desk Officer responsible for the implementation “My job is to make sure the machine works, not just in of EU nature policy (Birds and Habitats Directives) in Integration also has an important strategic function absolute terms but also in terms of the time and resource Italy and Romania, but I was also responsible for LIFE and Mr Salsi is particularly proud of the role LIFE has constraints we have to work with. But as well as ensur- Nature projects in these countries. I remember on played in the development of the Natura 2000 net- ing that the administrative machinery works, I also have one occasion I was reviewing the Rural Development work, which he considers to one of the programme’s a programme that is not just about administration but Programme (RDP) for an Italian region and I noticed most important contributions over the last 20 years. about improving our environment. You have to make sure there was a specific measure to target a certain type there is a balance between the two elements and that the of forest habitat, but I also knew that an Italian LIFE “In the 1990s we wanted LIFE to support the drawing means don’t prevail over the scope – this is my big task.” project had done some work in this area so I was able up of inventories of potential Natura 2000 sites. Six or port themanagement ofNatura2000. sup- further to there are projects these perspective, nature a From projects’. ‘integrated call we what of tant feature ofthenewRegulation istheinvention LIFE NatureandBiodiversity component. “Animpor- tion andNatura2000willremain key priorities for the Looking tothefuture,MrSalsi believesthatintegra- Future priorities LIFE projects.” thousand squarekilometresandalotofthisisdueto marine networkofsitesnow covers severalhundred tify andsurveyareasthatcouldbedesignated.This tool indevelopingtechniquesandindicatorstoiden- efficient very a been has Nature “LIFE sites. marine of tribution tothedevelopmentNatura2000network More recently, LIFEhasalsomadeanimportantcon- veloped throughLIFEprojects.” Thousands ofmanagementplanshavesincebeende- the same thing and other countries also followed suit. a template for site management planning. Italy did providesnow which d’objectifs’, ‘document the called is what to led that project major a was there France, for preparingandadoptingmanagementplans’.In ber States,‘useLIFEmoneytodevelopasystem address wasmanagement.SowesaidtotheMem- “Once thesitesweredesignated,nextissueto through LIFEprojects. later ledtothedesignationofNatura2000sites, Spain and Italy prepared all their inventories, which really, ahugeone.You have tothinkthatcountieslike seven countries did it and it was a major step forward, The Voices ofLIFE20yearsgettingthingsdone another 20years Ihopewewillhaveahouse.” this stage,wehave builtaprettysolidfoundation. In years of buying bricks you eventually have a house.At many after and week other every brick a buy you one, you don’thavethemoneytobuy allthebricksonday and house a build to want you If project. after the year,after project activity,year of kind same or less more financing been has Nature more importantpartinthefuture.Since1992,LIFE even an play will and this in part a playing are jects “We have to change perceptions and I believe LIFE pro- nice beach. in seeingabeautifullandscapeorsittingon absolutely nottrue.Happinesscanalsobefound material happiness, but studies show thatthis is a largechunkofourhappinesscomesfrom nately, wehavebeenbroughtuptobelievethat will gowellbeyondwhatweimagine.Unfortu- that force unifying major a become be will it like historical sites orpreciousartcollections, just heritage, shared our of part a as nature “The momentpeoplestarttoperceivelandand environment. change inthewayweperceivenatureand reasonably wellimplementeditwillmake amajor even make sure thathalfortwo-thirdsofthisis surprised ifwedoublethisinthecomingyears.If here about18%oftheEUterritory, andIwouldn’tbe ible achievement.You havetoremember, we’retalking especially whenwearesoclosetorealisingthisincred- now, efforts our diluting start to sense make huge andsuchanenormouschallengethatitwouldn’t “Natura 2000won’tsolveallourproblems,butitisso 9 BEHIND THE SCENES 10 The Voices of LIFE 20 years of getting things done

The energiser

After 10 years in the LIFE unit doing “a bit of eve- Working on environmen- LIFE projects dem- rything”, Anne Louise Friedrichsen has lost none tal issues, however, is onstrate the feasi- of her passion for seeing first-hand the impact of a mixed blessing. As bility of introducing LIFE projects. “When you go on visits, it really be- well as the ‘heaven’ of new practices and comes concrete what they’re doing. You come back a beautiful nature trail, thus can help usher full of energy and you can see the point,” she says. there’s the ‘hell’ of “sew- in new legislation age systems and the guts where needed. Anne Though her current role in the LIFE Environment and Eco- of society” – but Anne Lou- Louise gives the exam- innovation Unit as Deputy Head of Unit has limited her ise says that she is just as ple of a small detector opportunities for on-site visits, it was this contact with interested in projects that at- that determines whether people on the ground that attracted her to join the team. tempt to deal with waste and in- a particular rig at sea is leak- Educated as a political scientist, Anne Louise began troduce cleaner industrial processes ing oil into the environment. She working for the Commission in 1995, first for DG Educa- as she is with nature conservation. says that oil companies would have tion and Culture. Since 2001 she has been a Desk Officer been reluctant to fix such a detector to their for Denmark and Sweden, both for environment and na- “Once you go to a waste treatment area and you see equipment if there wasn’t first a legal requirement and ture projects, and has been involved in the organisation what they’re doing there, it makes you a little bit more that this requirement would not have come about un- of a special conference on water and the ex-post evalua- conscious about what you do when you go home,” she less there was the research to show its value. Anne Louise Friedrichsen tion of 10 years of the LIFE programme. She also helped says. Even though she admits that it is difficult to always set up the rules for the LIFE+ financing period. be aware of environmental issues on a personal level, The LIFE programme employs a bottom-up approach. she points to the wide range of good LIFE projects that “Sometimes projects prove that the technology works The “pioneer spirit” encouraged by the programme is are raising the awareness of ordinary EU citizens. “What and sometimes [they prove] it fails. It may still have especially attractive to Anne Louise. “You have people I am aiming for this year is for people to really start been a good project; they tried but it’s just not feasible

that are launching things; that are difficult. None of these changing ways of acting, but it will take a lot of effort. or it costs too much.” projects are mainstream. They are opposing the ordinary The LIFE programme has very good information projects,

way of doing things; saying this could be done better.” for example, the European Week for Waste Reduction Policymakers, however, like to steer research, Anne (see pp 42-43), which focus on raising awareness and Louise says. “For example, they say, ‘I want to make Visiting the projects has enabled her to get to know her changing people’s behaviour.” seas cleaner and therefore I want projects on this’, but native Denmark better than“ she would otherwise have that doesn’t mean that the programme can deliver this done, she says. “I’ve had Shaping legislation – and if you try to steer too much then you won’t get wonderful guided tours in the other bubbles that come up. None of these projects are main- forests, where people tell Sometimes it is necessary to enforce such changes stream. They are opposing the you all the names of the in behaviour, “Laws help introduce environmentally “With the bottom-up approach, once in a while you trees. I thought I knew about friendly practices, and that’s where the projects come will get these nice links between what happened on ordinary way of doing things; saying these things, but it’s great to in: sometimes you can’t make a law unless you know the ground and then what became law, but it is not “ this could be done better go there with a biologist.” that it’s technically possible to do a thing,” she says. systematic.” this inspirational effect.” there isaneedfor aprogrammelike LIFEbecauseithas such asagriculture,energy, transport andsoforth. And considerations tobesystematically integratedintoareas environmental need really We left. are that things only hope thattheselittlelights welightwillnotbethe to themandbeinformed about whyitisvaluable.“I Most people are happy to preserve a green area close “I believe in thelocalidea: you focus onwherepeople are. big changes. to fundinnovative ideas.Someofthemwillthenleadto mechanism good a “It’s projects. good for need a much LIFEpro- the of gramme, AnneLouisebelievesthatthereisstillvery anniversary 20th the on Reflecting Future hopes ment,” shesays. can inspire these funds to do more for the environ- possible butit’s notbeingdone.TheLIFEprogramme tural fundsontotheenvironment–it’s theoretically struc- focusing for catalyst a as serve will projects the structuralfunds.Theideaisthattheseintegrated if youreallywanttofundtheenvironmentit’s via tegrated projects. “The LIFE programme is very small: Moreover, thenewproposalintroducesideaofin- subject.” fore hopefullytheywillgetmoreproposalsonthat what wewouldreallylike toseeisthis,andthere- is moretopdown, whereapolicymaker has said that novation. AccordingtoAnneLouise,“ithasapartthat tempts tostrengthenthelinkbetweenpolicyandin- Nevertheless, thenewLIFEprogrammeproposalat- The Voices ofLIFE20yearsgettingthingsdone The good neighbour Third Country.” the in actors and beneficiaries local to partners ropean change experienceandtransfer ofknow-how fromEu- “Thanks tothisstrand,therewasapossibilityex- their own development,”hesays. handle bettertheenvironmentalissuesconnectedto some localandnationalcapacitiesinorderfor themto more highlytheenvironmentandhelpthemtodevelop “LIFE TCY was a way to invite our neighbours to consider awareness onenvironmentalissuesinThirdCountries. Alban believesthatthestrandwassuccessfulinraising impact onneighbouringcountries.” have you if countries polluting these seas, then it will have an border: the at stop don’t problems “environmental that recognition a was TCY LIFE strand. TCY the for Officer Desk was who Villepin, Mediterranean and the Baltic seas”, says Alban de ness andcapacitiesinthecountriesbordering aware- develop “to 1992 in up set was TCY LIFE stand theirhopesandobstacles,isalwaysrewarding.” have direct contact with a beneficiary, so to better under- experience,” he says. “The possibility to visit a project and the LIFE Environment andEco-innovation unit.“LIFEisalearning for officer communication the also is He nia. Roma- and Portugal Italy, in projects Environment LIFE are now all nearing completion, as well as monitoring which projects, ongoing the monitor to continues Alban external relationspoliciesandprogrammes,”hesays. integrate moredeeplyenvironmentalactivitiesintoEU tinued in2006.Moreover, “therewasawillingnessto sibility todevelopLIFETCY andthestrandwasdiscon- pos- the however, restricted period, financing LIFE+ The with climatechange. Slovenia); and the building of Turkey’s capacity to deal edge oftheecosystemSavariverbasin(Croatia/ neries inTunisia; thepreservationandincrease ofknowl- clude: theimprovement ofwastewatertreatmentattan- According to Alban, some examples of good projects in- Alban deVillepin 11 BEHIND THE SCENES 12 The Voices of LIFE 20 years of getting things done

The “LIFEer”

Few people hold the distinction of having been a LIFE Frank’s studies then brought him to Namur, where he read river restoration and management, with some really big project manager, a LIFE monitor and a Desk Officer zoology, specialising in freshwater ecology. “I did a PhD on projects on the Danube and its tributaries. I travelled a lot within the LIFE Unit at the European Commission. salmon and trout, studying their behaviour and ecology. I during this time, to Austria and Germany, but also to visit Frank Vassen is one of this rare breed, which gives even built an artificial stream in the basement of the uni- projects in many other countries.” Frank Vassen him a unique insight to the programme and to the versity. It was great fun and I have very fond memories of relationships between the different stakeholders. this time.” “What really struck me about this experience was that despite the marked differences between the areas and Born and reared in a village in the eastern, German- Then, in 1995, as he came to the end of his studies, Frank landscapes I visited, the challenges were often very simi- speaking, part of Belgium, Frank’s love of nature and the got his first “real LIFE” experience, when he secured a job lar. They were mainly linked to changes in agriculture and environment was established at an early age. At just 12 as the manager of a LIFE project on the conservation of forestry, either intensification or land abandonment. It was years old, he joined a local bird watching club, which con- the corncrake in Belgium. “At the time we thought there an interesting time. I met a lot of LIFE beneficiaries, very solidated this interest and also paved the way for an early was a corncrake population in Belgium, but we discovered interesting people, and very committed.” introduction to nature conservation. during the project that it was only singing males, with very little reproduction. But it took quite an effort to reach this Before long, however, Frank’s LIFE adventure was to take “I became fascinated with birds. I was lucky because there conclusion. We carried out the monitoring at night, so for another twist, when in 2003 he received a phone call from were some people in the club that were really committed three years, during May and June, I could be seen driving Angelo Salsi, inviting him to join the LIFE Unit at the Euro- and were very good mentors. Some of the members also through the countryside in the middle of the night, listening pean Commission. “At the time the Unit was looking for a formed a conservation group, which I became involved in. for singing birds. In the right conditions you could hear the German, French and English speaker so I fitted the bill per- This was the late 80s and at the time we succeeded in get- singing more than a kilometre away, but the funny thing fectly. In fact, my language skills were also one of the main ting funding from a predecessor of the LIFE programme is, I never actually saw a corncrake, and I still haven’t! For- reasons I was offered the job as a LIFE monitor.” for a project to restore the habitat of the black stork. The tunately though, the restoration work we undertook was money was used to buy land, which we then restored, more beneficial for many other species.” Within the LIFE Unit, Frank spent a short period working on working mostly at weekends as we were all volunteers. the Environment component, before eventually joining the Frank’s next “LIFE change” came in 1999, when he was LIFE Nature team in 2004. “I was the Desk Officer for Roma- “This land is now the core of a whole network of nature offered a position with Ecosystems Ltd, the company then nia and Germany, and also the Coordinator for the project reserves. It was basically the start of a new dynamic that contracted by the Commission to carry out the monitoring selection process. As a Desk Officer, my job was basically to later developed through other funds and approaches. From of LIFE projects. “I was mainly responsible for monitoring decide if a project should be paid or not. This decision was just a handful of people, this group has now grown to over projects in Austria and Germany. In Austria, it was mostly based mainly on information provided by the projects and 700 members and manages about 450 ha.” the monitors, but I also had to apply common sense. One situation is never the same as another.” “My background as a beneficiary and monitor was certainly a help andit allowed for a kind of mutual trust to develop. It is true that most beneficiaries think the Commission is extremely bureaucratic and that many rules don’t make sense, but I always made it a personal challenge to be able to justify that provides a strongmomentumfor thefuture.” culture ofoptimism andachievementhasdeveloped a greatsenseofownership oftheprogrammeanda lot with very limited resources. Everyone involved feels ity. ButIamoptimistic.With LIFE,wemanagetodoa LIFE andNatura2000this mustremaintheprior- land for natureconservation. Thisistheapproachof use islikely tocontinueanditisvitalthatwe secure coming decades the pressure for intensification of land “Undoubtedly, there are major challenges ahead. In the it givestoprojects. the scale of the projects, and the important recognition the rightapproach:intermofitsbottom-upapproach; the meritsofLIFE.“IamtotallyconvincedthatLIFEis gramme, Frank is even more convinced than ever of With the benefit of these different insights into the pro- money isspentcorrectly.” ity istoapplytherulesand,ofcourse,make surethe responsibil- main your official, Commission European a As beneficiaries. forthe sympathy of lot a have and Commission, youremployer, butyoualsogettoknow tion asyourmainroleistogatherinformation for the ciaries andtheCommission.Thiscanbeatrickyposi- benefi- the between middle, the in are you monitor, a Asactions. project about decisions takedirect and ers, cal context,talktolocalfarmersandotherstakehold - you areontheground,havetounderstandlo- gives you a different “Each one perspective. As a project manager LIFE programme. the of aspects different Frank sayshe feels privilegedtohaveworked onthree understood thereasonswhentheywereexplained.” each rule.Ifelt thiswasimportantandIthinkmostpeople The Voices ofLIFE20yearsgettingthingsdone The helper of the project activities – these are day-to-day highlights.” of theprojectactivities –theseareday-to-dayhighlights.” we seethepositive impactonnatureandtheenvironment on has received LIFE+ co-financing, the feeling of pride when working were we project interesting an that learning when excitement seminar, the writers’ fruitful a after satisfaction that there havebeenmany highlights. He points to “the feeling says of Andrzej NCP, an as time his over back Looking High points can saythatitisabsolutelyworththeeffort,” hesays. into an acceptable project, but looking at the results, one interest. Itisofcoursehardworktodevelopaconcept of fields several in enthusiasm my increased naturally applicants whoareenthusiasticabouttheirideashave environmental issues. “Working contacts with potential to develop professionally, both in nature protection and Andrzej allowed has NCP an as role His application. ful cants withtheinformation theyneedtomake asuccess- shops duringeachLIFE+callinordertoprovide appli- Additionally, theNCPorganisesseveralwriters’work- LIFE+ projects,”saysAndrzej. among organisationsandinstitutionscurrentlyrunning ies andprovides anopportunitytoexchangeinformation beneficiar- LIFE present and previous meet to possibility the ‘LIFE+ Information Day’. “It gives participants the NCP organisesaspecialeventfor potentialapplicants: dedicated website and direct advertising; once a year the different many in ways. Itpublicisestheprogrammethroughmedia,a task this performs NCP Polish The funds,” saysAndrzejMuter, theNCPfor Poland. LIFE+ for applying with applicants potential help to is (NCP) Point Contact National the of role “The nature.” “LIFE+ and NFEP funds are a perfect fit for environment/ saying: a invented even have colleagues his and Andrzej million. Thisisagreatrelieffor thePolishenvironment.” involvement of €24 million, and EU co-financing of €31.5 NFEP with projects LIFE+ international three and Polish for 26 agreements co-financing 28 signed have nowwe to “Up says. Andrzej impressive,” been have results “The of co-financingLIFE+projectsfromits own domesticfunds. ties of the NCP, but also has developed a unique system For thatreasontheNFEPhasnotonlybeenperforming du- over theresponsibilityfor LIFE+ implementationinPoland. September 2008. Moreover, at the same time the NFEP took Environmental ProtectionandWater Management(NFEP)in handing over theroleofPolishNCPtoNationalFundfor by call LIFE+ first the to responded government Polish The tremely goodnewsfor Polishnature!” time, exceeded its LIFE+allocation by 16%.This was ex- Natura 2000 sites. It also meant that Poland, for the first LIFE+ moneywouldstrengthenthebiodiversityofPolish ture strand.Thisresultmeantthatalmost€12millionof Na- the in them of most projects, Polish 11 of selection NCP,Polish new a as effortsour the with rewarded were of its allocation and after a year-and-a-half of hard work 12% only up used Poland when 2007 of call LIFE+ first the after years two “Only call. 2009 forthe meeting tee One event,however, doesstandout:theLIFE+Commit- Andrzej Muter 13 BEHIND THE SCENES 14 The Voices of LIFE 20 years of getting things done

The monitor

Following the progress of open and closed projects To achieve this, Georgia and her colleagues have to un- but as Georgia explains, the reality can sometimes be is one of the main responsibilities of the LIFE mon- dertake “a whole range of activities, including reading re- very different. itoring team (MoT): an external team that works ports, visiting project sites, advising beneficiaries, dealing under contract to the European Commission for with local authorities, solving problems, attending events, “Once, I was asked to quantify the planting success of the duration of each programme. explaining LIFE project management procedures and net- more than 48 000 trees, on a rocky slope, at 3:00 pm, working with other projects or initiatives that are relevant in temperatures of 42°C. The project team consisted of Georgia Valaoras Georgia Valaoras is a LIFE monitor and MoT regional coor- to the themes of the projects.” public servants who went home at 1:30 pm (it was a Fri- dinator for Greece, Cyprus and Bulgaria. She explains that day!), so they left me alone to find and count the surviv- the role of the MoT is to “facilitate the good implementa- One of the biggest challenges for monitors is to assess ing trees! Another time, while visiting a wetland project, tion of projects and provide accurate and reliable informa- whether a project action has actually been carried out I could not easily access a canal dug by the project team tion for the LIFE Unit.” or not. In theory, this sounds pretty straightforward, through thick reed beds – so the beneficiary said: ‘It doesn’t matter, you can see it on Google Earth.’”

The monitoring team coordinator Despite these challenges, Georgia enjoys her work and feels lucky to be part of such a highly motivated group The activities of the more than 100 LIFE monitors are coordinated by a multinational with environmentalists from almost every of people. “The best part of my job is that I get to work central team based in Brussels. Nicolas Tavitian is part of this team, and is responsible European country. with such a wide range of people: research scientists, for coordinating activities falling under the LIFE Environment Policy and Governance engineers, local government agents, educators and oth- component. “We have the opportunity to meet in person ers, all of whom are working to improve the environment. at our twice-yearly reunions, which is always Interacting with these people is very rewarding and it “I am one of six members of the ‘central EU’s complex rules and analyse projects’ fi- a pleasure, even if us environmentalists are continually reassures me that I have chosen the right team’. Together, we do our best to coordi- nances, so you need a good head for rules, still a little jealous of our conservationist profession. Most of the people I work with are enthusias- nate this vast network of monitoring ex- for numbers and for accounts, as well as colleagues: when they visit a project, they tic about their work, trying to do a good job, and striving perts, spread across nine regional teams. a somewhat meticulous disposition - and wear rubber boots for a brisk walk into the to be professional in their endeavours. Of course there That involves channelling information be- we need to be able to help the monitors on wilderness, whereas we put on a suit and tie are exceptions, but here also there is an opportunity to tween the Commission and the monitors each of these subjects.” for meetings and visits at the factory.” reinforce the importance of this work, and the future and making sure that all monitors are work- benefits for their environment, their land, their future.” ing according to the same standards and Within this large team of experts, a huge Nicolas Tavitian (middle) methodology. reservoir of experience and professional and some of the LIFE monitors Georgia has been monitoring LIFE projects since 2001 and expertise has now been accumulated, has come to recognize the valuable and sometimes indis- “One of the greatest challenges we are which Nicolas believes helps to enrich the pensable contribution of the LIFE programme: “LIFE Nature confronted with is the sheer diversity of entire programme. “There are few pro- projects in Greece constitute ‘oases’ of organised, targeted, our work. Apart from environmental exper- grammes comparable to LIFE in terms of flexible, and financially viable conservation projects. Very tise in a great variety of sectors, we also its size and scope. It is a privilege to be often, LIFE is the only source of funding for the implemen- have to advise project beneficiaries on the part of such a programme and to work tation of concrete conservation actions in the field.” ordination, I spend a lot of time interacting with the other ordination, Ispend alotoftimeinteractingwith the other team. “Becauseof this,andinmyroleofassisting withco- the of ‘memory’ the as to looked often is she mean does grets that this doesn’t make her feel any younger, but it of beingthelongestservingmember oftheteam.Shere- honour the holds Monique 2002, in CoT the joined Having and otherpotentialusergroups.” networks, conservation nature industry, of sectors specific for projects, other for showcase a as serve they that so activities and to publicise project results and achievements to support the funded projects in their own communication sion inpromotingtheLIFEprogrammeatEuropeanlevel; plains that“theroleoftheCoTistoassistCommis- Monique Braem,AssistanttotheteamCoordinator, ex- team. toring moni- the and Unit LIFE the with cooperation close in works which (CoT), team communications ternal ex- LIFE the to falls task This possible. as widely as used and disseminated are projects LIFE of results LIFE programme, and in particular ensuring that the the of aspect important another is Communication The communicator Monique Braem “ The Voices ofLIFE20yearsgettingthingsdone understand andappreciate environmental issues, butalsoto develop as a person andto acquire new skills LIFE projects in the area of sustainable production. This production. sustainable of area the in projects LIFE ‘Getting more from less’,which looked atthe results of successful publications todatehas beenthebrochure, “The feedback isgenerallyvery positive.Oneofthemost LIFENews andourprintedpublications. that goesintoproducingandmaintaining thewebsite, portunity to let them know about all the backstage work ies andstakeholders ateventsasitgivesmetheop- beneficiar- project meet to nice is “it that adds Monique cess ofwhatwedo.” spirit andmotivation.Everyonecontributestothesuc- CoT standsoutfor measbeingarealexampleofteam “We prideourselvesonthequalityofallouroutputs.The are publishedinprintedformat andontheLIFEwebsite. fact sheets,newslettersandthematicbrochures,which summaries, project including products, user-friendly of The CoT transforms this project information into a range information directlyfromtheprojects. and with the monitoring team, which assists in channelling Unit LIFE the from officials with liaises also She Spanish. language skills, being fluent in English, German, French and nications teamismadeeasier, nodoubt,by herimpressive members ofthismulti-nationalandmulti-skilledcommu- Monique’s centralroleininteractingwiththeother15 times toseethefruitsofmylabour.” it’s nice to be at the hub of things, even if it’s difficult some- this; enjoy I issues. administrative out sorting and queries team members:allocatingandclarifyingtasks,answering This job helpedhas me to better their desks.” clean to me force to after months for this used who colleagues, sistant)’. The participants werevery discreetaboutit,butnotmy ‘ nately itwentverywell.Theonly snagwasthatIusedtheword was inSpanish,whichisnotmy mothertongue,butfortu- presentation The Spain. in projects LIFE selected newly of my first ever presentation in public, which was at a meeting person andtoacquirenewskills.Aparticularhighlightwas preciate environmentalissues,butalsotodevelopasa ap- and understand better to me helped has job “This to know thatyouarepartofthisbiggerpicture. am travellingitisalwaysnicetoseetheLIFElogoand people thinkI’mluckytoworkinsuchasector. WhenI bution, however small,throughmywork.Generally ment anditisgreattobeablemake acontri- to LIFE.“Like mostpeople,Icareabouttheenviron- the opportunitytoapplyherknowledge andexperience cluding theLeaderprogramme,butshewasgladtoget ropean programmes in the past, in- Monique hasworked onotherEu- tainly helpedtoattractattention.” than lynxenthusiasts,butitcer- it wasmoreBanderas enthusiasts on theLIFEwebsite.Okay, maybe sion ofhitswhenwepublishedit lynx’, whichcausedarealexplo- Antonio BanderassupportsIberian course therewasthearticle,‘Actor people’s attention.Andthenof catchy title,whichhelpstoattract also helpsthatthebrochurehasa is aclearlytopicalissue,butit asistenta’, whichmeanscleaninglady, insteadof‘asistente(as- “ 15 BEHIND THE SCENES 16

2 MEETMEET THETHE COMMUNITIESCOMMUNITIES

LIFE co-funding has helped launch community-led initiatives across the EU – and in neighbouring countries. Regional and local authorities, cities, towns and villages, networks and associations have all taken part in and benefitted from projects to safeguard nature and improve the environment that simply would not have been possible without LIFE. MEET THECOMMUNITIES tor. For example, over the course of a five-year project we we project five-year a of tor.course overthe example, For as for aSpanish region,LIFEwasalsoastabilising fac- Within aconstantly-changingpoliticalenvironment,such LIFE bringsstability LIFE andtheregionalrecord-breaker still working with us today on ongoing projects. still workingwithustodayonongoing projects. are projects LIFE early the on worked started that perts decades moretobuild.Also,severalofthetechnicalex- taken have would projects the without that region lencia create aspeciesandhabitatsknowledge basefor the Va- to and improvements make to know-how technical major veys ormonitoringhadbeencarriedout.LIFEgaveusthe plans for speciesandnohabitatrestorationactions,sur- There wassomuchtobedone.werenorecovery LIFE waswaitingfor us. of… Butwehad almostnomoney. Soitseemedasthough lot ofideasandavastamountbiodiversitytotake care LIFE waslaunched,wewerealreadyestablished:We hada established 25yearsago(in1987)sothatby thetime so, except that our biodiversity services department was in 1992. I’m not sure why this is in 1992.I’mnotsurewhythisis the programme was launched the programmewaslaunched Nature projects – 15 since since 15 – projects Nature The autonomouscommunityofValencia inSpain(“GeneralitatValenciana”) isoneoftheEUregionstohave runthe highest number of LIFE numberofLIFE highest most LIFE Nature projects. Juan Jimenez, head of biodiversity services, has been at the helm for all of those projects. region withpossiblythe “We aretheEuropean The Voices ofLIFE20yearsgettingthingsdone ployees andwe’renotpaidhighsalaries.LIFE,however, ing hoursfor us:welove this work.We’re publicsectorem- work- fixed no are there work, day-to-day our Concerning carried out. that enableconcretenatureconservationactionstobe levels to staffing increase could we LIFE, to thanks But Moreover, our[regional]budgetwasandisverysmall. framework tocontinuethework. project actions and deadlines gave us an important, stable Each LIFE project, however, was defined in advance, so the might have three or more directors with different agendas. Emilio Laguna Pioneering plantmicro-reserves cro-reserves. species populations, astheyareallfound within themi- that wehaveprotectedallofValencia’s endangeredplant Today theregionhasmorethan 285,whichalsomeans PMRs. 77 established had we ended projects the When rare orthreatened. of theHabitatsDirective;and150 speciesareconsidered endemic plantspeciesareincludedinAnnexesIIandIV 355 region’s the of Twelve PMRs: of network first rope’s therefore anideallocationfor whatwastobecomeEu- “Valencia hasaveryhighdiversityofplantspecies.Itwas ‘hotspots’.” endemic species;andfor theprotectionoflocalbiodiversity that is,intermsofraisingawarenessfor conservationof people, on had projects these impact the of because mainly Audouin’s the NAT/E/008608 gull (Larusaudouinii)(e.g.LIFE02 ) .Thisis of conservation the targeting projects the also and box) (see projects (PMR) micro-reserve plant the were projects LIFE successful most the personally, me For rope andthisisimportanttous. done. Moreover, ourconservationworkisseenaroundEu- ties tocarryoutworkthatwouldotherwisehavenotbeen has provided uswithaddedmotivationandtheopportuni- that Ihaveofthe successoftheLIFEprojects.” tion for themicro-reserves.This isthebestrecognition has resulted inthecreationofalandowners’ associa- proud that,asaresultofourwork, aseparateinitiative has now spreadthroughouttheworldandI’mespecially concept micro-reserve the that satisfied very I’m Finally, labs andnurseriesinordertosupportthemicro-reserves. to active. Moreover, we’ve been able to establish ex-situ to changetheconservationstrategyherefrompassive able been we’ve LIFE to Thanks staff. trained by species Plant micro-reservesallow aclosemonitoringoftarget Juan Jimenez 17 MEET THE COMMUNITIES 18 The Voices of LIFE 20 years of getting things done

A city-wide environment of innovation

Valencia has also been a pioneer at the local – as well as the regional – level. In 1999, the municipal Juanma Revuelta Pérez government began ValenciaInnova, an initiative that has helped turn innovative ideas into successful LIFE Environment projects. Juanma Revuelta Pérez, who launched ValenciaInnova, explains why it has worked so well.

“In 1995 I started working as a private consultant in Spain We set up information days to show some LIFE project for some LIFE projects. Four years later, I was invited to results and examples from other EU Member States; work for the recently-formed Valencia municipality and established partnerships in order to solve specific innovation department (ValenciaInnova) to de- environmental problems. [Within four years, the number velop different types of projects, including of approved projects increased exponentially…]. In just LIFE projects. one year (2003), for example, the Valencia municipality had five projects approved, which was more than several It was very difficult for the mu- countries combined for the year! nicipality to apply for EU funds: There was almost no capacity, The innovation office was sometimes a project partner, no know-how, and no infor- but the main beneficiaries were public companies, or the mation about LIFE fund- municipality of Valencia. This successful methodology is ing. For that reason, Va- now taught at the European Institute of Public Adminis- lenciaInnova developed tration (EIPA) in Maastricht. In Valencia everyone knows a simple methodology LIFE – from politicians to citizens. that provided a platform to tackle Valencia’s en- Number 70 bus vironmental problems. The motto was: “The Thanks to LIFE, Valencia now has a better environ- city of Valencia is open ment. For example, the LIFE ECOBUS project (LIFE02 to your ideas.” ENV/E/000253) had a huge impact on people’s lives. of innovation A city-wideenvironment pact onmycareer. Thanks to LIFE,IworkinBrussels im- Frommajor a had has LIFE view of point personal a ensure the project is feasible after the project has ended. all privatecompaniestohavea business planinplaceto before applying for LIFE funding it would be useful for that hashighmarket valuefromelectronicwaste. Ithink into abusiness.We producedacommercialsilicaproduct ENV/E/000148) transformed anecologicalproblem (LIFE08 project ECOvitrum the example For thorities. I see LIFE as a catalyst for companies and public au- Creating opportunities every day!” this oiltobeusedonthenumber70busthatItake for leavingtheoil.Shereplied:“Iknow that.ButIwant talked toher, toexplainthat therewerespecialplaces bottle of used oil to the Ecobus project. I went there and was awomanoutsidetheentrancewantingtodonate the Valencia municipalitybuilding.Hetoldme thatthere 10 pm, I gota telephone call fromthe security guard at was sosuccessfulamongValencians that,one dayat project The biodiesel. into oil used the recycling by lem thrown down the toilets. We proposed to solve the prob- be to used oil the use, After sweets. fry typically people where fiesta), popular very (a ‘Fallas’ the during cially There wasahuge problem withusedcooking oil, espe- Valencia’s wildlife andnaturalresourcesthelivesofitscitizens. of actionscarriedoutwithLIFE’s supporthavehadaverypositiveimpacton BUS -a‘Best’LIFEEnvironmentproject:2004-2005),andtogethertherange authorities. Themanyprojectsincludeanumberofaward-winners(e.g.ECO- ment andNatureprojectsthathaveoriginatedfromregionalmunicipal Valencia asaterritoryhasbeenverysuccessful inimplementingLIFEEnviron- THE PROJECTS The Voices ofLIFE20yearsgettingthingsdone “ the abilitytocommunicateverywellwithpopulation. ceiving LIFEfunding?Inmyopinion,it’s becausewehave People askwhyValencia hasbeensosuccessfulinre- Why Valencia? gies; andhelpingtosolveenvironmentalproblems. well spent:supportinginnovation, talentandtechnolo- ful. LIFE,however, isasmartuseoffunding. Itismoney make considerable efforts to ensure a project is success- particularly for somecountries.Thismeansyouhaveto easy, not also is co-financing of Finding50% etc. thority multinational company, anational,regionalorlocalau- available toeveryoneacrosstheEU–fromanSMEa gramme (2007-2013)].LIFE(Environment)fundingis than, for example,theFP7[TheSeventhFramework Pro- companies. Moreover, theconceptismoredemocratic companies workingtogetherwithuniversitiesandprivate partnerships. It can be very beneficial to have, say, public of money, buttheopportunitytohaveprivate-public supporting innovation, talent and technologies; andhelpingtechnologies; to solve LIFE... is money well spent: well ismoney spent: LIFE... environmental problems is nottheactualamount tages I see of LIFE funding One ofthemainadvan- LIFE ambassador. gramme. I’masortof I talkabouttheLIFEpro- go I everywhere and fice) the Valencian RegionalOf- (as DirectorGeneralof “ Valencia theregionaremoresustainable.” widely known. Now, thanks to LIFE, Valencia the city and in Valencia hasproved tobeattractiveeveryoneandis them they need to have an idea for a good project… LIFE asking how togoaboutapplyingfor LIFEfunding.Itell cess, I’vebeenapproachedby otherEuropeanmayors Barberá, for all the project objectives. Following our suc- And ofcoursewe’vehadthesupportmayor, Rita Email: [email protected] Contact: JuanmaRevueltaPérez Email: [email protected] Contact: EmilioLaguna Email: [email protected] Contact: JuanmaJiminez Projects/index.cfm http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/project/ please visittheonlineLIFEprojectdatabase: For moreinformation onValencia’s LIFEprojects, 19 MEET THE COMMUNITIES 20 The Voices of LIFE 20 years of getting things done

Building a partnership for better city living Wolfgang Hafner

The City of Klagenfurt in Carinthia, Austria is showing how local authorities can build a beneficial partnership with the LIFE programme to improve the environment. Here we meet Wolfgang Hafner, the man who has led all five of the city’s LIFE Environment projects to date.

Wolfgang Hafner is head of the department of Envi- bered the LIFE programme, saw that there was a call ronmental Protection at the City of Klagenfurt. The de- open, asked some project partners where I had contacts partment’s responsibilities include “noise pollution, air - Technical University Graz - and said ‘hey what do you pollution, soil and groundwater protection, waste man- think?’ We had a key meeting and we submitted a project agement, licensing procedures for enterprises, public together with the City of Graz who had already experi- information campaigns and nature protection,” explains ence with LIFE projects.” Mr Hafner, before adding that for the last two years “an

additional issue is climate protection – to reduce CO2 This first project, KAPA GS, developed a computer model emissions.” that enables identification of PM 10 particulate matter pollution at a resolution of 10 x 10 m at every location in The City of Klagenfurt is just starting its fifth LIFE En- Klagenfurt. It also developed an air quality plan for the vironment project (see box), all of which Mr Hafner has city. “This is still the basis for our quality management,” project managed. He explains the genesis of a fruitful notes Mr Hafner proudly. “This was 2005. I’m quite sure relationship with the LIFE programme: “When I became we were the first city in Europe to have such a detailed head of the department at the end of 2002, the main plan and map,” he believes. environmental problem in Klagenfurt was air pollution. It was also the beginning of monitoring of fine dust and “With the computer model we were able to calculate the particulate matter and Klagenfurt suffered from a lot of effect on air pollution. This was important because then incidences [of ppm limits being exceeded] - there was we could make a cost-benefit analysis and say to the bad press about this and so on. No-one in Austria, no- politicians: if you do that, the result is that and so on. one in Europe, this was my feeling, knew how to tackle It’s really a very important tool and it would have been this air pollution, this particulate matter. Then I remem- impossible to create such a tool without EU funding.” new approachesandknowledge.” ally bad,becauseyoucannottake intoconsideration grammes and they are so formal, so inflexible. It is re- I know otherEU-fundedpro- very importantinputfor us. really greatbecauseitwasa gave us]theresults.Itwas were successfuland[they a trialfor halfayear, [they] advised themandtheydid could itworkinLondon?We need mitigationoptions,whatdoyouthinkaboutCMA, we problem, dust fine a have we said: they us, tacted tive togrittinginwinter. “Within CMA+,Londoncon- of liquidcalcium-magnesiumacetateasanalterna- use the investigating is which project, CMA+ ongoing This hasbeenparticularly helpful withregard to the issues, butalsointechnicalissues,”saysMrHafner. financial in only not necessary, if amendments make to changes, make to able are flexible. You very really objectives - but this is the frame, and the structure is of courseyouhavetosubmitaproposalwithdetailed - that other project LIFE a in appreciate in really “I too: ways beneficial been has programme LIFE The (governmental) level.” can you project transport alotof information andacceptance onthis LIFE a With better. problem the understand they projects LIFE these “through that acceptance andsoon,”explains MrHafner, adding a platform withpress conferences andinternational have they because projects these like they – ment government –localgovernment, regionalgovern- sion-makers for further projects. “The politicians, the it much easier to win the support of the city’s deci- The success of Klagenfurt’s initial LIFE project made and thepeople Selling LIFEtothepoliticians “ impossible to create such atool without EU funding It would have been The Voices ofLIFE20yearsgettingthingsdone the car after one week, they really have the feeling that to testthem,”says MrHafner. “Whentheygiveback use of electric cars. “It’s working very well, people like the trialling is which CEMOBIL, projects, LIFE+ latest This istheapproachcity takingwithoneofthe ment,” recountsMrHafner. comfortable andadditionally yousavetheenviron- port system:thismightbecheaper, mightbemore support ustoimprove andstrengthenthepublictrans- this. It’s bettertogivepositiveformulations, tosay lung damage and so on - people do not like to hear and cancer from suffer can you and bad so is quality news. Itwastooexhaustingtoalwayssaytheair was tofocus onthepositives,ratherthan“negative lesson important Another possible.” as soon as ject] start informing thepublic[aboutaimsofpro- ing publicopiniononside.“We learnedthatweshould remains always a risk. If one of the projects would fail There losses. financial no are there as long as cessful tions MrHafner, “IhavetoadmitthatI’monlysuc- gests thatthingshavegonewelltodate,but,cau- sug- projects environmental its for funding of source Klagenfurt’s ongoingcommitmenttotheLIFEasa and how itworks.” because theycansayit’s onlyatrialandlet’s seeif tions that not everyone likes, for example a traffic ban, LIFE makes it “more easytocommitmitigationop- concentrates minds,hesaysthatfor thepoliticians, As wellasthefactthatinvolvementof Brussels “ h iiil IE project the importanceofkeep - LIFE initial the He hasalsolearnedfrom situation.” would haveaverytricky money… Iguessthenwe and we had to reimburse too.” interesting experienceandalso[made]acontribution vironment. Theyareproudofit.hadfunandan they havealsomadeagoodcontributiontotheen- Email: [email protected] Contact: Wolfgang Hafner l l l l l Klagenfurt’s LIFEprojects YWOOD – Polygenerationoffuels,heatandelectricityfrom wood(LIFE10 AS –SoundandParticle AbsorbingSystem(LIFE06ENV/A/000345) A GS–Klagenfurt’s Anti-PM10ActionProgramme withGrazandSouthTyrol PM2.5 andNO ENV/AT/000112) POL CEMOBIL –CO (LIFE07 ENV/A/000003) etate (CMA)intheAustrianandItaliancitiesKlagenfurt,Bruneck andLienz CMA+ –PM10reductionb SP (LIFE04 ENV/AT/000006) KAP (LIFE09 ENV/AT/000226) 2 2 -neutral E-Mobilityfor thereduction ofairpollutants(PM10, ) andnoiseintheEuropeancities, for exampleKlagenfurt y theapplicationofliquidCalcium-Magnesium-Ac- 21 MEET THE COMMUNITIES 22 The Voices of LIFE 20 years of getting things done

LIFE the ‘trigger’ for two decades of restoration

Public authority managers, Geneviève Magnon and Jean-Noël Resch reflect on many years of European Geneviève Magnon Union support for the restoration of the Drugeon valley, an important wetland site in Franche-Comté. Their involvement spans some 20 years, starting with the LIFE Drugeon project (1992-1996).

The Drugeon, a tributary of the Doubs in the Jura ranges, Conservation and management programmes for the ordinator of the LIFE Drugeon project – and the initia- flows through a very important high-altitude wetland site area come under the responsibility of the community tor of the conservation works for the whole valley. It in the Franche-Comté region of eastern France. It’s a Ram- of 10 small communes of the Vallée du Drugeon et is also responsible for the administration of all local sar wetland of international importance; and a Natura Plateau de Frasne. The public authority was the co- activities for its 5 000 or so inhabitants. 2000 site supporting some 30 habitats – including an important (980 ha) area of bog complexes, including priority Jean-Noël Resch active raised bogs and bog woodlands – and outstanding THE PROJECT fauna, notably at least 23 threatened or endangered bird The 1992-96 LIFE project was part of a comprehensive plan to manage the ecology species. and hydrology of the Drugeon basin in response to the degradation already appar- ent at the beginning of the 1990s. Engineering works were carried out to restore Despite its ecological value, the Drugeon river basin has the river meanders to a more natural state to benefit the peat biotopes and also been subjected to serious disturbances that have degrad- to increase the river’s capacity to retain water during floods. The beneficiary also ed significant areas of the wetlands. acquired some of the most humid sites in order to safeguard them and to restore water levels in those that had already been adversely affected. Efforts were also invested in providing information and gaining the support of local interest groups. Drugeon. of the(4km) restoration ofrivermeanders onthe the project. For me personally, we can be most proud This enabled me to focus on the technical aspects of and wasabletopassonthisbelief totheelectorate. project the in absolutely believed Community, the Fortunately, ChristianBouday, thethenPresidentof today, sowestillhaven’twonover everybody. continuing still is work relations public The project. particular, who remainedvehementlyopposedtothe tremely ‘noisy’meetings.Thereweretwofarmersin ers. Itwasquitedifficultandthereweresomeex- including thefarmers,foresters, fishermenandhunt- numerous publicmeetingswithlocalinterestgroups, that thiswasn’tgoingtocostthemanything.We held over thecostofplannedworks).We explained people’s negativeviewpoint(thiswasmainlyconcern There wasalotofworkfor ustodotrychange in whatwewantedtodowiththeproject. to behonest,backthentheyweren’tatallinterested sible to the electors of the communes (villages) and Importantly, youmustrememberthatwearerespon- problems, notablythedryingupofwetlands. past 50 years,whichhad resulted in the ecological thing toreversethepractices,carriedoutover the involved raisingawarenessoftheneedtodosome- project LIFE the with work our of part important An the originalmanager. became project manager, following the retirement of I later then and project LIFE the on technician a as in Frasne since 1993.I’mabiologist.Iwashiredfirst “I’ve beenworkingfor thecommunityofcommunes Geneviève Magnon The Voices ofLIFE20yearsgettingthingsdone able wasconsider- criticism, notably that the project was too technical. there – the beginning in difficult was It how importantitistomaintainthisbiologicaldiversity. helped metobetter understand how ‘special’ it isand originally. I’mfromStrasbourg, Alsace.Perhapsthishas here from not I’m birds. of species different 250 least for them it’s quite ‘normal’, almost banal, to have at here tore- ally understandtheneedfor natureconservation–as live who the people for difficult it’s think I cal, regionalandnationalauthorities. lo- by as well as EU, the by financed is programme lion) management ofthebasin(1997-2013).This(€2.8mil- the re-naturalisationofDrugeonandrestoration der LIFEandcontinuetodayundertheprogrammefor that were needed in the valley. These were started un- lar responsibilityfor overseeing thehydrologicalworks “I’m ahydrobiologist.Iwashiredin1999,withparticu- Jean-Noël Resch that neverhappenedinthepast.” planned measures on specific species… This is something example, abouttheenvironmentalimpactofcertain change, in particular, among the farmers. They ask, for sea significant a seen We’ve associations. professional made considerableprogressinourrelationshipwiththe Finally, eventhoughnoteveryoneisonourside,we’ve newsletter. which wasstartedunderLIFE,hasbecomeourcommunity stickers etc.And thenewsletter, ‘LaLettreduDrugeon’, the community – you can see it on official letterheads, car by adopted been has project LIFE the for designed was are attended mostlyby local people. Thelittlelogothat ued. Forexample,westillorganiseconferences andthese LIFE wasalsothestartofmanythingsthathavecontin- water quality.” in improvements huge as well as dried-out, significantly seeing today on some of the areas that had become of course,thehabitatandspecies’improvements we’re an enormousachievement.Andbehindtheseworksare, restoration works after LIFE – over almost 30 km – that’s I’d like to draw attention to the continuation of the river footpaths, naturetrailsandviewingplatforms. up putting information panels and other signposting, constructing as such people to visible more project the major remedial works to doing some of things that make are doing.Alsowe’vemoved onfromthephaseof Nowadays, there’s nolongerbigopposition to whatwe [email protected] Email: [email protected], Contact: Jean-NoëlResch;GenevièveMagnon the PlateaudeFrasne andtheVallee duDrugeon Drugeon, now theCommunityofcommunes Beneficiary: SyndicatMixtedelaVallee du Drugeon Basin Title: Naturalheritageconservationofthe Project number:LIFE92NAT/F/012600 23 MEET THE COMMUNITIES 24 The Voices of LIFE 20 years of getting things done

LIFE’s help for the forests of the Holy Community of Mount Athos

The Mount Athos peninsula in northern Greece is home to a Holy Community made up of 20 monasteries and 12 cloisters, as well as individual ‘cells’ and hermitages – some 2 000 monks in total. Father Gregorios Gregoriatis was responsible for a LIFE project that helped rehabilitate the oak forests on Mount Athos.

“We in the Holy Community of Mount Athos have spe- aligned with the way that the EU’s environmental policy cial privileged administrative status in Greece. We follow works. For us, money is not a factor that drives our exploi- the Orthodox Monastic faith which based on a quiet and tation of our environment. This is a fundamental principle peaceful way of life. Because we are the owners of the in our constitution so we have never chosen to be organ- whole Mount Athos peninsula we have very close relations ised in any commercial form as a Community to generate with our natural environment. income from our land.

THE PROJECT Indeed, nature conservation principles We prefer to use time-honoured land management within The Holy Community’s constitu- methods and we take more account of the impact of our The FRAINETTO WOODS Mnt. ATHOS project tion date back more than 1000 years methods, rather than their cost in time or labour. These achieved the long-term protection of priority for- to when the first monasteries were built principles have served us well through the centuries and est habitats through a series of thinning meas- here. These principles are enshrined as an we expect to maintain such approaches in the long term. ures that raised the forest canopy in order to integral part of our lives and all of the mitigate fire risks. Mount Athos monasteries operate in the However, we do acknowledge that the environment same way. is susceptible to change and we have seen that these changes can create very real threats to our way of life We believe that the ‘greater good’ is more important than from forest fire risks. Our monasteries are isolated and us as individuals and these spiritual beliefs are very much many are surrounded by forests. After the bad fires of asked LIFEtohelpus. elderly members. We wanted this for ourforests andwe in anycommunity, thereare children,middleagedand as because, different ages of range a have to wanted we We wantedto maintainamixofspeciesandplants that hadbeencreatedonthepeninsula ofMountAthos. We wantedto protectthenaturalwoodlandstructures tributes. soul andanattractivelandscapepossessesspiritualat- Aesthetic features oftheenvironmentarepositivefor the lands’ landscapeproperties. quality ofthenaturalwoodstockandenhanceour- the improve would it more What’s biodiversity. on beneficial effect a have would sunlight more to forest the up that raising the height of the forest canopy and opening big difference to reducing the risk from fire. We also knew overall structureoftheforest canopy thiswouldmake a own resourcesandweknewthatifcouldaddressthe We wereabletodomuchofthisworkourselves usingour them fromspreading. stop to quicker fires reach us help to forests the through cut were tracks and roads addition, In threats. fire about the monasteriesthatcouldbeusedfor raisingthealarm a kindofrapid-reactioncommunicationnetworkbetween out stationswereestablishedathighpointsandwesetup Look equipment. fire-fighting of supply our strengthened water by creatingreservoirsintheforest areasandwe did start.We increasedthenumberofplaces tostore that fires any fight help and risks fire reduce to munity A planofinfrastructureworkswasagreedby theCom- Forest action more thaninthepasttoprotectmonasteries. the 1990swetookadecisionthatwouldneedtodo The Voices ofLIFE20yearsgettingthingsdone that was agreed at the start. This helped us to organise that wasagreed atthestart.Thishelpedusto organise but withLIFEitwas easy. We wereabletofollow theplan difficult, quite actions management forest implementing the pasthadtodealwithlawsand regulationsthatmade approach tofundingtheworkwe did.We hadattimesin I wasveryimpressedby themanagementplanandLIFE’s for thehabitatmanagement plan. ies andforest contractorstosetoutaconsistentapproach project we organised a training programme for monaster- actions acrosstheHolyCommunity’s land.Aspartofthe selection ofsitesfor thinningandthisledtoamosaicof final the determine to applied was mathematics of lot A thinning actionsintheoakforests. areas wherethemostbenefitscouldbeachievedthrough identified study The knowledge. environmental of dation so astoensurethatourworkwasbasedonasoundfoun- projects, we first undertook a scientific study of the forests Following thetriedandtestedmethodofotherLIFENature this scaleinGreece. oak speciesQuercusfrainettoandilexexiston worthy ofprotectionbecausefew otherhabitantsofthe system onMountAthos.Theoakforests areconsidered reinforced thelong-termqualityofoakwoodlandeco- to meetourneeds,andthiscouldbedoneinawaythat nity wereabletousethefundsmanagewoodlands together towards thesameaim.We intheHolyCommu- LIFE’s supportwaswelcomedbecausewecouldallwork Common goals Architects ConsultancyS.A. tors, ChristosGeorgiadisandStefanosFotiou,atBusiness also gainedalotofveryusefulhelpfromoursubcontrac- colleagues fromtheGreekBiotopeWetland Centre andwe by supported was I implementation, project LIFE the For benefit fromfurtherpartnershipapproacheswithLIFE.” we stillhavealotofthespecialoakhabitatherethatcould because future the in LIFE with again work to way a find have beenableto honour theirtrust and we would like to great dealtousintheHolyCommunity. We hopethatwe helped ustorealisewhatwewanteddo;thismeanta LIFE trustedus,acceptedourspecialcircumstancesand actual non-commercialstatus. our reflect better to form the on classification our change if theLIFEteamhadnotcometoourrescueandhelpedus very limited so the forest plan could have been in jeopardy are reserves financial Our work. any do could we before costs theproject to cover insurance financial of amount large a find to had have would we that meant This tion. application form asifwewereaprivatesectororganisa- the in filled had we first at because provided programme LIFE the that flexibility the of appreciative also were We A helpinghand approach. approach. and carryoutouractivitiesthroughaveryconstructive Email: [email protected] Contact: ChristosGeorgiadis Beneficiary: TheHolyCommunityofMount Athos and Quercusilexwoods(9340) to highforest tation ofCoppiceQuercusfrainetto woods(9280) Title: FRAINETTO WOODS Mnt.ATHOS -Rehabili Project number:LIFE03NAT/GR/000093 Father Gregorios Gregoriatis

25 MEET THE COMMUNITIES 26 The Voices of LIFE 20 years of getting things done

Positive partnership memories from a neighbouring state

Uri Nusinow is financial director of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies (AIES) in Israel. He says Uri Nusinow his involvement with a LIFE Third Country (LIFE TCY) project that promoted a trans-boundary approach to environmental issues “has made a significant difference to me and my work”.

“I live on Kibbutz Ketura in the Southern Arava region of ters and their families live on the kibbutz, enabling us to New LIFE experiences Israel, about 30 minutes north of the Red Sea resort town enjoy three of our grandchildren close by. of Eilat. The Arava is a beautiful desert area, bordering I worked for four years as the project manager of a LIFE Jordan on the east and Egypt on the south. My work as the financial director of the AIES involves project involved with developing a waste management supporting academic and research activity focused on plan here in the Southern Arava. This involved coordi- I am 57 years old, originally from Los Angeles and I have encouraging trans-boundary environmental studies that nating new infrastructure and constructed wetlands for lived in Israel since 1977. My wife and I have six grown bring Arab and Jewish students together. The aim of our the region. We also did ‘coexistence’ work with Jewish children and six grandchil- work is to help us all learn how to cooperatively deal with and Arab Israeli high school pupils, using the platform dren. Two of my daugh- environmental issues. The vision of the institute is based of environmental awareness and we ran a training pro- THE PROJECT on the premise that ‘nature knows no borders’. gramme for Jordanian and Israeli farmers on sustainable agriculture systems. The SASWMP project developed a treatment strat- egy to effectively handle solid and liquid agricultural waste generated in a project territory taking in southern Israel and Jordan. the region’s special characterasapassageway for migra- reinforces that benefit environmental major a is birds ing organic shelterattheconstructed wetlandsitesfor migrat- and safe a of creation the instance, For project. the from involvement withLIFEisthetangible resultsthatIcansee my from about satisfied most am I that things the of One Sense ofsatisfaction resolve potentiallyproblematicsituations. ent approachenabledmetogethelpfromthefunders sues sothattheyunderstandthecontext.Thistranspar- that it’s criticaltokeep thefundersengagedwithis- the problemsandissuesinevitablyarise,Isoonlearnt continuous problem solving and creative thinking. When forneed a is there project, long-term complex any in As ing themwiththereportingthatisneeded. you needtorespecttheirroleasastakeholder by provid- and project your with succeed to you wants funder The the importance of transparency with the funding agency. others. PerhapsthegreatestlessonIlearnedfromLIFEis porting tofundingagencies,suchastheEU,USAID,and For example,partofmytaskstodayincludedirectre- elements. various project’s LIFE the of each by fluenced in- definitely is Institute Arava the with work present My and thePalestinian Authority. is leadingaconsortiummadeupofEUcountries,Jordan project. This is named Transbasin and the Arava Institute (IRSES) Scheme Exchange Staff Research International ships Project(PEPP),andIamnow alsoinvolvedwithan since managedanEUPeace&EnvironmentalPartner - tinued topositivelyimpactmyworkthisday. Ihave between Israel and Jordan. Such project activity has con- closely withorganisationsonbothsidesoftheborder ences andengagedmemycolleagueswhoworked experi- new of lot a me gave project LIFE the on Work The Voices ofLIFE20yearsgettingthingsdone worthwhile. Firstly, the LIFE project has built capacity for capacity built has project LIFE the Firstly, worthwhile. administration financial the with work hard the all made Looking back,Icanthinkofthree key thingsthat for me Reflecting onthebenefits posting centrethatwehelpedto launch throughLIFE. ing eightkibbutzimandtheyare now managingthecom- up incomposting.Thiscompanyhasfarminterestscover- Regional Enterprises) deciding to take on the work we set (Ardom business agricultural local a include project WMP] Other positivethingsthathaveresultedfromthe[SAS- make theseachievementshappen. to know thatIwasabletohaveplayedapartinhelping absolutely crucial for the future of our region. It is fulfilling tion. Ipersonallybelievethatthistypeofcooperationis ing onenvironmentaleducationandArab-Jewishcoopera- involving four pairsofArabandJewishschools,focus- instance, has led to a new programme (funded by USAID) LIFE’s contributiontothe‘CommonPaths programme’,for ences withtheLIFEproject. successful developmentshavebeenhelpedby ourexperi- education programmefor highschoolstudents.Allofthese Israeli- science Israeli-Jordanian forum,joint water and Jordanian ajoint valley, rift Arava the for platform border Today, thereisaLongTerm EcologicalResearchcross environmental sustainability. eration has far reaching implications for greatly increasing boundary approach with continued Jordanian-Israeli coop- with our neighbours in the shared desert valley. This trans- ference movingsolutions towardsin ecological closer joint border sustainableagriculturetasks,wemadearealdif- diversify the local economy. Likewise, in the project’s cross existing eco-tourismopportunitiesintheregionandhelps tion. Thisattractsbirdwatchers,thereby expandingthe the EU’s environmentalprogrammeover thelast20years.” from benefitted have that Europe, neighbouring areas in can imaginetherewillbemanyotherslike me,wholive For ushereinSouthernArava,LIFEisagoodthingandI in thefieldsrelatedtoproject. networked withnumerousindividualsinIsraelandJordan I project. EU an manage to how learning through abilities Lastly, I personally gained tremendous confidence and new standing ofthevaluewasteasaneconomicresource. and wastemanagement.We didthisby creatinganunder- region’s residentsandfarmersaboutenvironmentalissues pality andourpartnersraisedthegeneralawarenessof munici- the project, the of task dissemination the Through gions’ residents, including ourneighbours across the border. vironment hereandthereby thequalityoflife for allthere- tion of new projects that are also further improving our en- initia- the enabled has project the Secondly,of success the with eachother. ing infrastructure,educationandmonitoringinpartnership involv- projects, environmental complex implement to ity the region.Ithasproven thatwehavethecombinedabil- Email: [email protected] Contact: UriNusinow Beneficiary: HevelEliotRegionalCouncil agement Plan Title: SASWMP-SouthernAravaSustainable Waste Man- Project number:LIFE04TCY/IL/000027 27 MEET THE COMMUNITIES 28 The Voices of LIFE 20 years of getting things done

Combatting marine pollution in the Med Frédéric Hébert

Frédéric Hébert is Director of the Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the Mediterra- nean Sea (REMPEC). Based in Malta, REMPEC’s mandate is to assist in the development of coastal states’ national capabilities to respond to marine pollution incidents and in the preparation and development of bilateral or multilateral operational agreements between neighbouring states. His job has provided him with an insight into how useful EU programmes such as LIFE can be for supporting environmental actions in the wider European region.

“I have not always worked with en- Moving from the navy into the civil service at France’s REMPEC LIFE vironmental management issues. Ministry of Finance, I retained my involvement with I was born in Paris and after the management of maritime incidents. I dealt with I joined the team at REMPEC’s headquarters in Malta graduating in law and politics, numerous major events, such as environmental dis- in 2006, by which time the centre had already made I joined the French Navy Sup- asters caused by the oil tanker ‘Erika’ in 1999 off the good use of LIFE programme support through a num- ply Corps where I served up coast of France, and the sinking of the chemical ship ber of different projects aimed at preventing and to the rank of Commander. ‘Ievoli Sun’ in 2000. reducing environmental impacts from maritime inci- Then I worked in the staff dents in the Mediterranean region. of the Admiral, Préfet Mari- During my time at the Ministry I also remember the time de la Méditerranée. serious environmental problems caused by oil spill- For example, in 1992, the national authorities from This was the French na- ing from the stricken ‘Prestige’ tanker. This was one Cyprus, Egypt and Israel asked REMPEC to help to tional Focal Point for REM- of the largest environmental disasters in Europe in enhance their level of preparedness to face poten- PEC and it was here that my the last decade. It polluted thousands of kilometres tial major marine pollution incidents. It implied the environmental career took of European coastline and more than 1 000 beaches establishment of a carefully designed mechanism shape because my naval du- on the Spanish, French and Portuguese coast were to generate mutual assistance between them, and ties at the Admiralty involved affected. As with most maritime accidents, the im- my former REMPEC colleagues, who have now re- being in charge of pollution pre- pacts also extended to harm local fishing and tourism tired, developed a dedicated capacity-building project paredness and response. industries. proposal. Mediterranean coastal states,theLIFEprogramme also projects, major towhich REMPEC conducted onbehalfoftheinterested four support financial the Besides mapping. gain new specialised skills on issues such as sensitivity significantly extendthescopeofitsactivities tonewareasand to centre the enabled LIFE from support Such pollution. both countriestofacethreatsfromaccidentalmarine - which helped to increase the level of preparedness of rjcs - projects ures inSyriaandTurkey wereestablishedby [later]LIFE Marine environmentprotectionandmanagementmeas- ‘LIFE SuccessStories’by theDGEnvironmentLIFEUnit]. the of one declared was project this 1999, [In extension. regional LIFE project and could be considered as a kind of sub- first the complementing was latter The funds. LIFE ( of spillresponsecapabilitiesCyprus,EgyptandIsrael’ ‘Development entitled project Another 1995. and 1993 between activities project implement to countries three LIFE fundingwasapproved andREMPECworked withthe ment andtheCoastalRegionofMediterraneanSea). lona Conventionfor theProtectionofMarineEnviron- cial support (The European Union is a Party to the Barce- finan- for mechanism TCY LIFE Commission’s European the to applied it project, complex a such implement to personnel enough nor budget, sufficient have not did tre related interestsofCyprus,EgyptandIsrael.Asthecen- affecting, or likely to affect, the territorial sea, coasts and incidents pollution marine major combating for system sation (IMO) - focused on introducing a new sub-regional REMPEC onbehalfoftheInternationalMaritimeOrgani- - project This LIFE96 TCY/INT/08) was then also able to benefit from IE8 TCY/TR/011; LIFE98 IE2 TCY/INT/007, coordinatedby LIFE92 IE9 TCY/INT/017 LIFE99 The Voices ofLIFE20yearsgettingthingsdone developed during theimplementationof, inparticular, we which methodologies project the instance, For LIFE. the experiencesthatREMPECgained fromworkingwith We arepleased thatwehavebeenabletotake onboard Sustainable experiences ways proves tobeofparamountimportance. al- projects building capacity the complete successfully to will Political politicians. and officials ranking highest that thisapproachhelpstosafeguard thesupportof foundproject’slifecycle.We the in stage early very a at potential problemsby involvingallinstitutionsconcerned overcome could REMPEC how showed projects LIFE the One ofthelessonslearntfromimplementation tional administrations,agencies,institutionsandservices. activities istoensurethefullsupportofvariousna- the challengesinvolvedinensuringsuccessofour of one Therefore etc. affairs, foreign customs, with military services, work also we often, very and addition, In affairs. maritime and environment for responsible those tion ofnumerousnationaladministrations,primarily pollution preparednessandresponserequirescoordina- marine accidental of field the in building capacity cause The contextofREMPEC’s activitiesisacomplexonebe- other externalsourcesoffinancing. centre’s the from either financed from or budget regular activities and projects similar implementing and aging tion of LIFE projects were crucial for constructively man- REMPEC’s experiencesgainedthroughtheimplementa- complex international,aswellnationalprojects. It also helped to build the centre’s capacity to manage projects. these of completion successful in resulted port throughout the project implementation periods. This sup- provided essential administrative support to thecentre mental protectionfields.” well asfacilitatingitstechnicalcapacitiesinvitalenviron- tre inhelpingittoreachoutmorepartsoftheregionas cen- differenceeconomy. the big to a LIFE’smade support and environment marine the affecting threats tackling for wards ahigherlevelofawarenessonandpreparedness Mediterranean countriesthatweserve,tonavigate- It isclearthatLIFEhasassistedREMPEC,aswellthe rine pollutioninotherMediterraneancoastalstates. of national systems for preparedness and response to ma- development the in replicated or reproduced were project, Syrian the as such projects, national the of outcomes the Italy andSlovenia. Moreover, proceduresandsomeof implemented inAlgeria,MoroccoandTunisia, and inCroatia, and developed been since have projects Similar Mediterranean. Israel and were subsequentlyusedby REMPECinotherpartsofthe Egypt Cyprus, involving projects tri-lateral Email: [email protected] Contact: Frédéric Hébert Beneficiary: REMPEC Projects/index.cfm http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/project/ visit theonlineLIFEprojectdatabase: For more information on REMPEC’s projects, please 29 MEET THE COMMUNITIES 30 The Voices of LIFE 20 years of getting things done

Building river restoration communities through LIFE

One of the LIFE programme’s greatest achievements has been its role in capacity-building for nature con- Who??? servation and environmental protection across the EU. Over the next three pages, two representatives of the river restoration community give their personal perspectives on the value of LIFE.

Launching an ongoing European network River Brede in Denmark and developed cooperation and tion. “We had a major five-day international conference networking between bodies within and between those in Wageningen, Netherlands in 2000 with over 100 par- Bart Fokken is a retired civil servant from the Nether- countries. ticipants. We were able to promote our networking idea lands. He has been Chairman of the European Centre and encourage people to both join and cooperate with for River Restoration (ECRR) since 2005, an organisation Informal networks also existed between research de- the ECRR,” recalls Mr Fokken. that was launched in Silkeborg, Denmark in 1999 with partments. “I was involved because I worked at RIZA - the aid of LIFE funding. the Netherlands National Institute for Integrated Water Management and Wastewater Treatment. We started to The ECRR has “come a long way from where we started talk about the possibility of creating a formalised Euro- in the late 1990s,” believes Mr Fokken. “We have re- pean river restoration network,” Mr Fokken remembers. cently been asked to lead a team in the World Water Research was important – particularly when there was Forum 2012, developing know-how on river hydro-mor- so much still to learn. “But we wanted to go beyond phology and river restoration. When we started I never just researchers and bring in all the key practitioners on imagined I would become Chairman of an important river restoration including public and private bodies and pan-European network or that we would achieve so NGOs.” much!” Giving networking a kick start The ECRR story really started back in the mid-1990s with an initial LIFE river restoration project, ‘River Res- The European Centre for River Restoration was launched toration: Benefits for Integrated Catchment Manage- in 1999 with a LIFE project of the same name (LIFE99 ment’ (LIFE93 ENV/DK/002504). This worked on res- ENV/DK/000619). The idea was to create a network to Bart Fokken toration of the Rivers Skerne and Cole in the UK and the exchange information and experiences on river restora- communities throughLIFE Building riverrestoration country for around threeyears.Insomewaysthe nameis We take it in turns to run the secretariat from a different we continuethroughtheengagement of themembers. “The LIFEfundingreallyhelped usgetstartedandnow Atlantic totheUralsandevenexternal territories. people. We aim tocover thewholeofEurope fromthe over 500membersanddirectcontactwithupto2000 five informal networks,”saysMrFokken withpride.“We have or four another and centres national 11 have we UK, Denmark,Italy, Romania,RussiaandSpain.“Today the in networks national were there project, the of end the forBy guidelines this. produced project LIFE the and Part oftheECCRconceptwastofoster nationalnetworks ture Conservation,WWF, IUCNandRamsar. with organisationssuchastheEuropeanCentrefor Na- dividuals. Ithadalsoestablishedgoodworkingcontacts including publicbodies,research institutes, NGOsandin- members, 350 around had ECCR project, the of end the the centre,includingcreationofanECRRwebsite.By The LIFEfunding was usedtoset the foundations for The Voices ofLIFE20yearsgettingthingsdone days, wehavelearnt thatyoucannottrytofreeze ariver cally restoring rivers to how they were in the past. Nowa- “When we started, river restoration usually meant physi- have changedover theyears. seen inapproachestoriverrestoration andhow these have we that differences big the incredible been has It one day making a study visit of river restoration projects. a yearandeverymeetingisonedayofdiscussions meetings board two hold “We establish: helped project Mr Fokken explainsthemethodofworkingthatLIFE Mutual benefitsandfuturegoals to bean‘institution’taken seriously.” recognised andyouhad working wasnotsowell when wesetitup,network ofequals.However, we areverymuchanet- we don’thavea‘centre’– a bitmisleading,because “ in successful riverrestoration is The most important factor always the human factor Restoration.” day wewillhaveaWorld Centre(orNetwork!)ofRiver North AmericaandtheMiddleEast.Idreamthatone tween China, Korea and Japan – as well as contacts in tion ofsimilarassociationsinAustraliaandAsia–be- are lookingtocreateonefor thefirsttime. that alreadyhavedevelopeddatabasesandthose establishing something that is useful both for countries of challenge the meet to hopes project The field. this in ate a web-based tool informing users of best practices harmonise existingdatabasesonriverrestorationtocre- INF/UK/000032)whichaimsto (RESTORE -LIFE09 project LIFE another in involved now are partners ECCR river restorationisalwaysthehumanfactor.” says Mr Fokken, “The most important factor in successful its ecological functioning as itdidinthepast.”However, fulfil can it that so natural are dynamics river the that is as becauseofhumaninterference. Theimportant thing at one moment in time - rivers change naturally as well Email: [email protected] Contact: BartFokken Beneficiary: EuropeanCentrefor RiverRestoration Projects/index.cfm base: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/project/ data- project LIFE online the visit informationECRR’splease more on projects, For “ model hadledtothecrea- Mr Fokken. “OurEuropean other ambition,”enthuses LIFE, butIstillhavean- the initialsupportfrom much inEuropethanksto “We have achieved so 31 MEET THE GUARDIANS MEET THE CITIZENS MEET THE COMMUNITIES 32 The Voices of LIFE 20 years of getting things done

Waiting for the flood

Georg Frank fondly recalls the highlights of his time as a LIFE Nature project manager in Austria.

“I was employed by the Donau-Auen THE PROJECT was gone, the water level dropped you would not work so intensively together. If you have National Park as project manager down and when we returned, instead such a big project you are forced to cooperate, that creates for its second LIFE river restora- The project implemented of these big stones of the embank- a trust and joint experiences which enable you to go on tion project, ‘Donauufer – Restora- large-scale restoration works ment you have this big gravel bank. with these cooperations. And that’s quite visible in our area. on a major European river. tion of Danube river banks’ (LIFE02 So, within a few days the landscape We had one LIFE project dealing with river restoration, then These greatly improved river NAT/A/008518). River restoration is dynamics and the ecological has changed totally, and instead of a follow-up project; the projects got more and more am- always an investment for the future: status of floodplains habitats this artificial, hard embankment, you bitious and as a follow-up from this, or a life-after-LIFE you remove the embankment, you and species. have a natural river bank. result maybe, the water management company, the Wass- see there is a lot of work going on, erstrassendirektion implemented one of these river res- but you don’t see the benefit. Then The great thing is that the processes toration projects, financed by funds from the Ministry for Georg Frank the moment comes when you finalise the implementa- are permanently going on, so after each flood, each low Transport. It was nearly the same methodology and it was tion of the restoration, then you have to wait for the water condition, the situation will change totally. You return the same vision and the same objective. So LIFE built the coming of the first flood. And that was definitely a very after 10 years and it’s fascinating to see what is going platform, the cooperation was successful, each one of the fascinating moment. on. That’s the good thing with our LIFE projects - they are stakeholders was proud of the result and that motivates designed with a very long-term perspective, so nature is you to go on with this process. I remember it very well because it was a small flood and doing the job of managing this dynamic river. we decided to go with the motor boat to the restoration The LIFE project was for sure a milestone in my personal site because we were not patient enough to wait till the When my colleagues first proposed the idea of removing career. The LIFE projects were also a milestone in the de- next day for the water level to come down! We were there the embankment it was seen as a dream, as a vision that velopment of our national park and I think LIFE is also a on the spot and you could feel - yes - that great things was not so realistic, and then they planned it and it got milestone for nature conservation in Austria. It is the tool were going on. And then two or three days later the flood more and more realistic, and then they applied for this LIFE for large-scale nature conservation. For me LIFE is a syno- project and [that] enabled them to bring this vision to real- nym for ‘Large-scale Implementation of Nature Conserva- ity, and what was illusion or a vision before the project was tion – For Everyone’.” completely realistic, completely normal after the project: it was state-of-the-art of river restoration. Project number: LIFE02 NAT/A/008518 When you plan a LIFE project you have to bring together Title: Donauufer - Restoration of Danube river banks Beneficiary: Nationalpark Donau-Auen GmbH a lot of ideas and stakeholders. This LIFE project was a Contact: Georg Frank platform for water management, navigation and nature Email: [email protected] conservation stakeholders. Without this platform, maybe village life inSlovakia Biomass boilersimprove institute. vestment department attheEndocrinologyand Diabetes lots ofclothes,”remembersAnton Bríš,headofthein- nicipal authority:childrenhad to goschoolwearing cold in the kindergarten, in the primary school, in the mu- They alsotendedtobesomewhat unreliable.“Itwasvery they producedsomuchpollution.” “the oldheatingsystemsburnedcoalandsludge cost: a at came warm Ľubochňa keeping project, ILUBE tion ofbiomassboilersasparttheLIFEEnvironment as theMayor, PeterDávidíkexplains,priortotheinstalla- However, winters. harsh often the in heating of methods not connected to the gas mains and so relies on other is Ľubochňa region, the in villages many with common patients a year receive treatment for their ailments. In where some200peopleworkandmorethan30000 is theNationalInstitute for Endocrinology and Diabetes, Ľubochňa in employer main the Today, aristocracy. ian century, apopularholidayresortfor theAustro-Hungar- a centreofwoodandmetalprocessingand,inthe19th Central Slovakia. Foundedin1287,thevillagewasonce picturesque Veľká Fatra mountains in the the Žilina region of in inhabitants) 100 (1 village small a is Ľubochňa with abiomass-basedalternative. We meetsomeofthevillagerswhoselives have beenimproved as aresult. systems heating polluting and unreliable old, replace helped has Slovakia Central in project LIFE pioneering A The Voices ofLIFE20yearsgettingthingsdone in-patients are very satisfied with the heat,” adds Mr Šimo. in-patients arevery satisfiedwiththeheat,”adds Mr Šimo. here is very cold and the institute has old buildings, but our portantly, patientsalsoappreciated theresults:“Theclimate was only50%ofthecostusing heatingoil.”Equallyim- ganisation immediately saw the benefits: “The financial cost “Biomass wastotallynewtous,” saysMrBríš,buthisor- the project;makingplans:all bureaucracy.” of managing the as difficult as wasn’t work reconstruction between “heatingseasons”,explainsMayorDávidík.“The retain heat.Theworkwasdoneover threeorfour months, and local authority offices, and added insulation materialto The LIFE project also installed double-glazing in the schools the primaryschoolandkindergarten. of the institute and five other municipal buildings, including docrinology institute,providing heatfor thesevenbuildings erating 0.7MW)wereinstalledinthebasementofen- the LIFE ILUBE project, two new biomass boilers (each gen- of beneficiary the BIOMASA, of intervention the to Thanks calls theorganisation’s DeputyDirector, LadislavŠimo. old system was very complicated and not very efficient,” re- At theinstituteitself, wheretheboilerranonheatingoil,“the job possibilitiesfor thevillage,”believesMrDávidík. If youuseitrationallythereisabigopportunitytocreatenew biomass because there are so many woods around Ľubochňa. portant partoftheirfuture.“Thereisalotpotentialfor The villagersnow seerenewableenergysourcesasanim- rything –it’s verygoodfor thevillageandfor thepeople.” good asbefore intermsofpollutionandthesmelleve- cally,” observesMrDávidík.“Thesituationisatleasttwiceas vironment aremuchclearerandhavebeenimproved radi- Pollution hasalsobeennoticeablyreduced:“Theairanden- ongoing LIFE+Environmentproject, CHEFUB(LIFE08ENV/SK/000240). The projectbeneficiaryiscontinuing toreconstructoldboilerroomsaspartofan with woodpelletboilersandstimulatedademandfor biomassinthecountry. – replacedpollutingandunreliablevillageheatingsystemsin CentralSlovakia ILUBE –IntegratedLogisticsfor UseofBiomassEnergy(LIFE03ENV/SK/000577) Email: [email protected]. Contact: Radovan Harant Beneficiary: BIOMASAAssociationofLegalEntities THE PROJECT THE PROJECT Peter Dávidík, Anton BríšandLadislav Šimo

33 MEET THE COMMUNITIES 34 The Voices of LIFE 20 years of getting things done

Helping agriculture to innovate

José Fernando Robles works for ASAJA-Sevilla, the Young Farmers’ Agricultural Association of Seville, in southern Spain.

José Fernando Robles “I have always had links with the countryside and agri- Today, I am active in the Young Farmers’ Agricultural As- culture. I come from a family of farmers and a few years sociation of Seville and have recently been elected Vice- ago I took over the running of the family farm. Neverthe- President of the European Council of Young Farmers. I less, farming has not always been my career. I started am therefore lucky enough to be in direct contact with out as a lawyer in Seville, specialising in European Union the latest developments in Europe. I see first-hand how law and the environment. policies such as the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) or EU environment policy are continually evolving with changing realities on the ground.

Young Farmers and LIFE

More than 3 000 farmers have taken direct part in actions undertaken in the context of our projects over the past 10 years. We learnt a lot from our first project Humedales andaluces (LIFE03 NAT/E/000055). This (Sustainable Doñana - LIFE00 ENV/E/000547) which project is aiming to develop strategies to benefit both had the ambitious plan to establish demonstration plots farmers and biodiversity. covering a wide variety of situations on the ground. This took up so many of the project’s resources that we were Some of the challenges we faced were also quite sur- restricted in our dissemination work. In the second pro- prising. I remember that during the first project, we were ject (Sustainable Wetlands - LIFE04 ENV/ES/000269), trying to convince farmers to leave a vegetative cover in we had a better adaptation of the tasks to the resources their olive groves. We were able to explain the ecologi- available and were able to carry out an awareness cam- cal benefits, notably to the soil. However, many farmers paign that reached thousands of farmers and ensured a came back to us explaining that they couldn’t do what multiplier effect. What both our LIFE projects had in com- we were asking because their neighbours would think mon was the aim to introduce innovative techniques for they had abandoned their grove! the efficient and effective management of agricultural land within protected areas. Since 2010, we have also We chose LIFE funding because we wanted to address

Photo: Audrey Thénard Photo: Audrey participated as a partner of another LIFE Nature project: problems that we shared with other European countries. their soil. ement in protecting theirbasicresource– el- anessential be to effectively managed plants thatcompetewiththeir crops canbe to see,for example,thatthe weedsandother ers that took part in the project and getting them all was changingthe mentality of so manyfarm- The mostsatisfyingandimportant achievementof endangered species.Yet these benefitsareveryreal. an increaseintherabbitpopulationthatprovides food for the valueofatonnesoilthatdoesnoterodeawayor many achieved things that it ishardtomeasure.It’s noteasyto assess projects our Yet funding. their justify to successes measurable demonstrate to want projects LIFE therefore provide genuinesolutions for farmers. es that arewelladaptedto the reality on thegroundand ally helpedtheintroductionanddevelopmentofprocess- that theLIFEfundingmadepossible.Theprogrammere- ably wouldnototherwisehaveintroducedthechanges Many farmers who have participated in our projects prob- much easiertoworktogetherfindsolutions. it makes This environment. the benefitting as well as ers on developing innovative strategies that benefit the farm- level of participation. We have also had a very clear focus proach to project design, which has in turn assured a high needs ontheground.Thishasenabledabottom-upap- we have direct knowledge and understanding of farmers’ because successful been have projects our that think I organisations like ours. erence programmefor environmentalfundingfor private ref- the is It have. may organisations of types different tion of a whole rangeofgood environmental ideasthat a wide scope it offers possibilities to fund the demonstra- The bestaspectoftheLIFEprogrammeisthatithassuch The Voices ofLIFE20yearsgettingthingsdone ronmental needs. solutions thatarepossibletomeeteconomicandenvi- invest in‘greendevelopment’andtoshow theinnovative tion ofeconomiccrisis,itismoreimportantthaneverto EU environmentpolicy. Particularly inthecurrentsitua- LIFE is an essential instrument for the development of useful at local orregional level. I therefore believe that ‘Community theory’intosomethingunderstandableand place in Brussels. LIFE provides a means of translating ryday concerns and discussion and decisions that take eve- farmers’ between a gap often is there think I field. ment ofnewstrategiesandtheirdirectapplicationinthe LIFE gavemetheopportunitytoworkindevelop- Personal rewards vides theinspirationfor evenmorenewinitiatives. talk aboutanynewproblemstheyarefacing.Thispro- that took part continue to share their experiences and thefarmers of Many stakeholders. farmland different the informal networksthatwewereabletocreatewith been has projects LIFE the of benefit ongoing Another made friendsandacquaintancesthatIstillhavetoday.” complexity ofEuropeanenvironmentalissues,butalso I notonlydevelopedabetterunderstandingofthe fields. similar in working across Europewhoare and professionals from ting toknow manypeople ence ofmeetingandget- credibly enrichingexperi- LIFE also gave me the in- Email: [email protected] Contact: JoséFernandoRobles Beneficiary: AsociaciónAgrariaJóvenes AgricultoresdeSevilla(ASAJA-Sevilla) http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/project/Projects/index.cfm informationdatabase more project For LIFE online the visit please projects, the on “ translating ‘Community theory’ into something understandable and useful at local or regional level LIFE provides ameansLIFE provides of 35

MEET THE COMMUNITIES “ 36

3 MEETMEET THETHE CITIZENSCITIZENS

Protecting our planet starts with the individual. Here we meet a selection of European citizens – including, amongst others, schoolchildren in Bulgaria, a volunteer viper conservationist in Hungary and a firefighter in the UK – who have been inspired and motivated to make a difference by their involvement in LIFE Nature and Environment projects. MEET THECITIZENS the issuesinvolved. really know anything about ing back, I realise we didn’t time andhelpusas,look- willing togiveuptheirfree els. Thankfully, theywere about installingsolarpan- explain how weshouldgo renewable energyandto come andspeaktousabout to people financial and technical some invited also Wehad expected about60people,butover 500turnedup! We hall. local the in meeting meeting first a host to cided tal issues.So,togetherwithahandfuloffriendswede- I already had someknowledge and interest in environmen- ing aboutit,whydon’twetrytodoit? very interesting and thought: instead of just talking or writ- area intoonethatwouldusesolarenergy. Ifound thisidea paper inwhichheexploredtheideaoftransforming our One ofmycustomerswroteanarticlefor ourlocalnews- the ideaofPalocco perKyoto associationwasborn. co (aresidentialareaofRome)anditwasrighttherethat “I usedtomanageavideoshopintheareaofCasalPaloc - to meetKyoto obligations LIFE involvesresidentsin initiatives LIFE ROMAPERKYOTO projecttoencouragelocalinitiatives toreducegreenhousegas(GHG)emissions. the in participant a Kyoto, per Palocco association, residents’ of founder and president is Lancia Denise municipalities across Europe. targets for Italy, andsettinganexample for other to reduceemissionsby 6.5%,inlinewiththeKyoto of pilotactions,alocalactionplan wasdeveloped gas (GHG)emissionsinRome.Following anumber ed planning process for the reduction of greenhouse The ROMAPERKYOTO projectdevelopedanintegrat- THE PROJECT The Voices ofLIFE20yearsgettingthingsdone project. The project manager, Claudio Baffioni, invited me invited Baffioni, Claudio manager, project The project. Around thistimeIheardabouttheLIFERomaperKyoto implementing andfinancingthem. ing localpeopleaboutgreenerenergyoptionsandwaysof inform of - aim the with profit-making, non Weare ciation. later I sold-up in order to put allmy energy into the asso- but shop, my video it was first At office. an Wehave didn’t interest, the association was officially launched in May 2007. rowed froman8year-oldgirl!Following theexpressionsof phone wasactuallyasmallkaraoke machinewehadbor- micro- the that recall I naïve: little a was meeting first That Humble beginnings small communities. it istoinvolvecitizens and emphasise how important the residential sector and to to trybringthefocus on ticipated inthemeetings among stakeholders. Ipar- the voluntaryagreement table discussionstowards to participateintheround to climateandenergytargets.” mental actionplan(72/2009)towards meetingtheKyo- environ - Rome’s of City the in included were objectives our project, the in participation our to Moreover,thanks citizens closertolocaladministrationandalsoindustry. leum industry. Thisisveryimportantinhelpingtobringthe people fromtheinstitutionsandmanagerspetro- ue. AttheseroundtablesIfound myselfworkingalongside I believe that projects such as this can be of immense val- working towards thesameobjectives. people workinginthesectorwithinstitutionsthatare with contact usin put It initiative. own our influenced ly positive- has project LIFE the in participating that think I Email: [email protected] Contact: ClaudioBaffioni Beneficiary: CityofRome Kyoto’s Protocolobjectiveofgreenhousegasreduction Title: RealizationofRome’s Action Plantoachievethe Project number:LIFE04ENV/IT/000453 Denise Lancia 37 MEET THE CITIZENS 38 The Voices of LIFE 20 years of getting things done

Snakes Alive!

Ákos Baracsy is a volunteer with MME-BirdLIFE Hungary, helping this LIFE project beneficiary with its programme to conserve the critically endangered Hungarian meadow viper (Vipera ursinii rakosiensis).

Ákos Baracsy Thirty-nine year-old Ákos Baracsy is an engaging man strictly protected, and thus prohibited, fields I was happy with several interesting hobbies (playing the synthesizer, to have found this project that dealt with the species,” he model trains, photography), and one very unusual one: recalls. As a result he went along to a field event organ- snake conservation. A native of Budapest, Ákos attrib- ised by MME-BirdLife Hungary and it was there – some- utes the start of his long interest in reptiles and am- time in 2003 – that Ákos met the LIFE project manager, phibians to a chance encounter at the age of five: Bálint Halpern, who invited him to more events. “Since “I found a common toad in my grandmother’s then it has become a regular part of my life.” garden. It was bigger than my palm and it looked exciting. We closed him up in a Ákos’s main work as a project volunteer involves writ- jar and I looked at him for hours,” he ing a viper inventory computer programme (IT is also his recalls fondly. profession). “We have quite a lot of snakes and it is not always easy to find them - to know where they are, their This initial encounter led to a previous history. Sometimes we try to confine them to spe- passion for photographing cific terraria but they can change their mind and change amphibians and reptiles, their terrarium as well! It is easier to find them if you have bigger ones, which is exciting and in captivity they really which in turn led to an a database.” The identification programme has two distinct grow fast. Sometimes I have the impression that they ac- encounter with LIFE. functions: the first helps to identify the snakes according tually like to be there: they get food. Sometimes I can feel, “I had a project to to the number of specific scales; the second helps to con- oh, this thing is quite fat. It likes it here,” he says smiling. find and take photos struct an ‘ID card’ for each snake. “For this you need pho- of all amphibian tographs of the left face, the right face and the top of the “It is also interesting how different the character of each and reptile taxons head.,” explains Ákos helpfully. individual can be,” he adds. “Coming from the same ter- (both species and raria or an hour later from the same sack or bucket, subspecies) living He also helps to measure the snakes at the viper centre with the same size and perhaps the same familial back- in Hungary. Since that was set up as part of the first LIFE project. “The mead- ground, one seems to be bored with the measurements, Vipera ursinii rako- ow viper is certainly not a big species – it doesn’t usually while I can hardly separate the other one’s fangs from siensis is extremely grow beyond 65 cm - and usually the ones we see are my glove! Another interesting thing is the smell. In my hard to find and newborn or one or two years old and they rarely exceed 30 opinion they smell like green peas, which I do not find dwells exclusively on cm,” points out Ákos. “Sometimes we have to measure the unpleasant at all! Bálint always laughs when I say this.” Snakes Alive! spend here.” teer Isaydonot hesitate:itiswortheveryminute you believes. “To anyone else thinking of becoming a volun- It’s goodmeetingpeoplewith thesameinterest,”he unteers; sometimes students who are writing a thesis. is usually a “50:50” mix of “old faces” and “newvol- time, when you feel like it; it’s not like a job.” A field trip volunteer isit’s fun.You candoitwhenyouhavefree Ákos saysthat“oneofthebestthingsaboutbeinga utes! [Meadow vipers]areverysecretive.” didn’t noticeiteventhoughweweretherefor 10min- we and time the all there was it And you’. to next just then Balintsaid‘freeze.Don’tmove. Thereisasnake downlay I forpictures took and and minutes 10 to five attractive-looking lizardandIwantedtophotographit. ards andIlike tophotographthem.OnceIfound avery was trip rather moreeventfulthanplanned:“Ilove tospotliz- field one recalls, he as although, tography, He has also learned some good tips about wildlife pho- programmes,” saysÁkos. “Ihavelearnedalotofbiology.” scientific to contribute to tion actions.“Itfeels good ning theviperconserva- tant researchunderpin- rodent holes,alsoimpor- monitor insectsandsmall ing vipersandhelpingto and suspectedviperhabitatstomonitoringfree-roam- Field work can involve anything from examining known year.” the of times all at week, to week from be can it different how believe cannot you fields, the in roaming like “I Ákos. Field tripsarea particularhighlightofvolunteering,says LIFE inthefield “ becoming avolunteer Isay not do hesitate: minute it isworth every To anyone else thinking of The Voices ofLIFE20yearsgettingthingsdone rope andmyhard driveisfullofphotosit!” is thismeadow viperwhichistherarestreptile inEu- that Ihaveneverseenorphotographed andthenthere that livesinHungary. There are verycommonspecies wanted totake photographsofeveryspecies ofreptile Budapest night,hesays“it’s funny, Imentionedthat the into off head and hands shake we As close. a to system orindustries.”With that,ourinterviewcomes responsibility. Nature keeps us alive, not the banking sy: “We havetomendwhatwe have ruined.It is our The love ofnatureiscertainlystronginÁkos Barac- nature inthem.” vironments towildlife itwillforever plantthelove of children whohaveprobablyonlylivedinurbanen- all evilandcertainlynotdangerous.Byintroducing handling themwillseethattheseanimalsarenotat ture. Thosewhohaveseenthesnakes andthepeople at thecentrewillhavepositivememoriesaboutna- programme. Childrenwhohavespentapleasantday within [the LIFE-backed meadow viper conservation] conservation. “Thekey iseducation,whichdonewell 3-5 mhighthenit’s ahill,ifit’s over 5mthenit’s a is like. Inthelowlands theysaythatifsomething is it what enjoying start you trip field a on inside deep are “nothingspecial”atfirstsight,“butonceyouget able withpublictransport.”Thelowlands, saysÁkos, nearly unknown tome,butareasgoodunreach- Hungarian lowlands, whichwerepreviouslynotonly a volunteeris“seeingandmakingregulartripstothe As wellas“goodcompany”,anotherbenefitofbeing involvement innature public awarenessofand role toplayinimproving can have an important projects LIFE Ákos, For mountain!” “ Contact: BálintHalpern. Email:[email protected] reintroduction intothewild. struction workandcontinuation andexpansionofcaptivebreedingpriortoa NAT/H/000322) hasreceivedsome€1.67million for grasslandhabitatrecon- servation workcamefromLIFE+. TheongoingCONVIPURSRAKproject(LIFE07 the Hungarianmeadow vipertakes place.Furtherfundingfor thiscrucial con- the HungarianMeadow Viper ConservationCentre,wherecaptivebreedingof of siteswherethespecieswasfound intostateownership andestablishing for savingthespeciesfromextinction,includingtakingallofsmallnumber HU/000116). ThisLIFENature“BestoftheBest”projectlaidgroun dwork 2004, with€324500ofco-fundingfor theHUNVIPURSproject(LIFE04NAT/ LIFE begansupportingtheviperconservationworkofMME-BirdLIf H ungarian

meadow

viper

projects e Hungaryin 39 MEET THE CITIZENS 40 The Voices of LIFE 20 years of getting things done

Art for LIFE’s sake

Artists Christina Diana Wenderoth and Alois Steger were invited by the Technical University of Munich (Weihenstephan campus) to participate in the LIFE FLOODSCAN project by producing works for the Fluss Werke Land Art Park. The park, which is located in the Isar river floodplains in Moosburg, has been designed not only to have an aesthetic appeal, but also to make people think about the possibility of flooding oc- curring, an important and innovative dissemination tool for a project dedicated to flood risk management.

Alois Steger because the atmospheric conditions change constant- ly. They complicate and enrich the work. “This project followed a previous collaboration with the climate workshop of the Technical University of Munich: I grew up in a small mountain village in Tyrol (Aus- I took part in an art project, ‘Labyrinth - Climate Change’. tria), and from an early age I was deeply rooted in na- I then received a call from Maria Hagemeier-Klose of the ture, and the understanding of nature plays a central Department of Forest and Environmental Policy at the role in my work. The art works are in constant flux as university about this new project, and we arranged a the forest changes. meeting at Chiemsee to get to know one another and establish an approach and rough schedule. Art offers new images to aid understanding and high- Alois Steger

light the vulnerability of nature. A changed perception The aim of this project was to generate interest in of the natural and supernatural reality can arise if we

art, raise awareness, develop ideas, promote dialogue encounter nature and its forces in a mindful and medita- and strengthen cooperation. My hope was that the tive way. The artistic component provides the necessary students would seek my suggestions and I could help motivation to express the good in one’s soul. them develop their ideas.“ Since the implementation of this project, new job op- THE PROJECT For me personally it is al- portunities in other areas have opened up. My career ways interesting to explore has changed. I am invited more often to go to places FLOODSCAN successfully demonstrated in Bavaria a Art offers new images to aid new landscapes and natu- to carry out land art projects. By addressing nature, new technology that enables fast and cost-effective ral areas, and to respond I gain inner strength for new ideas. How the land art identification of present and future flood hazard understanding and highlight the artistically. Working in na- park in Moosburg will evolve is uncertain, but I am areas. FLOODSCAN’s technology uses hydraulic 2D- modelling of flood hazard areas. “ vulnerability of nature ture is a constant challenge available for future artistic initiatives.” another challenge. and rarelyuseforeign materialsandtools,sothatwas be permanent.Iworkexclusivelywithnaturalmaterials was a great challenge to create somethingthatwould way ofworkingistoproduceephemeralworks,soit arts trailthatwouldlastfor alongtime.Mynormal an create to was aim The project. team a and project big a was it because interesting very was project This team alongsideAloisSteger. at theuniversitytheywantedtohaveawomanon stundspiel.de). Becausetherearemanyfemale students “A studenthadfound meontheInternet(www.naturkun- Christina DianaWenderoth The Voices ofLIFE20yearsgettingthingsdone vironmental awarenessandsubsequentaction. preciation ofnaturethatmayleadtoaraisedlevelen- intensive contact,frommyexperience,yougainanewap- nect peoplewithnatureandthemselves.Throughthis Land artisanespeciallywonderfulopportunitytorecon- before theproject. conservation hasalwaysbeenveryimportanttomeeven a team withacademics,otherartistsandstudents.Nature in work to exciting very was it and project, major this It was avery valuable experience for me to participate in different focus wasneeded for thelandartpark. impermanent andaresoongonewiththebreeze.Buta are works often So them. capture and directly nature of For mepersonally, itwaseasiesttoaddresstherealities to participateagain,shouldtheopportunitycomeup.” about thefutureoflandartpark,Iwouldbewilling ideas in theartclassesthat I give.While I don’t know of sustainabledevelopment.Ihaveincorporatedthese environmental educationandinteachingtheimportance Land artisusedextensivelyinGermanyasatoolfor Christina DianaWenderoth Email: [email protected] Contact: DieterRieger Beneficiary: LfU(BavarianEnvironmentAgency) combining laserscanningwithremote sensingdata hydraulic 2d-modellingofflood (hazard)areas by new technologyfor fast,precise andcost-efficient Title: FLOODSCAN - Largescaleadjustmentof Project number:LIFE06ENV/D/000461 41 MEET THE CITIZENS 42 The Voices of LIFE 20 years of getting things done

A special week for waste reduction

Mireia Padrós works for the Catalan Waste Agency (ARC) in Barcelona, Spain, one of the partner organisations involved in the LIFE-backed European Week for Waste Reduction.

ducing waste is not just good for the environment and “The European Week for Waste Reduction has been re- the good ideas and actions that are out there for reduc- their public image, but can also help them cut costs. ally inspiring. It is really making a difference in showing waste. The initial idea for the European Week came ing people what can be achieved by thinking more from France, where they organised a first edition in the By 2011, we had more than 500 activities taking place. about waste reduction. At a personal level it has also north of the country, followed the next year by a nation- I have seen some really great ideas here in Catalonia. changed the attitudes that my family and I have to wide week. My favourite was probably a project that saw designers the waste we produce at home. turning old clothes into totally new designs. It was amaz- Launch of the European Week ing to see the fantastic new clothes that they were able My background is in biology and environmental engi- to create from clothes that nobody wanted any more. I neering. Previously I worked at the Regional Office for The French National Agency for the Environment and saw a similar activity with furniture. Sometimes people’s Latin American and Caribbean Countries of UNEP as a Energy Management (ADEME) successfully applied for Mireia Padrós fundraiser for environmental projects. This gave me LIFE funding to launch the European Week for Waste the chance to work on some interesting international Reduction (LIFE07 INF/F/000185). ARC is one of four projects. In Mexico I worked to raise judges’ under- partner organisations involved in the project (along standing and awareness of environmental laws and with ACR+, LIPOR and IBGE). In the pilot edition of the their implementation; I also worked there trying to week (2008), we had about 30 different actors organ- find financial support for markets selling eco-design ising around 100 different waste reduction actions. A products. big part of my role has been to go out and encourage people to take part. There is no funding for their activi- I came to the ARC specifically to work on the European ties, so I have to convince them that it is also in their Week for Waste Reduction. It has opened my eyes to all own best interests to do something.

It is relatively easy to go into a school or local munici- THE PROJECT pality and get them to take action – they are usually open to the idea. However, a bigger challenge can be The LIFE EWWR project established the European to convince businesses to do something special for the Week for Waste Reduction, a major initiative to promote waste reduction actions and awareness week since they sometimes want an immediate return across Europe. on any activities. We can offer them excellent dissemination of their efforts and I try to show them that re- A specialweekfor wastereduction tion is important, from the largest company to the smallest tion isimportant, fromthelargestcompanyto smallest the European Week. We want to show peoplethat every ac- that registertotake partin try tohighlightalltheactions munication inCataloniaand We doalot of presscom- lenge inaschool. a food-waste-reduction chal- a companypaper-freedayor market for unwanted goods, anything fromestablishinga be could This event. or action particular a to profile more the EuropeanWeek provides aspecialopportunitytogive People should be reducing their waste all year round, but ple tolearnfromoneanother. dissemination suchasthisissoimportantinenablingpeo- is possibleorwheretostartreducetheirwaste.Focused ideas, butalsotoinspirepeoplewhomightnotknow what This isbothtorewardpeoplewhohaveimplementedgood awareness oftheactivitiesthatpeoplearecarryingout. A key aspectof whattheEuropeanWeek doesisraise Rewarding goodideas before theythrow itaway. about whethertheycanmake useofsomethingagain make useofthem. Evenmytwodaughtersalwaysthink an exchangemarket orgivingthemtosomeonewhocan that Idon’twantanymore,thinkabouttakingthemto about yourown wasteproduction.WhenIhaveclothes differentlyinternationally.think and Youbut help cannot locally difference big a make can which actions, crete I love working with these kinds of projects. They are con- might neverthinkpossible. creativity cancreatenewsolutionsfor wastethatyou “ people from across Europe who are coming up with new ideas It issomotivating to meet and solutions on waste reduction all the time The Voices ofLIFE20yearsgettingthingsdone on wastereduction allthetime. Europe whoare coming upwithnewideasand solutions first the For occasion. great a is ceremony Awards The anything fromahospitaltoculturalcentre. educational establishment;and‘other’,whichcouldbe oper: publicauthority;association/NGO;privatebusiness; ferent prizes for each of five categories of project devel- 2010 by an independent international jury. There are dif- European Awards that have been given annually since esting orinnovative activitiesandnominatethemfor the We selectwhatweconsider to bethebest,mostinter- audio-visual media. region to film so that we can highlight their efforts through Weproject. individual the in activities 10 chosen also have “ ing tomeetpeoplefromacross each yearanditisso motivat- riences andideas.Ihavebeen come togethertoshareexpe- on wastereductionissuescan ference sothatpeopleworking usually combinedwithacon- will beinParis (19June).Itis Brussels inMarch.In2012,it two years, it has been held in velopment andimpactofthisinspirationalEuropeanWeek.” de- the continue and happen it make to way a find will we duction. Everyonehasbeensoinspiredfarthathopefully use; andrecyclingtoachievetheprimarygoalofwastere- want tolookatandpromotethethreeRsof:reduction;re- for morefundingtodeveloptheWeek even further. We applied have we and soon closes project LIFE current The light theirsuccessandmotivateotherpeopleinCatalonia. gion canwinaEuropeanprize.We canreallyuse ittohigh- re- my from project a whether see to exciting always is It and a project to reduce glass packaging in the cava sector. Barcelona; in campaign prevention waste broad a project; pean prizewinnersfromCatalonia:theclothesredesign In thetwoyearsofawardswehavehadthreeEuro- Email: [email protected] Contact: Valerie Jouvin Environment andEnergyManagement Beneficiary: French NationalAgencyfor the Title: EWWR-EuropeanWeek for Waste Reduction Project number:LIFE07INF/F/000185 43 MEET THE CITIZENS 44 The Voices of LIFE 20 years of getting things done

A Finnish household embraces LIFE waste prevention

Mirva Merimaa and her husband Antti Kuivalainen live in Helsinki in Finland. They played an active part in the LIFE WASTEPrevKit waste prevention project.

Mirva Merimaa and Antti Kuivalainen live in Vikki Latokar- viding everyone with information on using washable nap- I go to somebody’s house and I see that they are wasting tano, a residential area of Helsinki of some 6 000 inhab- pies, instead of the disposable ones. I also tried to make food, or throwing away a lot, I tell them some of the ‘tricks’ itants. They’ve always participated in voluntary groups, the idea sound more attractive, as disposable nappies are that we have learnt on waste prevention,” she says. She especially those dealing with environmental issues. They very polluting and expensive, whereas the washable and adds that some of their friends have also started doing the readily agreed to participate in the LIFE WASTEPrevKit pro- reusable one are environmentally friendly and cheaper.” same things, following discussions they’ve had together. ject, as one of 14 families who would put into practice the guidelines developed by the project beneficiary, Helsinki Meanwhile, for her own family, an expert from HSY came Says Mr Kuivalainen: “It was also very surprising to see Region Environmental Services Authority (HSY). to explain the methods that they should adopt for a year: how little organic waste we could produce.” However, he “We weighed the bags of waste (organic, plastic, paper) adds that eliminating packaging waste is more difficult, Ms Merimaa had always con- and kept a diary. At the end of the period, we had re- as there is not enough choice in shops and supermarkets. sidered that she was conduct- duced the amount by 33%,” she says. ing her life in an environmen- Finally, the family considers that LIFE projects of this tally friendly way. However, Changing mind-set type are important as they are able to reach the general when she started receiving in- public and are helping to influence the way people live formation from the beneficiary At first, it was quite a struggle to follow the advice to and behave. They say as a result of the project they’ve on how to reuse and prevent ‘waste less food’. “We had to change the way we thought really changed their ways and are far more informed THE PROJECT waste, she says she realised and bought,” she says. For example, the family bought about waste issues in general. how much more could be done less, asking themselves if they were really were going Led by the beneficiary, the LIFE WASTEPrevKit – not just by her own family, but to eat all the food. They also bought products in bigger Project number: LIFE05 ENV/FIN/000539 project developed and disseminated a wide also within the community. For containers in order to reduce waste packaging, or better Title: WASTEPrevKit - Waste Prevention Kit for en- range of waste prevention tools that were example, at that time she was quality products that would last longer. terprises, education and households implemented by schools, households, public also involved in the organisation Beneficiary: Helsinki Region Environmental Ser- administrations and enterprises with the of a music event that involved a In the beginning, she says, the family found that this “new vices Authority (HSY) overall goal of reducing waste in four Finnish Contact: Riitta-Liisa Hahtala large number of pregnant wom- way of thinking” took up a lot of their time, but eventually municipalities. Email: [email protected] en and toddlers: “I helped in pro- it started to become a routine way of life: “Now whenever Turning riversintoaclassroom area that the school was officially responsible for look- for responsible officially was school the that area schools inthearea tousefor lessons.We alsohadan transformed intoaclassroom, which wasavailableto for thetrainstationonedge oftheparkanditwas office ticket old an is There areas. two in park the with to getinvolvedandwedid!We alreadyhadaconnection ing the LIFE project, QUERCUS. He asked if we would like The fatherofonethepupils was involvedindevelop- had builtupinandaroundtheriver. a safe areatotake aclassofchildrenandlotlitter gates andyoucould not access it very easily. It was not you couldnotactuallyseeitverywell;wasbehindiron ing withthechildren.Therewasalotofgroundcover, so there, it was not ever something you thought about us- and, althoughpeoplealwaysknewtherewasariver There isaparknexttotheschoolcalledLadywellFields Opening upaccesstoalocalriver literacy andtopiclessons. ity is now part of the curriculum and is integrated into our carbonfootprint andminimisingwaste.Sustainabil- cally withthechildrentoachievegoalssuchasreducing Today theyarenotonlytalked about,butweworkpracti- sues wouldnothavebeentalked aboutwiththechildren. School for about13years.Inthepast,environmentalis- a teacher and I’ve been teaching at Holbeach Primary “I knewwhenIwas10yearsoldthatwantedtobe LIFE QUERCUS project. LIFE QUERCUSproject. the in participated school Her UK. London, Catford, in School Primary Holbeach at teacher a is Dixon Rona Mrs The Voices ofLIFE20yearsgettingthingsdone machinery. However, webuiltitupsothatavarietyof was beingre-routed-italotofworkwithheavy We couldnotgettooinvolvedwiththechildren whenit more wildlife andhaveeasieraccesstotheriver. and meanderssothatpeoplecouldwalkacrosssee hidden behindirongates.Theyalsoputinalotofbridges through the middle ofLadywellFields and is nolonger a year tochangethechannelsothatitnow comesright about took It river. the re-routed totally project The many years. for unusable and up padlocked was which but after, ing QUERCUS toopenuptheareaofparkthatwewerere- with worked we running, and up was project the When – manyofthechildrenhadneverbeeninariverbefore. up it cleaning water the in children the seeing was project from the area. One of the most exciting aspects of the The childrenplayedanimportantroleclearingrubbish roundings. work being done and learnt about the river and its sur- re-routing the saw fieldwork, in part took They officer. liaison school project QUERCUS the with worked and classes in the school went to the ticket office classroom of anurbanenvironment. turning problemareasintoan attractive feature hanced rivercorridorsineach of thethreecities, the Netherlands.Theproject’s actionshaveen- Council inNWEnglandand‘s-Hertogenbosch in the LondonBoroughofLewisham, ChesterCity The QUERCUSprojectwasapartnership between THE PROJECT Rona Dixon 45 MEET THE CITIZENS

46 The Voices of LIFE 20 years of getting things done sponsible for. The school council (made up of two rep- pened close to the river and it is an area where people The LIFE project dramatically “ resentatives from each class, who hold that position for want to meet. Near the cafe is a very shallow area of one year and represent their class in meetings which in- the river and a small under-fives play area has been in- changed the school’s use of open fluence decision-making affecting the school) was asked stalled alongside. spaces for teaching. It has how they would like to use it. The children decided to create an outdoor classroom, with logs to sit on. The project New learning opportunities made learning more also helped dig a pit and the school paid for a pond lining “ meaningful to the children to be installed as we discovered that toads have a route The LIFE project dramatically changed the school’s use from that area down to the river. The project gave a new of open spaces for teaching. It has made learning more impetus to use that area. meaningful to the children. In the past, when we studied the river. It helps the children extend their thinking rivers we organised a trip to see the river Darent in Hor- about what is right and wrong: you question more and Before the project, the park often felt dangerous to walk ton Kirby. We had to hire a coach - our time at the river analyse better when you can interact with the space through and it was not a area where you would re- was short and it was an expensive day. rather than from a book or the Internet. ally want to relax. Now [it] is used by the community much more and the atmosphere By making the local river Ravensbourne accessible, it The children have continued to be involved in deci- has changed dramatically. There are has made local learning in and outside of the classroom sion-making about the river. [They] are still active far more people around and the more exciting. Now we have safe access to an area in cleaning activities and also worked on an exciting lighting seems much better so where we can lean about the scientific and geographi- project to restock the river with fish. you feel much safer. cal aspects you associate with rivers. We can measure the width of the river in different places, the speed that We think and hope the local community will continue The children have something moves down the river and so on. to protect the area and the school will continue to helped, because once contribute through cleaning activities with the chil- they have gone there The work that we do on habitats, animals and plants dren. The major work has been done to improve the with staff, afterwards and everything that lives in and around a river has now river and hopefully now it will sustain itself. Local they tell their fami- become something we can do from close observation, people are definitely more aware of the changes in lies and take them including samples, rather than just from a book or the Ladywell Fields and some of the primary schoolchil- there and point Internet. Even things like the water cycle, which we al- dren involved in the project are already in the sec- things out to them. ways used to teach in the classroom, can now be taught ondary schools and hopefully retaining their positive by the river with practical reference to parts of the cycle. connection with the space.” It has taken a few years for the shrubs We have even started investigating other aspects of the and planting around river, such as tracing it back upstream to its confluence the river to fully de- with the River Pool and taking walks up there as well. Project number: LIFE05/ENV/UK/000127 : QUERCUS - Quality Urban Environments for velop, but now the That is purely based on the access that is now available. Title River Corridor Users and Stakeholders river is totally inte- Beneficiary: Lewisham Municipal Authority grated into the park. A The children’s direct engagement with the river has Contact: Paul Chapman cafe, which was closed started lots of interesting discussions about issues such Email: [email protected] for many years, has reo- as the river’s biodiversity and how the rubbish got into “ Children’s friendBoo l tre hlrn ad hy noe wthn My watching enjoyed Friend they Boo, with Maria in particular saying said she enjoyed children three All Sofia, January2012. views afterwards toteachersatthechildren’s centreArtLandin their gave and time first the for toons the messagestheycontain.Theywatchedcar- videos and give us their reactions to the stories and Rakovski,St. Georgi School, mary the watch to – Sofia and VladimirAngelov (8)–whoattendthe120thPri- We asked KeisTodorov (aged 8),MariaDimitrova (9) about whatallofuscandotomake acontribution. requires engagingandeducatingouryoungpeople sustainable creating long-term solutionstoourenvironmentalchallenges that understood project The dren aboutwaterconsumption,pollutionandwaste. signed toeducate,entertainandinform Europeanchil- myfriendboo.com) –aseriesofanimatedstoriesde- used LIFEfundingtocreate‘MyFriend Boo’(www. ) INF/UK/000950 (LIFE07 project Eco-Animation The languages across Europe. have beenmade availableandbroadcastinmany to youngchildren.The‘MyFriend Boo’videos around waterconsumption,pollution andwaste ries andteachingmaterialsto explainkey issues The Eco-Animationprojectcreated acartoonse- THE PROJECT Keis, MariaandVladiare8-9year-old childrenfromSofia,Bulgaria. The Voices ofLIFE20yearsgettingthingsdone derstand, magic and humour. In each story, the children tion throughtheuseofsituationschildrencanun- My Friend Boocaptures children’s attentionandimagina- and Bulgaria. 5-8 in five EU countries: Italy, Ireland, Belgium, Poland opment throughtestingthecartoonsonchildrenaged devel- project the during demonstrated was approach in amongstthenewmessages.Thesuccessofthis are partsthechildrenrecogniseandlookforward to, quences thatrepeatineachprogrammesothere it “verymuch”.TheMyFriend Boostoriesusekey se- favourite. BothVladimirandKeisliked theepisode“The took onboardmessagesfromeach.Eachchildhadtheir The childrenwatchedthethreeepisodesonwaterand Children enjoy Boo’s adventures a journeyofdiscovery thatwillanswertheirquestions. then invitesthechildrentorideamagicalcarouselon Boo comestolife. With hiscatchphrase“Allaboard!”he the attic.Whenchildrenturnamagickey inhisback, Boo for help.Booisamagicalteddybearwholivesin consider areallife issuearoundwateruseandturnto Keis Todorov, MariaDimitrova, Vladimir Angelov 47 MEET THE CITIZENS BEHIND THE SCENES

48 The Voices of LIFE 20 years of getting things done Big Picture” best. In this story, tion. Maria is convinced. “I It is very important to keep “ Boo and the other charac- Boo turns his magic carou- won’t throw paint into the ters also give some practi- sel into a kind of boat which sink!” water clean. If we pollute water, cal ideas for saving water, takes the children along a the rivers, seas, lakes, plants including more efficient river to see how farming and In the episode “It’s Only showerheads and toilet industrial activities threaten Water” the children leave and birds will die flushes – much to the river-based ecosystems. Ma- a tap running, so Boo “ amusement of the child ria explained its core mes- takes them to another planet where they see that wast- characters! Boo explained and Vladi remembered that sage succinctly: “Water is ing water by leaving taps on, dripping taps and overwa- “we should water the plants with rain water” to protect important and everything tering of gardens can lower water levels in rivers and the valuable clean supplies in our taps. depends on people. Where we lakes. As Vladi understood, “Boo says that we needed are polluting the water, we to save water because the rivers will become dry.” Keis The interviews with the children highlight that children not need to make filters”. remembered the key message that “If you leave the tap only take on board Boo’s messages for themselves, but on, there won’t be enough water.” are keen to take the messages back into their homes to The characters in the story change their family’s habits – a key added-value of edu- learn how everyone’s actions Children understand Boo’s messages cating children. Maria was clear that, “I will tell my mother impact on water supplies and [about the things Boo said]”. Vladi and Keis also said that how we all need to work to- My Friend Boo succeeds in getting important environ- they would tell their families what they had learned. gether to protect them. The mental messages over to children in a fun and en- story helps children under- tertaining way. The children particularly remembered Finally, having understood “The Big Picture” from the stand that, as Vladi puts it, “it avoiding wasting water as something tangible that Boo stories, Maria was excited to hear that the videos is very important to keep wa- they can do in their own lives. “We need to make big were also being shown to children across Europe and are ter clean. If we pollute water, efforts to save the water resources,” highlighted Keis available in more than 15 languages: “Great! Now they the rivers, seas, lakes, plants after seeing the cartoons. “I want to do some of the will also know to save water!” Whilst Vladi had his own and birds will die.” They see things [Boo says].” Vladi also said, “I remember that I particular contribution that he wanted to make to saving that creating a wetland could need to save water.” water, which his parents might not be so pleased about: filter the water and create a “Yes, I won’t wash my hands for so long!” home for wildlife. Boo explained that such waste can cause water short- ages in dry seasons and is also a threat to habitats and Maria’s favourite story was “Victoria’s Wetlands” in the species that depend on them. Maria picked up on which Boo takes the children on a magical journey to the message that “we need to save water, because this Project number: LIFE07 INF/UK/000950 meet Victoria, a line-dancing water vole! Victoria is sad would be better for the natural environment.” Vladi un- Title: Eco-Animation: A cutting edge cartoon to and lonely because pollution from a paint factory has derstood that everyone needs to be careful with water raise awareness on climate change and sustain- driven all the other plants and animals away. The chil- “because we keep the world for the others around us”. able use of natural resources among European dren find the guilty factory and help its owner install a The children have clearly retained the key message at children filter and create a wetland to clean the water before it the end of each story that reducing consumption, pol- Beneficiary: Business Solutions Europa Limited enters the river. Boo helps the children understand that lution and waste of water “means a better world for Contact: Luigi Petito Email: [email protected] pouring paint down the sink at home also causes pollu- you and me, and all the plants and animals!” that neededtobe putonprevention.” focus clear a was there year a fires car 200 fires, heath 200 With over. years: “232in2002,Ithink,when I took station commanderfor six-and-a-half in BournemouthwhereMrSpring was area covered by Redhill Park Fire Station the in problem particular a were fires Heath project (July2001-June2005). Heaths Partnership begantheLIFEDorsetHeaths vice for 10 years, joining around the time that the Urban Mr Spring has been with the Dorset Fire and Rescue Ser- plus LandRovers, thatkindofthing.” the conurbation,with10frontlinepumpingappliances, in stations fire seven got currently we’ve and - tination a third of a million people - it fluctuates as a tourist des- Poole andChristchurch is “aconurbationofaroundabout tection oractualresponse.”heexplains.Bournemouth, outcomes ofourservice,whetherit’s prevention,pro- cue Service.“I’mresponsiblefor allofthefront-facing mouth, PooleandChristchurchfor DorsetFire andRes- Tim SpringistheServiceDeliveryManagerfor Bourne- to tackleheathfires LIFE buildsrelationships in 25years inthefireservice”,saysfirefighter TimSpring. I’ve thing fulfilling most “the is England southern involvedin been project Heaths Dorset Nature LIFE The The Voices ofLIFE20yearsgettingthingsdone Heath fires are not just a nuisance; they can alsobe can they deadly. “I’m not a scientist, but what I have been is anuisance; just not are fires Heath vast majoritywerearson.” school openinghoursandtheholidaytimes, says Mr Spring. “But if you just look coincidentally at the the mostchallengingintermsofproving whatwenton,” fire investigation officer and heathland fires are probably Education wasanimportantpartofthatfocus. “I’ma ve Shuck,DorsetFire andRescue’s areamanagerfor Ste- by established work partnership fledgling on MrSpring built message, prevention fire the across get To to manage.” difficult very very, are they fast-moving; incredibly by theseafront.Theyareincrediblydangerous,they’re down Overcliff the on fire heathland a out putting was flame in die to Dorset in firefighter last scary.The really erated by thevegetation,particularlygorseisreally, Spring. “The amount of radiated heat whichcan be gen- Mr recalls fires,” heath by times of couple a out caught Poole, and the LIFE project beneficiary, Urban Heaths Urban beneficiary, project LIFE the and Poole, Partnership (UHP).Intermsofeducation,MrSpring says modestly, “allIdidwaspiggybackonthe ok ht es Cos LF poet educa- project LIFE – [Cross Tess that work tion officer] and Heather [Tidball –LIFE [Tidball Heather and officer] tion rjc mngr wr dig Ts had Tess doing. were manager] project written somereallygoodpresenta - in - e et n dd on de- joint did and went we - tions liveries withthem.Tess had been employed asateacher, sohada brilliant wayof engagingwiththe young people, but to support that

Tim Spring 49 MEET THE CITIZENS 50 The Voices of LIFE 20 years of getting things done

by having a fire engine and fire fighters there it just really partnership: “It was the first time I’d ever actually seen cycling was a massive problem when mini motos were made the kids engage,” recalls Mr Spring. “It just worked a 30-way domestic (dispute)! Everyone had a differ- all the rage.” really well: we gave her credibility; she gave us the abil- ent view and everyone felt very passionately about the ity, if you like.” heathland.” With the LIFE project providing a framework, new relationships were built between the various parties to Engaging Dorset’s schoolchildren was one important Finding something that all parties could agree on (“we achieve these common goals. For instance, by request- outcome; perhaps even more significant was the role want to see a reduction in heath fires and we hate off- ing support from the police for ‘traffic management’, LIFE played in establishing strong working relationships road motorcyclists”), Mr Spring went along to the next rather than ‘heath fires’, a lower priority response, between the UHP, fire and rescue, police, local coun- partnership meeting and made a suggestion: “We all lay the Fire and Rescue Service were able to tackle fires cil, friends of the heaths and other stakeholders and down our arms and we work on the heath fires, we work quickly and without massively inconveniencing com- community groups. Mr Spring well remembers his first on the off-road motorcycling, and if we can tidy those up muters, as had been the case. Similarly, a scheme was visit to a meeting of the local heaths crime reduction it would be nicer for everybody...[Illegal] off-road motor- set up to train volunteer wardens, who would be able massively satisfyingfor me,andit’s stillthemostful- “It’s nicetogettheoutcomeslike that,butwhatwas it down tofour,” saysMrSpringproudly. like 11 fires on the heathlands. The following year we got est summer, 40 degree heat, I think we had something the statswentfrom232to32.In2006,hottest,dri- tion’s heath fire statistics: “The outcome of all this is that sta- his in shown is framework the effectiveness of The very, veryusefulframework.” a It’sbeen project. LIFE forthe been not it had spectors able tohavethefrankconversationswithpolicein- had thatcloseworkingrelationship,wouldn’thavebeen believes: “Iwouldn’thavemetthesepeople, he process, this to essential was project LIFE The tise themostimportantenvironmentalrisks.” knew where the best access point was, we could priori- accurate calls,wecoulddeploy therightresources,we got “We Spring. Mr recalls effective,” very very, was “It nies ofsundews;breedingsitesprotectedfauna). conservation (e.g. colo- that were a priority for of anyspecialfeatures and fire, heath a of tion the loca- of firefighters to accuratelyinform the warden scheme. to tacklethefires anddevelopingavolunteer the abilityofDorsetFire andRescueservice ing aroundeducatingschoolchildren, improving ap The DorsetHeathsprojectpioneered anew proach toconservingurbanheaths, revolv THE PROJECT “ enjoyable thing to be part of: enjoyable thing to bepartof: the outcomes fantastic were It was areally, really - The Voices ofLIFE20yearsgettingthingsdone know thesamewouldapplytoothers.” the morningIwouldn’tgoandhelpthem;sixyearson one onthatgroupiftheyrangmeat3o’clock in that clearlyweren’tgettingonbefore. Thereisn’tany- with the children playing the parts of the police, judge, fire,heath a setting caught pupil a of trial the around based session a drama runs and schools visits Officer ‘arson courtroom drama’, where theUHPEducation supports acurrentUHPeducationschemecalledthe also service rescue and fire The wardens. heath the Dorset Fire andRescuewiththevolunteergroup er ways,includinganannualtrainingsessionrunby The seedssown by LIFEarestillbearingfruitinoth- of. Andyeah,theoutcomeswerefantastic!” part be to thing enjoyable really really, a was It it. in engaged fully are police the station, fire the at on ing Spring. “Thelocalcommunityheathlandmeeting’s go- Mr adds now”, “mainstream become has project LIFE The partnershipapproachestablishedduringthe Building onLIFE’s legacy ucsfl rjc ad n eig cie otlt be- hostility tween peopleturn intoastrongpartnership,Mr Spring active seeing in and project successful As wellasthesatisfactionofbeing involvedinavery as avery, verygrubby crime.” seenit’s nowdefinitely and child a was I when pened hap- that something just were fires “Heath Spring. Mr through it and it has changed their perception” says have been mychildren on. “Both so and firefighters “ across disparategroups built aroundthatwork relationships thatwere the was service, fire the volved in25years in- been I’ve thing filling kind ofthing.” I’d nevershown anyinterest;now I’mverykeen onthat I’m concernedanimalsarethingsyouhavewithchips! as far as - (!) motorcyclist off-road avid an was I ously that kindofthing.I’mnotanenvironmentalist-previ environment for someoftheprotectedreptilesandall and Iwasabletoexpandonthatasaveryhealthy of heathlandthatwasonasouthernfacingupslope ble, Iknewwhatwastalkingabout.We’d lostasection very positive feedback because I actually felt comforta- mental protection officer, and she came back with some live radioin- a to do terview. Oneofmycolleagues,hiswife spot isanenviron- the on put Igot and fire, conservation: “I went to a fire in May, a 10-pump heath says it has also changed some of his views on nature Email: [email protected] Contact: HeatherTidball sion (UrbanHeathsPartnership) Beneficiary: DorsetCounty Council, Planning Divi - sures degradingEuropeanheathlands inDorset Title: DorsetHeaths–Combatting urbanpres- Project number:LIFE00NAT/UK/007079 51 MEET THE CITIZENS 52 The Voices of LIFE 20 years of getting things done

LIFE lays a foundation for renewable building Christina Böckl

The S-House is a remarkable building, but what’s it like to work there? Or to design or build houses made from straw or other renewable materials? We meet two of the building’s residents, a man who has built a house insulated with straw bales and two students learning about using renewable materials in construction.

The S-House is a multi base for actions forming part of the LIFE+ project, RENEW a look and to get some information about this kind of award-winning demonstra- BUILDING (LIFE08 ENV/A/000216). This seeks to dis- building... we had some people from Slovakia...a Korean tion building in Böheim- seminate know-how about construction methods that use group...mostly from Austria but also a lot of international kirchen, Austria con- renewable resources and natural materials to architects, visitors.” Large numbers of visitors do have one draw- structed with the support builders, planners and others in the trade. back however: “Sometimes it’s a little stressful when you of the LIFE programme have 50 people all wanting something to eat with our (LIFE00 ENV/A/000243) The residents little kitchen, but yeah, it’s quite good,” she smiles. by the Centre for Accept- able Technology (GrAT). Christina Böckl is a secretary with GrAT and has recently “My father is a carpenter so I know a lot about wood

Designed to improve en- started working in the S-House part-time following the and wood construction, but I have learned a lot ergy efficiency, promote use birth of her daughter. “It’s an interesting building be- about straw bales and ecological building facilities

of renewable energy, and find cause it’s totally renewable and ecological,” she says. here,” explains Ms Böckl. She adds that her father is efficient uses for renewable raw “It’s much better than the place I worked before - a large “very excited about the place because of the wood materials for an office building, no- office with a lot of people inside. [That] was often very construction and all the other projects we do here.” table features of the building include noisy and the air was very bad because you couldn’t Her family’s main concern though“ is that she has a the widespread use of straw bales in open any windows, so it’s good working environ- construction, an innovative “straw screw” much better here.” ment, “but they also for mounting wooden planks on bales used for I think it’s always good if you think that it’s good that I insulation, stone flooring to capture and retain heat Ms Böckl also says it have the possibility to buy local, it work for a company that and a biomass storage stove. The S-House continues to is “interesting because takes responsibility for go from strength to strength as an exhibition and infor- there are always a lot of doesn’t matter if it’s about food or if ecological issues,” she mation centre and is currently being used as a training people coming to have“ it’s about construction materials says proudly. where he was first introduced to the theory and prac- and theory the to introduced first was he where fore transferring totheTechnical UniversityofVienna, chitecture attheTechnical UniversityofMunichbe- Originally fromBavaria,StefanProkupekstudiedar- ment for ourchildren.” construct greenbuildingstoleaveabetterenviron- tions, and I think that’s an important thing also to about thefutureofourchildrenandgenera- should thinkgreen,IthewholeEU fore adding“It’s notonlytheconstructionsectorthat transport, the CO new jobs, to secure existing jobs; also because of the good thingtostrengthen the region itself: tocreate it’s aboutconstructionmaterials.Ithinkthat’s avery to buylocal,itdoesn’tmatterifit’s aboutfood orif “I thinkit’s alwaysgoodifyouhavethepossibility and alsotrytouseitasfarpossible,”shesays. home, “asfaraswhatIknow now Iwouldthinkofit tion, infact,ifshewasbuildingorrenovating herown much a convert to the cause of straw bale construc- Since startingworkintheS-House,MsBöcklisvery 2 emissions,” believes Ms Böckl, be- The Voices ofLIFE20yearsgettingthingsdone cause of “the seeing and thesmelling...thecolours...the sur- For MrProkupek,workinginthebuildingisapleasure,be- project. training sessions as part of the LIFE+ RENEW BUILDING thee daysaweekonregularbasis”,helpingtodeliver As- Scientific sistant/Trainer. a Heisnow basedintheS-House“twoor as 2007 in GrAT for work to came he tice of sustainable building. He enjoyed this so much that ject, Mr Prokupek believes: of theLIFES-House pro- a major benefit and legacy This “seeingandfeeling” is being heremuchmore.” like just “I says he Vienna, in GrAT’soffice and kirchen his timebetweenBöheim- walls.” Althoughhesplits the inside fibres the ample - that youcansee, for ex- the mostlynaturalsurfaces very specialbecauseofall faces... Thisissomething next time about the 15 buildings that were done like this.” nitely use[straw baleconstruction].Ihopecan tellyou defi- will students] architecture [the of some that vinced BUILDING projects, will lead to concrete results: “I am con- work of GrAT, demonstration realisedthrough the LIFES-HouseandRENEW the that confident is Prokupek Mr it works.” is agoodsolution,Iknow aboutit,Itriedknow that they cangotoowners ofbuildingsandtellthem:this construction works, then they can really support it. Then on thematerialsandunderstandinghow thistypeof able approaches.“Ifyou see peoplegettingtheirhands about usingstrawbaleconstructionandotherrenew- confidentfeel to architects budding enabling to comes This, hebelieves,willbeparticularlyimportantwhenit what ishereinreality.” but plans, the just not them show to chance the have the best thingtoconvincepeople.With thisoneexamplewe just is this see, can they into, walk can they thing in abuildingthatusesthem.“Ifyoureallyhavesome- use renewablematerialsandthe“wow” factorofbeing the difference between understanding it’s a good thing to 53 MEET THE CITIZENS 54 The Voices of LIFE 20 years of getting things done

One barrier to growth of the sector is cost. “These same price. That’s why we want to teach the planners as the successful realisation of agricultural projects materials don’t have a huge industry behind them, well as the craftsmen - if they know where they have to around heat from biomass and the manufacturing so they are just a little more expensive,” laments Mr work together then everything is much easier.” and marketing of agricultural products, including Prokupek. However, he concludes that it is getting easier straw bales. for architects to persuade clients of the value of straw The home-builder: Josef Petschko bale construction and that even worries about cost can When it came to building a new family home close to be overcome. “If you really start planning in such a sus- Straw, one might say, is in Josef Petchsko’s blood. his parents’ farm, Mr Petschko was thus very interested “ tainable way, it doesn’t actually need to be much more Raised on a small farm near St. Polten and having in the possibilities of using straw bales for insulation. expensive, because if you know the materials and know studied at agricultural college, in 2007 he began After speaking to colleagues who had been involved in about the combinations, then you could get to about the working for AGRAR PLUS, a company dedicated to straw bale insulation project, he attended an open day Stefan Prokupek Photo: Monique Braem “ in whathehas done.“Neighboursandmembers of build theirown housesbuttheyareveryinterested” Mr Petschko says that “friends arenot at the stage to ing sourceweuse.” mate inthehouse.Asmallpellet boileristheonlyheat- cli- good a it’s much: very it enjoy “We 2011. August Mr Petschko and his family have been living there since Construction ofthehousebeganinOctober2009and rect size. chainsaw wasusedtocutthebalesdown tothecor- the wall. For thosemoreawkward corner positions, a into easily fitted bales most that meaning planning “was quiteeasy”,recallsMrPetschko, withthepre- dimensions of36cmx5080/90cm.Installation In all,some1000baleswereneeded,withstandard density.” thing beingtoachieve“goodstrongbaleswithahigh The balescamefromhisparents’farm,theimportant home toenabletheuseofstrawbalesfor insulation. ter, MrPetschko adaptedthedesignofhisplannednew With this advice andworkingtogether with hiscarpen- lation ofthestrawbales.” measurements fromtheharvestthroughtoinstal- terested in my project and they helped us with different at theS-HouseinBöheimkirchen.“Theywerevery- change. Ithink youcanuse or straw insulation as all this kind ofconstruction We have to stop climate over Europeover “ The Voices ofLIFE20yearsgettingthingsdone straw balesor to carpenterswillingandable towork wouldn’t have the linkstoafarmerwhocan supply If someone builds a house in a city or town, they bales intocommonuse.” and further. Ithinkthiscouldbeawaytobring straw farmers, wehaveabroadnetwork over Lower Austria the farmertocustomer. We havethelinkto should keep incontacttogetacompletechainfrom tion for thestrawbalesfor commonuseandIthinkwe this direction. The S-House team has got the certifica- in projects further for looking are we and insulation because AGRAR PLUS has done a project on straw bale interesting also it’s field working my “in that adds He house; it’s notsocommon.” and theyarealsointerestedinhow toliveinastraw the familycametohavealookduringconstruction (TUW) whoweredoingpracticaltrainingattheS-Househadtosay: What do the architecture students think? Here’s what two students from the Technical University of Vienna The architects(oftomorrow) that aresustainable.” and polystyreneintheworld,thesearematerials and strawreed;Ithinkthere’s somuchconcrete sense touselocalmaterials.It’s reallycoolusingclay in Lower Austriatherearelotsoffarmers,soitmakes B “Straw isacoolmaterial-it’ irgit S chwar z enberger s funnytoworkwithit,but

construction orstrawasinsulationallover Europe.” stop climatechange.Ithinkyoucanusethiskindof as LIFEisveryimportant,hebelieves.“We haveto tives such as the S-House through programmes such initia- building forrenewable EU support this.” offer sary tobuildupacommunityornetworkthatcan with straw, pointsoutMrPetschko. “Andsoit’s neces- clay finish,Ifindvery, verygoodactually.” purposes, strawandreedparticularly, evenwithouta to yourhouse,it’s verygood,fast.Sofor simple signs ofanyproblems.Forsomesimplebuildingnext works like ventilation. It’s twoyearsoldandthere’s no a pieceofwoodandbetweenthere’s anairgap,soit on fixed is mat reed this wall], load-bearing this “[On P eter S edlak

Email: [email protected] Contact: RobertWimmer Beneficiary: GrAT (GruppeAngepassteTechnologie) by meansofanofficeandexhibitionbuilding Title: S-House: innovative use of renewable resources Project number:LIFE00ENV/A/000243 55 MEET THE CITIZENS 56

4 MEETMEET THETHE guardiansguardians

Guardians of land and sea: shepherds, graziers, farmers, fishermen and landowners have played a key role in demonstrating, through the LIFE programme, new and effective ways of marrying the demands of food production with those of nature conservation and environmental management. This chapter gives their personal perspectives on how LIFE has helped. MEET THEguardians habitat. habitat. a fast action to restore the the treesimmediately. Itwas cut to wanted project the but before cuttingdown thepine, the landthatIwouldwait thought thatwhenIbought I project. the with learned I tive toreceivethesupportofLIFE. was takingplaceatthistime.Itgoodfor myinitia- project LIFE the fortunatethat very was It this. doing of horses andcattlesoIboughtthelandwithidea I sawthattherewasawayofmanagingthelandwith courses innatureconservationattheUniversityofLiege. very young.Iamacivilengineerby training,butIfollow I havebeeninterestedinnatureconservationsincewas interesting. Thevalleyhasarichbiodiversity. project area because they thought that my land was very the enlarged they land, my saw they After project. LIFE could dotopreserveit.Idiscovered Natura2000anda tacted administrationsandassociationstoseewhatwe land nearby in 2000for conservationpurposesandIcon- “My wife’s familyhasahouseintheArdennes;Ibought with ponies A passionfor conservation ics andmechanics;“theotherhalfofmytimeIspendonland”. Marc Philippot from Wallonia, Belgium spends half his time as a teacher in a technical college in electron- enhance the connectivity of these habitats. enhance theconnectivity ofthesehabitats. gered species.A LIFEprojectwascarriedoutto lands andgivessheltertomany rareandendan- several typesofboghabitats,forests andgrass- 650m, isthehighestplateauin Wallonia. Itcontains The Tailles Plateau,whichhas altitudesof500- THE PROJECT The Voices ofLIFE20yearsgettingthingsdone doned area.Itwasagoodlearningexperience. value oftheirapproach.Theyalsointroducedanaban- that wecouldputmorehorsesontheland.ButIsaw was concernedthatthereweresofew animals;Ithought of number horses by hectare. I have three ponies. At the beginning I the adapted We butterfly. the concerning especially from, benefit could I that experts had They age withponies. ernment gavemesomelandthatithadboughttoman- when theycutdown thepines,andalsoWalloon gov- and now Ihave25ha.boughtmyneighbour’s land hectares six had I project LIFE the of beginning the At Expanding horizons Marc Philippot 57 MEET THE GUARDIANS

58 The Voices of LIFE 20 years of getting things done The impact of the project “ is already observable in terms of biodiversity “on. But they are surprised that I have such beautiful ponies.

The thing that surprised me also was the need for money. The first couple of years I made a loss, the third yearI broke even and after that I made a small gain, which is enough to pay for the work. It takes a large investment of time to cover your costs. Maintaining barbed-wire fences and inserting posts in order to control the ponies takes me one or two days a week.

I bought two more hectares this year. I want to connect sites. But the LIFE project has finished, so it’s taking a lot longer. I have contacted some local landowners who have agreed to sell me their land when their pines are cut down in 10, 15, 20 years’ time. I want to have a good area of land where I can put the horses in spring time and not disturb plants and butterflies. The bad lands were easy to Landowners sold land because it was not interesting prevalent than before, and the large egret now comes buy, but good land is much more difficult. I aim to have 40 to them without the pines (a hectare of pines is worth every winter. ha; which is a good amount for a half-time teacher, half- roughly €13 000). I was surprised by the lack of in- time farmer.” terest of some other landowners. The region gives It’s important to have a good relationship with the money if they maintain the land in an environmental hunters. At the beginning they were very sceptical but way, but they weren’t interested. now they are happy to see many deer on the site, Project number: LIFE05 NAT/B/000089 so relations are good. It’s necessary to regulate the Title: PLTTAILLES - Rehabilitation of natural habi- When I bought the land, I wasn’t aware of all the numbers of wild boar and deer on the land because tats on the Tailles Plateau wildlife there, but I saw over the first year its tre- they destroy the grassland. Beneficiary: Walloon Region represented by the mendous richness. We discovered many plant spe- General Directorate of Natural Resources and the cies, including orchids, as well as birds such as red Stranger in a strange land Environment (DGRNE) kite. The impact of the project is already observable Contact: Pierre Gérard in terms of biodiversity. They dug little ponds, which For the people in the village, I am ET – a strange be- Email: [email protected] are benefitting dragonfly species. Deer are also more ing – because the land is not good for putting animals The Voices of LIFE 20 years of getting things done 59

Fostering a fondness for nature

A landowner from Denmark and a farmer from Portugal reveal how their involvement in LIFE projects has fur- thered their love of nature.

A butterfly flaps its wings order to maintain and increase the range of the butterfly We learnt a lot from the project because we followed Carl Christian Rasmussen – for example don’t use fertilisers. We never used a lot of it very intensely. Everyday we talked with the man who and Lisbet Kruse Banke Carl Christian Rasmussen and Lisbet Kruse Banke chemicals on the land so the conservation measures that was in charge. We didn’t understand why we had to re- are retired biology teachers and landowners in Jut- the project carried out were easier for us. move those trees or do this thing whatever it was, so it land, Denmark. really has been an eye-opener. We learned how to re- But we can no longer make winter feed for cows – we move trees in a wood without damaging the other trees. “We have a well-known biologist in Denmark who special- have to buy it from other farmers. You can’t plough ises in butterflies and it was just by chance that he was in grass fields any more. There are a lot of things that we our area, and he thought that he’d try our road to see if he can’t do any longer. We are living in a land which is more could find this specific butterfly: the marsh fritillary butterfly sand than soil, but we were aware that the land was (Euphydryas aurinia). And there suddenly it was on our land. valuable, however. We have an extremely rare plant here. The butterfly lays its eggs on a specific plant (Devil’s bit scabious – Succisa pratensis) and a lot of habitat protection was necessary. We were contacted by the environment ministry. The local authority made a plan of how to take care of the area together with us. The whole plan was finished but THE PROJECT there was no money. Two or three years later the LIFE project came The ASPEA project achieved a favourable up with the money. conservation status for the endangered target species through the strengthening of habitats: We have always been interested in it protected more than 500 ha of existing and Project number: LIFE05 NAT/DK/000151 potential marsh fritillary butterfly habitats within nature; that’s why we bought the Title: ASPEA – Action for sustaining the population three Natura 2000 sites in northern Jutland. The of Euphydryas aurinia land 30 years ago. We have 120 project serves as a good demonstration of resto- Beneficiary: Danish Forest and Nature Agency ha and it’s beautiful. The Natu- ration followed up by recurring activities such as Contact: Søren Kjær ral Conservation Association lists grazing. Email: [email protected] rules on how to treat the area in 60 The Voices of LIFE 20 years of getting things done

We had a very clever forestry worker on the project. We learned a lot from him. We told him that we didn’t want the Julio Canas remaining trees to stand like soldiers in the field – a very small area, and now it’s over a much larger area. to be too vertical – and The biologist told us that it’s very dangerous if they are he understood what we only found on a small area, therefore it’s a success that it’s meant. now found in several sites.

There was a large area with a lot of pine wood and we We’ve counted 40 different butterflies on our land. The thought that one day when we can afford it and we have place in Denmark where there are the most has 41. We time to do it ourselves, it would be so nice to get rid of need to find one more!” that. And suddenly it happened. It became very beautiful, a much more beautiful area. One farmer’s love of lesser kestrels

Developing interests Julio Canas is a farmer in Castro Verde, southern Portugal, whose sheep graze on semi natural dry The initial biologist made the butterfly species sound so grasslands rich in steppe avifauna. He speaks with interesting. He brought pictures and explained why it was pride about his involvement in LIFE projects to con- important to preserve this particular butterfly. In fact, we serve the endangered lesser kestrel. began to study butterflies, and all the kids in the area also became interested. “I have more than 1 500 sheep [mostly raised for meat – see box - but some wool is produced too]. I try to keep the grass- But we had one neighbour who wasn’t interested in it at all. lands ‘healthy’. I always saw lesser kestrels in my farm, but They wanted to raise the water level on his land, and there I never paid attention to them. I loved to watch them getting were many harsh words. Nobody was able to convince him out of their nests in my barn and hunting grasshoppers in of the worth of the project, so now he has sold his property. my field. I did not even know their correct name.

We’ve also become interested in bird life because of the But one day I saw two ladies (they were from the LIFE project and look out for birds every year. We count their project) wandering around my property and I asked them: eggs: it’s a hobby. We’ve visited a LIFE project in Extrema- “What are you doing here? This is private property!” They dura (Spain), through the bird watching organisations. said that they were looking for lesser kestrels, the ones you have nesting in the barn. “Ah! Ok, if it is that, there is Since the project we’ve continued to look out for the special no problem. I like those little fellows.” They replied: “We butterfly. We can see it moving around and growing stead- would like to ask you whether you want to have more nests ily in number. When they found the butterfly it was only on in your barn for free?” I immediately said yes! as thingsare.” is too bureaucratic and not flexible. I can have more birds want moneyfromCAPagri-environmentalmeasures;it don´t I site. network 2000 Natura the inside ha 700 my the good management ofthehabitatsfor the birds on ‘dime’ for allowing theneststobeplacedormaintaining the birdsorplacednestsonmyfarm.Ineverreceiveda If itwasn’tfor LIFEIwouldneverhavetaken careof birds around. in Portugalfor themtobreed!Iamproudhavethese area best the is property my workers project LIFE the to Portugal, thereareonly350breedingpairs,andaccording nests. Ihadtwoorthreepairsandnow Ihave12pairs.In immediately myneighbourfarmersalsowanted kestrel and 2002), (in nests birds LIFE have to one first the was I ket,” hebelieves. you wouldbeabletodevelopthat mar- ing… With along-termplanfor grazing to developthatthrough cattle breed - page 79).“You needlong-termsecurity NAT/UK/000948 –see (LIFE07 project UK as part of anongoing LIFE Nature cattle on theAngleseyFens SAC in the ert Pritchard,afarmerwhoisgrazing market for beef products,”explainsRob- lieve thereareopportunitiesfor aniche what persuadedmetogoahead.Ibe- “Reviving anichemarket reallywas for farmersinmanypartsofEurope. ly importantadditionalincomestream nature conservationareasisapotential- The sale of meat from herds grazed on Developing natureproducts “ ers inthearea.” tool: “mostcustomersareregular walk- ture reserveservesasagoodmarketing that thepresenceofcows inthena- consumers viahisfarmshop, believes involved, who sells the meat directly to Marc Arnalsteens,one of thegraziers hay grown onthefarminwinter. wetlands inthesummerandarefed with tibiotics, grazeontheunfertilised former The cattle,whicharenottreatedwithan- from the cattle grazed on the project sites. market for “Nature Meat”(natuurvlees) 2003, hasbeenthedevelopmentofa (LIFE98 Belgium NAT/B/000571 ), whichconcludedin in project Diljevallei One ofthelastingoutcomes The Voices ofLIFE20yearsgettingthingsdone and CampoMajor. fied for actionundertheproject, Vale doGuadiana nary zonalplansfor twoofthethreeSPAs identi- (Falco naumanni).Italsohelpeddrawupprelimi- greatly benefitedthetargetspecieslesser kestrel contribution totheNatura2000networkand The initialLIFENatureprojectmadeasignificant Email: [email protected] Contact: RitaAlcazar Beneficiary: LigaparaaProtecçãodaNatureza Kestrel (Falco naumanni)inPortugal Title: Peneireiro-Re-establishmentoftheLesser Project number:LIFE02NAT/P/008481 THE PROJECT tarda) andlittlebustard(Tetrax tetrax). The projectalsotargetsthegreatbustard(Otis tion andintroducinganewkestrel breedingsite. management practicesfor steppebirdconserva- on thisworkandisextendingfarminggame The follow-up LIFE+project,EstepÁrias,hasbuilt Email: [email protected] Contact: RitaAlcazar Beneficiary: LigaparaaProtecçãodaNatureza Alentejo cerealsteppes tard, LittleBustardandLesserKestrelintheBaixo Title: EstepÁrias - Conservation of Great Bus- Project number:LIFE07NAT/P/000654 THE PROJECT 61 MEET THE GUARDIANS 62 The Voices of LIFE 20 years of getting things done

View from a Swedish plateau

Arne Jönsson is a landowner and cattle farmer in Kinnekulle, Sweden.

“The LIFE project organisers said that we should go back THE PROJECT starts growing. But don’t forget we also have all these to how the land was 200 years ago, when there were flowers coming up, especially orchids, which were under Arne Jönsson cows and grazing on this land, and I thought that this Kinnekulle is a 265 m high plateau in southern the bushes and couldn’t grow. And now they can open up was interesting. Sweden that hosts a particularly rich and diverse and we have a lot of beautiful orchids on the land. set of habitats and species thanks to centuries of We agreed that whatever action was taken should be extensive grazing and mowing. However, small- I learnt how this all could be done successfully. This bush agreed on my side. This has worked out very well in- scale farming has lost much of its economic land turned into very good grazing land in two years and viability in the last century and a LIFE project deed. We have a meeting, we talk and we say that is still improving. I was sensitive about conservation is- was established to restore habitats that depend maybe we should cut on grazing or hay-making for their favourable sues before the project, but maybe not as much as I am down these trees and do conservation status. today. In the water holes we have found salamander. It’s so and so. This contact one the animals that is benefitting [from the project], but has continued after the there could be many, many more. project; every month we talk. reserve, because the value of the farm would go down. We have had a lot of tourists walking on the trails here But the positive side was that they paid me a certain on the farm and also on the whole mountain. Since we Some of the land was amount of money for starting the project…and we have opened up the land, they can see all around and down to just bush, which is good made a profit out of it. We keep cattle on the land, and the lake. It’s nice for them to see this type of landscape. for shooting game, but we had not hitherto thought of doing this, because we It’s easy to come here; there are parking spaces. [built nothing more. Then we didn’t have the possibility to clear the land of all the as part of the project]. New lodgings should be provided. got the money to repair bushes. I’ve been thinking about it, but there must be some inter- the land. This has been ested person who can run a bed and breakfast.” very helpful, and the It is profitable if you run it in the correct way, but it’s objective now is to keep not easy. It’s requires a lot of effort and a lot of invest- : LIFE02 NAT/S/008484 cattle. This has worked ment in building (infrastructure for the cattle): I got Project number Title: Kinnekulle plateau mountain - restoration out for the best for both 25% from the EU but 75% I had to pay myself. and conservation parties. Beneficiary: Västra Götaland County Administra- Nature in bloom tive Board Most [fellow landowners] Contact: Maria Thordarson thought that it would be This alvar land contains very little soil on top of a lime- Email: [email protected] negative to have a nature stone base. Cows compact the ground and the grass View fromaSwedishplateau unique totheScottishhighlandsandislands. island is typified by crofting activities – a type of farming veloping sourcesofincomesuchasruraltourism.The on traditionalforms offarmingactivityalongwithde- the 2001census and many people onthe island depend to according 249 1 just of population resident a had It Benbecula is an island off the Atlantic coast of Scotland. Crofting isaLIFEchoice tradition. agricultural practices,particularlythecrofting marrying theinterestsofconservationwithlocal world’s machairhabitatandassociatedspeciesby improve theconservationstatusof70% This ongoingLIFEprojectisworkingtosecureand THE PROJECT Archie MacDonaldisaworking crofterontheislandofBenbeculainOuterHebrides,Scotland. The Voices ofLIFE20yearsgettingthingsdone didn’t haveadishwasherorthingslike that!” more oflife’s luxuries than peopledid then! Myfather Your moneydoesn’tgoas far, althoughwealsohave the landdoesn’tgiveenoughreturntodoitfull-time. island from a grandfather and I bought one. These days, the of side east the on two inherited I crofts. seven run personally now “I changed. have times But land. the off he raisedafamilyoffour childrenwithwhatheearned Archie’s father was a full-time crofter with four crofts and I’vehad which since Ireturnedtotheisland.” business, building asmall I run crofts, became illandI’vebeenhereeversince.Aswellasthe he when crofts his with father my help to 1978 in back came joiner.I a be to learned and Scotland mainland in becula andwenttoschoolhere,thenIcollege Archie MacDonald is a typical crofter. “I was born in Ben- cies as well as flowers and insects. The extensive grazing acidic soilandprovides habitatfor anarrayofbirdspe- land. It isformed by calcium rich sand being blown onto and found onlyonthewestcoastsofScotlandandIre- coastal habitat listed in Annex I of the Habitats Directive unique a is which machair, the by typified is Benbecula growing cerealsfor feeding livestock. usually asmallholdingofaround2-5halandusedfor Scotland live in crofting households. An individual croft is around 10%ofpeopleintheislandsandhighlands the 18th and 19th Centuries. It is estimated that today in periods social turbulent after populations sustaining islands suchasBenbecula.Itevolvedameansof onHebridean value heritage tremendous has Crofting The valueofcrofting Archie MacDonald 63 MEET THE GUARDIANS

64 The Voices of LIFE 20 years of getting things done and low intensity crop rotations of crofting also con- The project has helped local “ “Now people are seeing that others are benefiting from tribute to creating the conditions necessary for many the project and understand what the project is doing. ground-nesting birds such as the corncrake (Crex crex) crofters maintain some of their They think, ‘rather than put everything in big bale si- and corn bunting (Miliaria calandra). traditional activities and supported lage, I’ll leave a wee field myself and do that’. The project has also got people asking questions about how we Archie explains the particularities of the land. “The soil people who were on the brink of can maintain our traditional practices and, for example, here is very light and sandy and manganese deficient. “ where we can source the traditional machinery that we abandoning some practices We have tried growing mainland varieties of oats and need. barley here, but they only grow if you spray them with manganese and whatever else they are deficient in. The in the old days the kids would have been more involved, “Most people here keep an eye on the number of corn- traditional island varieties of oats, rye and bere – a type learning about the practices as they grew up.” crakes because we’re still rather fond of them. People of barley - can grow here without any additives. The soil talk about what date they heard the first corncrake of here is also very unstable and doesn’t hold the water, so Crofting on LIFE support the year. They’re still there, but you don’t hear so many we need more rainfall. Luckily we usually get it!” of them and it’s not to the same extent as when I was “The first I heard about the LIFE project was that I saw a younger. Personally I try to help them and, for example, Despite the strong traditions, important changes were meeting advertised. All the crofters were invited to talk I harvest from the inside of my field outwards so that if starting to take place in crofting. People were using more with the leaders of the project. It sounded interesting, there are any chicks, they can escape from the field. heavy machinery – notably combine harvesters – to but we were also wondering what it was all about and do the work rather than more labour-intensive what the catch was! They explained that they wanted to “Through an agri-scheme we don’t cut anything before practices. More people were keeping sheep, encourage the traditional ways of harvesting and crop- 1st August, but the problem then is that on that date as cattle became harder to keep and more ping, rather than going totally mechanised. everyone is cutting and it is difficult for the birds to find expensive. People also favoured big-bale an escape. We try to stagger it and delay some of the silage processes - for generating fer- “The project has helped local crofters maintain some cutting. This is easier to do with the corn crops. But the mented, high moisture fodder for of their traditional activities and supported people who grasses start to lose some of their nutritional value feeding animals - where crops are were on the brink of abandoning some practices. I kept much sooner. wrapped in plastic. a hectare of crop for seed and the project cut it for me, which was a help. The traditional reaper-binder that the “Another area where the project really did help was in Many of these practices were project bought means that you can cut the crop when the collecting more seaweed, and laying it on the crofts with reducing the opportunities for grain has a higher moisture content and leave it to dry their new spreader which is beyond the reach of the av- birds such as the corncrake and ripen. Bundles of cut crop are formed into a stack, erage crofter. Before artificial fertilisers came along sea- or corn bunting to breed suc- known as a stook, to dry.” weed was always what crofters used as it worked very cessfully. They also had social well with the type of nutrient-poor soil we have here. disadvantages that threaten By encouraging the late harvesting of crops, reducing However, a lot of manpower was needed, with people the future of the traditional the amount of arable crop undersown with grass and going down to the beach and forking the seaweed into way of life. “Because there is so favouring best practice cultivation techniques, including carts to bring back to the crofts. much heavy machinery involved leaving bundles of stacked crops in the fields, the project in crofting these days, we tend to hopes to provide better opportunities for ground-nesting “I’d like to use more seaweed because the price of fer- keep children away from it, whereas birds. tiliser keeps going up. The main obstacle is the amount reserve and alsowithlocal gamekeepers doingsuch a the past 10 years. I think it started with a local nature is the grey-lag goose. Numbers have really increased in lenges tobefaced.“Aparticular challengewehavehere chal- still are there practices, crofting traditional of ing though itishelpingtochangeattitudes andunderstand- al- and 2013 of end the until run will project LIFE The Remaining challenges same output capacity as the one the project introduced.” I havemyown spreaderbutitcertainlydoesn’thavethe the weatherchangesanditgetssweptbackouttosea. before and weather, bad after usually time, right the at of workinvolvedincollectingitandyouhavetobethere The Voices ofLIFE20yearsgettingthingsdone long-term andsustainable protection ofcropsfrom is It also demonstrating thevalidityofcheapfencing asa gunfire. with crops from away them scare to ted who physicallymove towheregeesehavebeenspot- goose-scarers, local with experimented has project The that’s yourcropgone.” a visitfromtwoorthreehundred geeseinonenightand get can you Now geese. 50 been have would flock large geese cantotallydestroy acrop.Twentyyearsago of flock a night, bright a on but goose, the of numbers “We don’tthinkthattheRSPBarekeen onreducingthe take thegooseeggs. good job of getting rid of the hooded crow which used to as Archie. such crofters for project the from hope key a is project ofthe the duration beyond sustainable affordably are have toenteralongtheground.Finding methodsthat because the geese cannot land in a field of crops and so goose damage.Thisseeminglysimplisticmethodworks Email: [email protected] Contact: RebeccaCotton of Birds(RSPB) Beneficiary: TheRoyal Society for theProtection tats andspeciesinasuiteofScottish Naturasites Title: Scottishmachair–Conserving machair habi- Project number:LIFE08NAT/UK/000204 65 MEET THE GUARDIANS 66 The Voices of LIFE 20 years of getting things done

LIFE’s graziers of the Hungarian grasslands

As part of an ongoing LIFE Nature project – LIFE07 NAT/H/000324 – the project beneficiary, the Hortobágy Environmental Association, is encouraging farmers in the town of Balmazújváros to start grazing again with native curly-horned Racka sheep. Here we meet four of the farmers that have taken up the challenge.

“I have been living in this area of Hungary for 61 years and I also have my horses out on the project site. I like habitat - people cannot maintain the grasslands, if there and working with livestock for 40 years. I had heard about being involved in anything to do with the grassland here. is no livestock on it, it will go wild. traditional methods from my grandfather, who said the I can travel on horseback all the way to Hortobágy vil- Hortobágy grassland has to be grazed, but I had no expe- lage, 25 km away, just on grassland: that is wonderful. All being well, I am going to keep farming Racka sheep rience of traditional grazing before the LIFE project. I had after the project. The meat from the sheep will go to my been an intensive pig farmer and also kept horses. I am looking into the possibilities of starting horse-riding family. We really like Racka meat - it tastes better than tours of the grassland and the Racka sheep would be meat from other sheep.” I live close to the project site at Balmazújváros and I saw something good for people doing the tours to look at. the long-horned grey cattle and Racka sheep and I was So, indirectly they would be a source of income. I have János Király curious, so I found out more and decided to get involved been riding horses and competing in horse-riding events in the LIFE project, keeping Racka sheep. for a long time. I would love to pass on my knowledge of horses to visitors to this area. Racka are not particularly difficult to keep, but they need more space because of their long, twisted horns. They The LIFE project has changed my view of nature conser- are also quite shy; it is not that easy to herd them with vation. Even smaller things like litter: now I tell people to sheepdogs. They are not shy of people though and are pick up rubbish and not to drop it! I feel like a warden of very tolerant. We have a saying that sheep are biting in the grasslands, not only maintaining the habitat, but also the front, kicking in the back and bucking in the middle, looking after it. but I still love to sit on them! I would most certainly recommend to other farmers The Hortobágy Environmental Association, has been a to try traditional, extensive grazing if there is enough great help. Now I am thinking about getting more sheep grassland available. That is the only way to maintain the possibility of keeping Racka sheep and other traditional possibility ofkeeping Rackasheepandothertraditional the about project LIFE the of shepherd the from heard I logical Society. of things.IamalsoamembertheHungarian Ornitho- helping toprotectbirds,installnestboxesandallsorts already thinkingaboutnatureconservation. I hadbeen was I so project, this to prior Balmazújváros around den for thelast20ofthose.Ihadbeenworkingasawar- “I have been living in this area for 21 years and a farmer Ferenc Oláh The Voices ofLIFE20yearsgettingthingsdone ditional income. cheese andotherproductsfromtheRackafor ad- Racka meat.Iamalsothinkingaboutusingthemilk, such asMerino.TheItalianmarket islookingfor can make better useofitthannon-nativebreeds, sheep, evenifthegrasslandisnotasgood,thisbreed I muchprefer keeping nativelivestock.With Racka full daystocleanupafterthem. have beenintherefor severalmonths.Ittakes two able timeasIhavetocleanthebarnaftersheep enjoy- least the is Springtime evening. the in water ing thelambingseason.Ithenleavemorefodder and check thesheepseveraltimesaday, especiallydur- water andmorefodder inthebarn.Ialsogoand winter, Ileavefodder for the sheepoutsideandalso I usually startwork at 6 o’clock in the morning. In sheep before theproject. a goodideatoincreasethenumber. Ihad13Racka some Rackasheepalready, soIthoughtitwouldbe have I and well very area project the know I breeds. we saidyes. con - tacted usandasked ifwewould like tobeinvolved and shepherd the so site, project the to near live We al grazingthroughhim. younger, somyparentsknow somethingabout tradition- My grandfather used to keep Racka sheep when he was [2011]. year this project LIFE the started with involvement our We sunflowers. and wheat corn, crops: family grows My born. was I where Balmazújváros, in live “I farming.” have evolvedinsuchawaythatitisgoodof best use of its grassland. Traditional grazing methods ers –theoriginallivestocknativetoanareamakes the I wouldrecommendtraditionalgrazingtootherfarm- traditional grazing to other farmers – the livestock original native to an “ area makes the best useof I would recommend István Szanka its grassland “ 67 MEET THE GUARDIANS 68 The Voices of LIFE 20 years of getting things done

We are starting an agri-tourism business - my parents The LIFE project hasn’t changed my views about the Hor- have built a guest house, so it will be really good to show tobágy area, but it is helping me live out the traditional tourists traditional Hungarian animals of the Puzsta, like way of life that I like. In this area extensive grazing is the Racka and the ‘szürke szarvasmarha’, the Hungarian very important. Grey cattle. The best thing about being involved with this LIFE project This project will help because if tourists come to stay with has been being able to get in touch with other people in us, going to see the sheep will be one extra thing they can the area with the same interests - both in cultural herit- do. Maybe we can buy some traditional sheep-herding cos- age and in keeping livestock such as Racka sheep. I plan tumes, which the tourists could wear and take photos of to keep increasing the size of my Racka flock after the József Bodnár themselves with the sheep. I think they would be really project ends.” happy with that. “I have been living in this area for 34 years; I was born Visitors will also be able to eat the meat of the Racka here. As a child, my family was involved in farming, but sheep and know exactly where it comes from and it will be I worked as an Internet radio DJ until three years ago, better-tasting than meat bought in a store. when I came back to traditional farming. This is really the continuation of my childhood. My second degree is in agriculture and environment, so I think it is really important to look after nature. But you I farm poultry and goats, as well as keeping Racka sheep. have to show and teach farmers first and tell them the It’s quite easy to work with the Racka, even though they rules after, rather than the other way round. are wilder than merino. They tolerate circumstances better, they are hardier: they were born to graze these grasslands. I think it’s a good idea for farmers with the time and money to invest in traditional grazing, because they can get closer The most enjoyable thing for me is continuing what I to nature. This will also stop urbanisation and allow people saw in my childhood - the cultural heritage. I stopped to stay in the village; that’s important for everybody.” deejaying because it was not very rewarding culturally. I really enjoy reading about the shepherd life and culture and I find it a rewarding experience. Shepherd culture is THE PROJECT our cultural heritage, especially in the Hortobágy region. A high level of grazing is fundamental to the Traditional grazing is a way of maintaining our culture. Pannonic salt steppe and marsh habitat targeted by this project, which is building upon the habitat The Hortobágy Environmental Association has helped me Project number: LIFE07 NAT/H/000324 Title: HORTOBAGY SODIC LAKES - Restoration of management successes of an earlier LIFE project to increase my numbers of sheep. I really want to start in Hortobágy: LIFE02 NAT/HU/008638. Long-term sodic lake sub-type of the Pannonic salt steppe generating additional income from cheese and milk from protection of this endangered habitat requires and marsh habitat in the Hortobágy the Racka and my goats. The LIFE project has been per- a sustainable grazing system which can only be Beneficiary: Hortobágy Environmental Association achieved by getting the locals involved again and fect timing because it has helped me to increase Racka Contact: Zoltán Ecsedi generating a long-term interest in keeping livestock. sheep numbers. I want to keep all the ewes and sell the Email: [email protected] meat of the males. sheepdogs –aspecial breedthatcanbeusedto protect in 2005became aspecialistintherearingof Abruzzo an organisationthatwasfounded manyyearsagobut “I’m PresidentoftheAbruzzo sheepdog association – Italy Provincethe in breeder dog L’Aquilaof Abruzzo, in Freddy Barbarossaisapolicemanandpart-time carnivores. guard dogstohelplimitdamagefromattacksby large viding farmerswithfencing andspecially-bredlivestock these animals.Practicalmeasureshaveincludedpro- positive coexistencebetweenlocalstakeholders and have aimed to raise awareness and demonstrate a more the still ongoing EX-TRA ( the stillongoingEX-TRA NAT/IT/000144 ) and (LIFE04 COEX – projects LIFE The of of tens years. absences after re-colonising are species the in partsofsouthernEurope(Italy, Spain,France etc)where or theirlivelihood.Thesechallengesareparticularlysevere general public)seetheseanimalsasthreatstothemselves People whomake alivingfromtheland(aswellas carnivores areusuallyperceivedasadangerousproblem. Wolves (Canis lupus), bears Ursus ( arctos) and other large Living withthewolfat door IE7 NAT/IT/000502) – LIFE07 and bearswhilereducingconflictbetween humansandtheselargecarnivores. wolvesof populations endangered conserve to aimed that projects Nature LIFE Italian-led two in pating partici- of experiences their share – families farming sheep two and breeder dog a – stakeholders Local The Voices ofLIFE20yearsgettingthingsdone or apet. traits, asitwasbecomingmoreabreedfor dogshows over 2000years,ithadstartedtoloseitsworkingdog sheep.) Althoughthespecieshasbeeninexistencefor up alongside their flocks and form strong bonds with the livestock fromwolforbeardamage.(Thesedogsgrow stakeholders aboutlargecarnivores. was animprovement inattitudesandknowledge of on livestockinfiveEuropeancountries. A key result prevent thedamagecausedby wolvesandbears cal measurestostimulatetheuse oftoolsto The COEXprojectimplemented a seriesofpracti- THE PROJECT than inpreviousyears.We’ve alsoreceivedfeedback provide betterguaranteesofa[typicalAbruzzo]dog carry outfurtherDNAresearchthathasenabledusto the typeofdogthatweneed.LIFEhasallowed usto screening andcross-breeding,inordertogetexactly ence underLIFEintermsoftraitselectionthroughDNA We’ve alreadygainedagooddealofpositiveexperi- (Lazio), Tuscany andOrvieto(Umbria). now we’reexpandingthenetworktoincludeFrosinone a networkofdogsfor thefarmersofL’Aquila; and ing more actively. The aim initially was to establish participat- we’re however, project, EX-TRA the Under we gaveacoupleofpuppiestoonethefarmers. project; COEX LIFE the with involved slightly were We Abruzzo pups under LIFE,for thefarm- trainingstarted courses, lines andwealsorun ual withthebasicguide- We’ve produced a man- very helpfulfor us. herd andthishasbeen from theoriginalshep- Freddy Barbarossa 69 MEET THE GUARDIANS 70 The Voices of LIFE 20 years of getting things done

sions. However, this is a long procedure and doesn’t fully and immediately with the flock and they’ve protected the cover the value of the sheep that have been lost. sheep from attacks very well.

Sleepless nights Afterwards everything has changed for the better. We’ve found that the lambs are no longer disappearing, that is, THE PROJECT We decided to participate in we would sometimes lose some 30 to 70 lambs during the the LIFE project as; frankly, breeding season. An occasional sheep still goes missing, The EX-TRA project aims to transfer the best our quality of life had re- but not the lambs. practice and lessons learned from COEX into new areas. In particular, it is seeking to expand the use ally been lowered.” (‘I hadn’t of damage-prevention tools – such as guard dogs slept properly in the last Wily wolves and electric fences to protect livestock – and to four years,” says Angelo. “I provide the relevant authorities with the neces- would stay awake all night Later on we discovered that the wolf had learnt how to sary knowledge about conflict management. in the truck and the sheep jump the fence, so we added an extra strip to make it were all around me, as they higher. We advised the beneficiary that it would be useful knew I was protecting them. to have the fencing made higher from the start. With this ers, especially at the moment when we hand over the But when I did occasionally fall asleep, the wolves would extra height, the attacks have stopped and we no longer dog for the first time. manage to come and kill some of the sheep, or start wor- have to submit compensation claims to the province! rying them.”) A major challenge was to find sheep farmers who were I wish there were more projects such as these; they bring willing to participate in the scheme. Once we had worked “When the ewes become scared their adrenaline level rises about positive changes to the land and to all those who with them and they’d seen that the experience with the and this can cause miscarriages later in the year. Moreover, live on it. People’s attitude changes too and they start to dogs was good, they then started talking about it to their the ewes produce less than half their usual amounts of see that it is possible to improve their lives in harmony with colleagues. It’s all word of mouth. They take a long-term milk, or it can even go to zero, due to the high stress they nature and with the authorities.” view and realise that if they invest in the dogs, it will suffer. So we have another economic loss. help in avoiding any further damage or problems in the

future.” We decided to try the electric fencing and the sheepdogs. Project number: LIFE04 NAT/IT/000144 We were a bit sceptical about the fencing: we couldn’t be- Title: Improving coexistence of large carnivores

Angelo De Planu and his wife Simonetta Basili are lieve that a 1m fence could actually keep a wolf away, but and agriculture in S. Europe : Institute of Applied Ecology sheep farmers in Orvieto, Umbria (Italy) we noticed the difference immediately. We also have five Beneficiary dogs that were bred from the dogs that were donated dur- “We got involved in the LIFE COEX project as we were ing the LIFE project. These dogs have integrated perfectly“ Project number: LIFE07 NAT/IT/000502 having some problems with a wolf. Before [the species] Title: Improving the conditions for large carnivore reappeared in the Orvieto area, the sheep could graze [The] dogs have integrated conservation - a transfer of best practices freely day and night. Since the wolf started appearing Beneficiary: Gran Sasso and Monti della Laga Na- and killing our sheep, however, the only way for us to perfectly and immediately with tional Park protect the flock was to stay and watch over the sheep the flock and they’ve protected Contact: Annette MERTENS Simonetta Basili, during the night. We had made formal complaints for Email: [email protected] Angelo De Planu compensation to the authorities on two to three occa- “ the sheep from attacks animals swallowing plastic or other objects which block which objects other or plastic swallowing animals ity todivefor food. Thisconditioncanbecaused by the covery centre deals with is ‘floating syndrome’, an inabil- One ofthemostcommonturtle problemsthatthere- Turtle rehabilitation the turtleswhiletheyrecover.” rehabilitation seawatertankswhichareusedtohouse problems. We haveaveterinary surgery andaseries of turtle different with deal can we and centre have awell equipped we funding toLIFE Thanks sector. fishing nowadays following ourawarenesscampaignswiththe up in fishing gear but incidents like this are less common with boats. We also care for turtles that become caught found indistressonthecoast,orwhichhavecollided “The animals we help are mainly those that have been the LoggerheadSeaTurtle Recovery CentreofAsinara. and from Corsica,” explains Laura Pireddu, Manager of sea turtlesthatneedassistancefromallover theregion “Being theonlyrecovery centreinSardinia,wereceive turtle conservationinSardinia Turning thetideonsea conservation work. centre’s the of part important an been has public, general the as well as stakeholders, sector marine the small island of Asinara, just off the coast of Sardinia (Italy). Outreach work with fishermen and other on turtles sea injured rehabilitating for centre a establish to helped (2004-2008) support Nature LIFE The Voices ofLIFE20yearsgettingthingsdone nutrition andhypothermia canthenfollow. also reducethe animals’ strengthtodivefor food. Mal- ternal and external cuts associated with fishing gear can intestines, orby abacterialinfection frompollution.In- not know how wellhe tation. However, wedid rehabili- of year first the after sea the to back go ally healthyenoughto years andhewasactu- with usfor nearlythree ues, “That turtle stayed at thecentre,contin- Daniele Denurra,avet broken finandfracturedskull.” animals arrivedatthecentreonehadaneyemissing,a the time the by and other each fighting were They line. fishing a in together trapped foundturtles had two boat sailing “A arrived, first turtle staying longest their how uliano Fara fromthecentre’s technicalteam describes Gi- years. several for after looked been have others but atthe recovery centre.Someonlyneedtostayafew months of hospitalisation periods different have juries andin- ofailments sorts these from suffering Turtles and marinereserves, includingonAsinara. five newrescuecentreslocated innationalparks lished aseaturtleconservation networkthrough turtle (Carettacaretta)inItalianseas.Itestab - scope ofactionstaken toprotecttheloggerhead The Tartanet projectenlarged thegeographical THE PROJECT Giuliano Fara, LauraPireddu, Daniele Denurra 71 MEET THE GUARDIANS 72 The Voices of LIFE 20 years of getting things done

would cope with just one eye and one fin. We could not Inspiring change in the fishing community find comparable cases in the veterinary literature and we were advised to give him to a zoo. Of course we “My name is Antonio Salis. I am a fisherman from Italy These kits include wanted to avoid this so we spent a long time getting and I have spent all of my adult life working in the seas a net which we use around Sardinia. When I was younger I remember there to protect the ani- him familiar with the sea again before we finally fully were many sea turtles in our area. We would see them mals while taking released him. A small satellite tracker was attached to regularly but they did not have any value to us as a them to the Sea him and this showed that he had survived because four “ catch so we did not think too much about them. Turtle Recovery months later he was recorded in waters off the coast Centre. In the past of Tunisia.” My feelings about the turtles changed though about 30 I would normally years ago after I accidentally caught one on my fishing have used ropes Many similar good news stories have occurred at lines. It had got hooked but apart from that it seemed to bring injured the recovery centre, including the significant exam- to be unhurt. I’ll never forget that day because I was turtles on board ple of a rare female green turtle (Cheloniamydas). wondering what to do with the turtle and whether I the boat; the nets Antonio Salis should take it home for its shell or if we could use its reduce stress for “Some bathers had found her on a beach,” recalls meat. Then I looked into the turtle’s eyes and I had a turtles and I have seen how well they work. I am es- Ms Pireddu. “Her hind leg was badly injured so we huge change of heart. I knew that I had to free such a pecially proud of the last turtle that I brought back to were relieved when we learnt that it should recover beautiful animal and that was the moment I think that Laura and Giuliano, because they named the animal naturally given the right type of care. She was named I became a true environmentalist. after my boat, Cristina. This was a great honour for Green and we also attached a small tracking device me personally! to monitor her recovery after her release. Unfortu- So I was very glad to be asked to be involved with the nately she still had some problems and the tracker LIFE project, which was encouraging fisherman to take When my son and I found Cristina we could see that was helpful since we could identify her location and greater care of turtles and providing advice about how she was having problems with her breathing and she bring her back to the centre to treat her for hypother- to rescue the animals if they were found in trouble. looked in bad condition. We took her to the Tartanet Laura from the project together with her colleague Gi- Centre and they discovered that she had swallowed mia. Happily, her second release into warmer waters uliano from the national park authority gave me some something bad which would have probably killed her had better results.” extremely useful information about how best to make if we had not rescued her. Thankfully she survived sure we keep our turtle population safe here in this part and I even got mentioned in the local newspaper Developing a partnership with fishermen of Italy. which was a new and nice experience for me. Operations at the recovery centre began in September Turtle rescue techniques We had a big celebration, the “Tarta Day”, when Cris- 2006 when the first turtle was brought in by a local fish- tina was released a couple of months later. I think the ing boat crew. Ms Denurra points out that, “More than more people know about turtle conservation work, the I think one of [the project’s] most important benefits 70% of the turtles we see are either recovered or re- better. I am very keen to tell people about what we was in raising awareness among younger generations ported by fishing crews. The relations we have now built from the fishing community about why and how to help have done and what they can do to help the turtles. up with local fishing boats are really useful. Crews have the turtles. A handbook on different aspects of turtle I particularly like talking about the turtle protection been given the information they need to help us save the assistance was produced and LIFE also helped us in work with my friends and colleagues from the fish- other practical ways too, such as by paying for special ing boats. Our discussions have definitely made a dif- animals and because they are always at sea the fishing kits that could rescue injured turtles without causing ference in the way we act towards these wonderful boats provide us with a constant look out for turtles at them additional harm. animals.” risk. We would not be able to be as effective as we are without the fishing sector’s support.” “ can sharetheseawith.” increasingly recognisetheturtleasananimalthatthey they ways... their changing in helped project the So ten. servation bodytoreportthis.Nowadays ithappensof- who had caught a turtlein their nets would phone a con- crew a that unthinkable was it and turtles to indifferent notes thatpreviously, “thefishingcommunitywerequite Pierpaolo Congiatu,DirectoroftheAsinaraNationalPark sues” (seebox). have becomemoresensitiveaboutenvironmentalis- inthe activities of the centre and through the LIFE feelinvolved project they they Ithink fleet. fishing the with in turtles’throats.Thishelpedustodevelopgoodlinks as well as equipment for removing obstructions caught fishing turtle-friendly of hooks, andprovide traininginhow touseprotectivenets use the promote activities, some groupmeetings to explaintherecovery centre’s ports totalkthecrewsinperson.We also organised the to go would Sardinia. We over all from boats fishing munication andawareness-raisingactivitieswiththe Laura Piredduagreesandrecalls,“We didalot ofcom- ence ofotherlocal residentsandbusinesses,plus alarge information campaign alsoreachedouttoa wideaudi- this communities, fishing on focus aforementioned the to addition In project. LIFE the during out carried was A greatdealofpublicityand awareness raisingwork Communication outreach they likethey being partofthe turtle The communities here have given usgoodsupportgiven and protection programme The Voices ofLIFE20yearsgettingthingsdone “ emphasising that, “previouslyturtleswerea bit ofa benefits, long-term LIFE’sreinforces Congiatu Pierpaolo tection programme.” good supportandtheylike beingpartoftheturtle pro- are onyourside.Thecommunities herehavegivenus is appreciatedanditmakes life easierwhen localpeople for marineresourcesinthe Asinara NationalPark. “This from localcitizens,”saysAldoZanello,whoisresponsible National Park Authoritytogaincloseandstrongsupport the in us helped has project “the work, PR its Through turtle introuble. ceived educationinpracticalthingstodoiftheyfound a number ofvisitors.Schoolsweretargetedandpupilsre- more publicsupportfor natureconservation.” the recovery centrethatwillassistmoreturtlesandleadtoeven starting tobuildonthisadvantagethroughanexpansionplan for are We environment. the after looking in interest greater a them mean thateveryonecannow connectwithturtlesandthisgives myth butnow theyarerealtopeople.Thecentre’s viewingareas Email: [email protected] Contact: StefanoDiMarco vanile (CTS) Beneficiary: CentroTuristico StudentescoeGio- sea turtlesinItaly Title: Tartanet, anetworkfor the conservationof Project number:LIFE04NAT/IT/000187 73 MEET THE GUARDIANS 74 The Voices of LIFE 20 years of getting things done

Helping a Rhine fisherman achieve a lifelong dream

Rudi Hell celebrated his 75th birthday in January 2012 and has been fishing the Rhine for as long as he can remember. Here he explains how LIFE has helped return a fish to the river he had not seen since childhood.

“I come from an old family of fishermen in Germany lar were highly prized. News about good shad catches Fishing is ‘in my blood’ so I continued to find time to keep and my ancestors have been fishing on the Lower would spread like wildfire through the neighbourhood, fishing with creels (baskets) and nets on the Rhine, as well Rhine at Kalkar for more than 300 years. Both my spreading from one village to another. I recall how wom- in the backwaters and the numerous local lakes. Thankful- grandfather and my father were fishermen. They en from the villages would come running with baskets ly, things started to improve in the 1980s as more waste- taught me how to fish with nets and traps when I was to try and get the best of the shad from the nets. water treatment plants were built to tackle the pollution very small - so you could say that my fishing ‘craze’ problems. As a result we started to catch fish again that has been with me almost since I was born. Those were different days to now though and my life we had not seen for a very long time. These were fish that as a fisherman has seen many changes in the numbers I knew only from my childhood memories. Although I have not been directly involved with a LIFE of shad and other fish caught on the Rhine. Rudi Hell project, I have benefitted from LIFE funding which helped to support the fishing community in the Lower Pollution problems Rhine. This LIFE project has been important for me because it has helped to make sure that people will We started to notice a difference soon after the war as still be able to keep fishing on the Rhine in my part of problems from water pollution began to rapidly alter the Germany. size of fish stocks. By the 1960s and 70s, there were significantly fewer fish. We would frequently see dead fish As a boy I can remem- floating in the river and the water was often frothy with ber how important the a disgusting smell. People stopped eating local fish and THE PROJECT Rhine’s fishery was for this had a major negative impact on the fisheries sector. local populations here. Cooperation between French and German conservation bodies led to the breeding and successful Back then, salmon and For example, one of my first jobs involved fishing, but as re-introduction of the protected fish species, allis allis shad (Alosa alosa) the fish stocks dwindled and demand fell, I had to find shad, into the Rhine basin in Germany. could be caught in large different work, so I became a bulldozer driver for a gravel numbers. Shad in particu- company - but I never stopped my fishing. stocks of different species. This is how I heard about I how is This species. different of stocks to useparticular techniquestocatchandmonitor the permission special I get that means fishing scientific My threatened. Sea tomigrate.Nowonderthat theseeelsarenow so doubt manyofthesewillever make ittothe Sargasso I and turbines energy hydro by injured been have that eels of lots see I fishing science my during instance, For on theirown. that if we harm the fish stocks they cannot easily know recover We stocks. fish good maintain to needed is what and fish the about lot a know do we but servationists con- actual as ourselves consider not may We fisheries. the and fish understand to position good a in are fishing For meIthinkthatthepeoplewhospendalotoftime Fishing science a few yearsanditissomethingIfindveryinteresting. quite science’ for ‘fishing for been now have I levels. ral ploring ways to get the fish stocks back up to their natu- researchers fromtheUniversityofColognewhowereex- metouse the knowledge Ihadgainedover theyearstoworkwith for waspossible it that I found fishing. my When Iretiredwas able todevotemoreofmytime The Voices ofLIFE20yearsgettingthingsdone was averypositive signfor theRhine’s future. that theshadwas now livingagainintheriver andthis were not just celebrating my personal catch but the fact course of We Rhine. the on shad reintroduced ever first They wereallasdelightedIwas thatIhadcaughtthe important catchsoIphonedthe universitystraightaway. Having ayoungshadinmynet wasobviously avery shad boughtbackmemoriesfor me. lar they had been in the past and the sight of the young it butIrecognised straight awayasayoungshad.Irememberedhow popu- eyes, my believe I couldn’t first At the firstwildshadthatIhadseenindecades. was out on my boat netting fish I looked down and I saw Their approachwassuccessfulbecauseonedaywhileI shad andthentransportedthesetorestocktheRhine. in French riversystems.Theytookthelarvaefromadult surviving still were that shad using was project LIFE the We hadnotfound shadintheRhinefor alongtimeso come projecttome. shad. Thissoundedlike amuchneededandverywel- France and Germany to try to restock the Rhine with from experts fishing together bringing was that project station hadtoldmehow theEUwashelpingtofunda research university’s the from People project. LIFE the back to thispartofGermanywill be agooddayin my life.” stocks, the day that the first adult shad finds its way safely someone with a lot of hope for and the future of the fisheries, river’s fish Rhine of memories good of lot a with son per- a As again. spawn to back come has shad adult first This year I will be keeping a close look out to see if the sea. Ilookforward tothatdayagreatdeal. the to migration its from returned has it after shad adult next big step which will be when someone catches the first Our dreamhascometruenow andwearewaitingfor the Dream cometrue shad larvaewereborn. his French colleagues in the Gironde river area where the very appreciativeofthesupporthehadreceivedfrom was Scharbert Dr dream. a just remained have would ‘Maifischprojekt’ the French, the with cooperation the up make thishappen. I suspectwithoutLIFE’s helptoset I thinkthatitisgoodthewayEUhashelpedto million shadlarvaeintotheRhineriversystem. five nearly introduced had they project the during that The LIFE project manager, Dr. Andreas Scharbert, told me days. these fishing out go I when shad young more and have returnedfor alongtimebutnow Iamseeingmore not may shad the that Withoutseems it project LIFE the Email: [email protected] Contact: AndreasScharbert Verbraucherschutz Nordrhein-Westfalen, LANUV Beneficiary: LandesamtfürNatur, Umweltund allis shad(Alosaalosa)intheRhineSystem Title: LIFE-Projekt Maifisch - The re-introduction of Project number:LIFE06NAT/D/000005 75 MEET THE GUARDIANS 76 The Voices of LIFE 20 years of getting things done

Solving a biogas problem

Giuseppe Cazzani is a crop farmer in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy.

“I have a degree in Agronomy and I’ve been farm- THE PROJECT ing in the area of Medicina (Province of Bologna) in Emilia-Romagna since I was young. This whole ‘ad- Seq-Cure successfully demonstrated that it is venture’ started before the LIFE Seq-Cure project. I possible to implement three short production first became interested in the potential of biomass chains for renewable energy by respecting as crops – maize, triticale and sorghum - back in 2001, much as possible sustainability criteria, while through some German friends of mine. I went to visit enabling the optimisation of energy production and increasing farmers’ incomes. The project es- these friends in Germany to learn more about how to tablished 13 demonstration energy farms where set up a biogas plant on my own farm. various biomass crops were grown using different organic waste residues. Giuseppe Cazzani I was the first in the province of Bologna to do this and being a pioneer meant we probably suffered in the beginning, especially from a financial point-of- view. We had various choices to make but in the end, bit like our own digestion system, so it all needs to The LIFE project helped us in providing all of the scientific we opted to go for a bigger plant – producing over 1 work perfectly, especially if you have to make it work and practical assistance that we needed in order make MW of electric power. Today, this choice seems justi- to the maximum of its efficiency to avoid eroding the the plant produce more efficiently. Nowadays I don’t fied as we are producing more than 2.8 MW (of elec- machinery. make a move until I get CRPA’s advice. The collaboration tric power). We also decided to go for a larger-size between us continues, even if it is not so intense any digestate tank – in retrospect this was another good At this time (i.e. in 2008) we got in contact with CRPA more – thankfully! The aim is to prevent further prob- decision; as this has allowed us to produce more SpA (LIFE project beneficiary) and we learnt that they lems so, whenever there is a doubt, we contact CRPA and high-quality fertiliser and has given us a competitive were carrying out the LIFE Seq-Cure project, whose ask them for their advice.” advantage. aim was to set up demonstration energy farms and to analyse the potential of the biogas, wood fibre Project number: LIFE06 ENV/IT/000266 We started producing regular biogas that could be and raw vegetable oil chains. Title: Seq-Cure Integrated systems to enhance se- sold on the energy grid in February 2008. In the be- questration of carbon, producing energy crops by ginning everything worked very well, but these plants We agreed to participate as one of the (13) pilot en- using organic residues are very delicate from a biological point-of-view. So, ergy farms. The beneficiary was very responsive to Beneficiary: Centro Ricerche Produzioni Animali - if you don’t know exactly how the plant should func- our problems and followed us step-by-step, bringing CRPA SpA. tion, and you push it to produce more and more, it us through this biological ‘crisis’. Moreover, we worked Email: [email protected] can start to malfunction: It is a biological process a with them in order to optimise our yields. larly between May to September, up to 80% of the land spread theslurry. Whatismore,atanyonetime, particu- about 1500haofusefularable landwherewecould in ourmunicipality. We hadabout40000pigs,butonly I startedtorealisethatwehad a problemwithpigslurry An environmentalchallenge and sold.Igetpaidacertainamountperpig. owner decides,theanimalissenttoslaughterhouse me piglets and I feed them up to100 or 110kg. When the send people Other farming. feeder-to-finish to switch the When my father retired, I stopped breeding pigs and made industry, thenImadethesteptodoingeverythingmyself. studies, I went to work on a farm to learnmoreaboutthe my finished I When it. enjoyed I and animals the with ing As Igrewolder, Istartedtohelpout;gotusedwork- family. the pig farming was an essential source of income for the other workasalabourer-whateverwasavailablebut whatever landandspacewasavailable.Myfathertook ours worked, with pensnexttoeachhousemakinguseof feeding themuptomarket weight.That’s how villageslike farrow-to-finish system where we bred and raised the pigs, known allmylife. We probablyhadaround20pigsina “My parentskept pigs,sopigfarmingissomethingI’ve Pig farmingcleansupits act Region ofAragon,north-eastSpain. Francisco Esteve is a pig farmer in the village of Peñarroya de Tastavins, located in the province of Teruel, The Voices ofLIFE20yearsgettingthingsdone tally unsustainable. environmen- clearly was It issue. an also was fields was low, it was green with algae. The smellinthe tion. Especiallyinthesummer, whenthe water level vegeta- with filling was river The terrible. was it ters win- rainy In courses. water the into off drained then The ground couldnotabsorballthenutrients,which were just trying to get rid of the slurry any way they could. tipped onto the remaining 20% of land. At times people would alreadybecultivated;soalltheslurry feasible. gional government madeit the engagementofre- it seemedimpossible. But ing weneededtoprovide said how muchco-fund- grammes, and when they gramme. Ididn’tknow muchaboutsuchEuropeanpro- in theregion.Theysuggestedapplyingfor aLIFEpro- ronmental managementandsustainabledevelopment MASA –apubliccompanythatworkstoimprove envi- Government ofAragonintroducedustoSODE- The lenge wouldmeangreatercostsandeffort for them. because theywereclearthatdealingwiththechal- same challengesbutfarmerswerenotspeakingout solutions couldbepossible.Otherlocalitiesfacedthe ment ofAragontoexplainourproblemandseewhat council ofPeñarroya, wewenttotheregionalgovern- or ofmymunicipality, Peñarroya deTastavins. Asthe For thepasteightornineyearsIhavealsobeenmay- and thenyoucanenforce thelegislation. people what they can do first and that it is affordable, we mightallhavebeeninprison!You needtoshow had suddenlyenforced anti-pollutionlegislationthen provide a solution for managing the pig slurry. If we The existingenvironmentallegislationwasnotableto ronmentally friendly management of swine waste. processes andmanagement systemsfor the envi- The ES-WAMAR projecthasdevelopedtreatment THE PROJECT Francisco Esteve 77 MEET THE GUARDIANS

78 The Voices of LIFE 20 years of getting things done These changes are essential if “ pig farming is going to have a future in a village like ours

“A management solution

Through the LIFE project we have introduced a management model for the slurry that demonstrates that it is possible to both avoid pollution and provide valuable fertiliser to agricultural farmers. Through some fairly simple organisation you can treat the slurry in a plant or take it directly to different areas where it is needed, reducing the nutrient thinking that environmental concerns would be their the pig slurry and keep costs down for farmers. The idea burden on small areas of land. ruin, to seeing that everyone benefits. The arable farm- is to combine pig and olive waste to generate biogas, and ers save lots of money on fertilisers that are as good if both solid and liquid fertilisers as before. Here in Peñarroya, we [built] a treatment plant that sepa- not better than the ones they were buying before. The rates slurry into liquid and solid waste so that the solid part pig farmers are seeing that the slurry can have a value We have introduced standards for the sustainable applica- can be transported in a more concentrated form to farms, and that it doesn’t have to cost them lots of money to tion of pig slurry to the land. Analyses have already shown thus reducing costs. We have also introduced pipelines so dispose of it - and in some cases they can even make that we have reduced the amount of nitrate pollution on that the slurry can be transported directly to the treatment some money from it. the farmland, but the problem is that the earth is still full plant from some of the farms even more cheaply. of the excess nitrates from the past, which continue to af- The project was an unforgettable experience. I saw it from fect the surface water. It will take years for these nitrates Through all these approaches we are aiming to make it the point of view of the farmer and of the mayor. The most to return to their natural levels. Thanks to LIFE we have more affordable for farmers to deal with their pig-industry complicated part was convincing local people that we hopefully turned the corner.” waste more appropriately. This does not have to mean fin- needed to change the way that we operated and that we ing people - the various subsidies that are paid to farmers would need to invest in these changes. But these changes could be made dependent on meeting waste management are essential if pig farming is going to have a future in a criteria. You have to reward those that are making the ef- village like ours. fort to do things in the right way otherwise they end up losing out. I’m very happy with the progress we made. At times it Project number: LIFE06 ENV/E/000044 seemed almost impossible, when we saw some of the Title: ES-WAMAR - Environmentally-friendly management of swine waste based on innovative costs and when we were still looking for solutions. The day Unforgettable experience technology: a demonstration project set in Aragón we inaugurated the treatment plant was a really special (Spain) Through the project we have shown, for example, that day because we had been working hard for a long time and Beneficiary: SODEMASA – the Aragon Rural De- it is possible to manage 300 000 m3 of slurry per year now we were seeing the results! velopment Association in Tauste and Maestrazgo just by setting up a man- Contact: Arturo Daudén Ibaňez agement system to bring agreements between pig and Since the project we have worked to set up a biogas plant Email: [email protected] arable farmers. Everyone’s attitude has changed from so that we can sell electricity to subsidise the treatment of hoping for We’re the 2012seasonthere’llbemore areas ofland involved. farmers five had we’ve [2011] year This asking ifthereisanymoregrazing. the grapevineandwe’regetting moreandpeople been verywellreceivedinthearea: thestory’s gotthrough the go-betweenbetweenLIFEand thelocalfarmers.It’s ers tocomehere:sortingoutthe contractsandactingas grazi- finding about basically is management grazing The ried alotofstufftolocalfarmerwhoiscompostingit. farmers for useasbeddingfor theirstock.We’ve alsocar- mats andsoon.We’ve givenalotofthecutmaterialto been carryingthecutvegetationfromhere,supplyingbog fen; we’realsodoingpartofthesmallgroundworks-we’ve we’re supplyingthedriversfor thecuttingmachineon doing thegrazingmanagementandhusbandry we’re project: LIFE the with contracts three secured We’ve one ofmanythroughoutEurope. Wales: we’reamachineryring,farmer’s cooperative- years I’ve been the joint manager of Cadwyn Cymru - Link husbandry contractingbusinessandthenfor thelast14 manager, expandedfromtheretohavemyown animal in Aberystwythmanyyearsago,worked asadairyherd “I wasbornandbredonAnglesey. Istudiedagriculture on AngleseyandLleyn Linking LIFEtothefarm Dewi JoneshasthetaskoflinkingfarmerswithaLIFEfens restorationprojectinNorthWales. The Voices ofLIFE20yearsgettingthingsdone - hopefully we’ll get some really good outcomes. - hopefullywe’llgetsomereallygoodoutcomes. ing the land to manage meat. It’s a very interesting project using theanimalstomanageconservationratherthanus- where it’s alltodowithmeatproduction.You’re actually somebody who’s beenthroughcollegedoingagriculture, this scalebefore. It’s beenaneye-opener, especiallyfor I hadn’tworked withanatureconservationprogrammeon are moreabletograzeinanarealike this. native [cattle]breeds:Welsh Blacks,thingslike that,which lect appropriatestock.Ideallywe’d like toseesomemore got moretimeandthefarmershavetose- put to stock ontherestraightaway. Atleastfor nextseasonwe’ve wewanted was season first this had we problem becoming available.Onthewholeit’s worked well.The from what is actually here.” from whatisactuallyhere.” I thinktheyareallsurprisedastohow welltheyhavedone to getthemstarted.Theonesthathavebeenwithstockhere, ish them off here, but it’s a good place for younger stock just another 12 months of growing time. They’re not going to fin- ishing cattleonhere,haveputwhichgotmaybe fin- putting than rather them, of lot A home’. at would they have toacceptthatthey’renotgoingfattenupaswell you canonlyputXamountofcattlehereandyou’regoingto for grazingitbutthisisthewaywewantyoutograze.And farmers andsay‘look,you’regettingthislandfreeofcharge LIFE wantedoutofit,itwas easier thento get over tothe ture conservationthanIexpected.OnceI’d accepted what It’s beeneasiertomarrythedemandsoffarmersandna- ground worksfollowed by extensive grazing. rective-listed alkalineandcalcareousfens through The goaloftheprojectistorestoreEUHabitatsDi- Email: [email protected] Contact: JustinHanson Beneficiary: CountrysideCouncilfor Wales Title: AngleseyandLleynFens Project number:LIFE07NAT/UK/000948 THE PROJECT Dewi Jones 79 MEET THE GUARDIANS 80

5 MEETMEET THETHE businessesbusinesses

The LIFE programme has played an important role in stimulating the private sector: helping new, nature and environment-friendly businesses get off the ground; helping existing businesses develop innovative and ecologically-sound products; and helping to ‘green’ entire sectors of en- terprise. Here are the stories of some of the people involved. MEET THEbusine sses kind ofcommonsolution.We didn’twanttogolookinginto do something to sort this mess out’. We tried to find some Nobel DecorativeCoatings–andsaid:‘Lookwe’vegotto den –Alcro-Beckers, Bostik,AkzoNobelByggrimand [paints andadhesives]manufacturingcompaniesinSwe- We sattogetherwiththeentrepreneursofbigfour work, becausetheydidn’tknow whichwaytheyshouldgo. for themtosometimesbepersistentinenvironmental difficult different was It survive. of to order in number systems and blacklists a to adapt to had manufacturers they didn’twanttoseeinbuildingproducts.Asaresult, try] hadtheirown blacklistordatabaseofsubstancesthat horrendous. Everystakeholder [intheconstructionindus- “The situationinthelate1990s/early2000swasquite Building theBASTA of thisLIFEEnvironmentprojectthatranfrom2003to2006. work the from benefitted greatly have members association’s the BASTAsystem, the bydeveloped base data- the of users Swedishend the As of AdhesiveAssociation. president Sealants is and Jansson Henrik The Voices ofLIFE20yearsgettingthingsdone knowledge of your products,youshouldknow whatyou demand ofthe companies isthatyoushouldhave good demand for moreknowledge abouttheproduct:basic go ahead.Ittakes thesamebasicprincipleofmeeting the comment wasthatitaforerunner toREACH…we like it: ting a feeling for what they thought about it. And their first with goingtothechemicalauthorities inSwedenandget- tasked was I 2001-2002, in involved became first I When have beenpossiblewithouttheLIFEproject. have establishedasteeringcommitteeandthiswouldnot This isacceptedby everystakeholder inSwedennow. We tain anythingthathasproven tobecarcinogenicortoxic. know that whentheygetaBASTA product,it will notcon- LIFE fundingwasenoughtogiveitafreshstart.Thebuyers but sustained, self be to try you when difficult always It’s boost. well-needed a initiative the gave project LIFE The properties ofthesubstancesinordertocaptureeverything. specific substances; we more wanted to look at the intrinsic construction. up thephasingoutofhazardoussubstancesin a pre-cursorofREACH thathashelpedspeed The projectsuccessfullysetuptheBASTA system, THE PROJECT mentally sound products in the market.” mentally soundproductsinthemarket.” the technologicalforefront providing goodqualityenviron- be onestepahead of thecustomers’demands-tobeon water andthatgoesfor paintsandlacquerstoo.We tryto lots ofvolatileorganiccompoundsinadhesivestomore vide thebestproducts.Theindustryhasgonefromusing tomers, thatweareserious,workinghardtopro- really achancetoexcelandshow thepurchaser, ourcus- For us[SwedishAdhesiveandSealantsAssociation]itwas working fine. it’s budget; steady Now a push. it’s has its It on own. flying everything together, butLIFEgaveitmoreofasteering BASTA see take off. It’s always a could question of funding and trying to get you happened, project LIFE the When your suppliers. paperwork andyoushouldhaveagoodrelationshipwith put init,youshouldhavegoodproceduresfor handlingthe Email: [email protected] Contact: JohannaFredén Beneficiary: NCCConstructionSverigeAB stances fromtheconstructionindustry Title: BASTA –Phasingoutvery dangerous sub- Project number:LIFE03ENV/S/000594 Henrik Jansson 81 MEET THE BUSINESSES 82 The Voices of LIFE 20 years of getting things done

Cooling off the greenhouse gases

Jørgen Modvig is technical manager of REMA 1000 (a chain of supermarkets in Denmark). Mr Mod- vig’s employer trialled the use of trans-critical carbon dioxide refrigeration systems as part of the

LIFE CO2REF project.

“In 2007 cooling equipment based on hydroflurocarbon ject had great value for my company. We could make ny called Advansor, with Kim Christiansen, a former em- (HFC) gases was banned in Denmark, Norway and Swe- a trans-critical plant two years earlier than if we had ployee with the Danish Technological Institute. He used den. We didn’t know what we had to do when we opened done nothing. his experience from the project to start his own company a new store. Companies had different solutions, but they and now he’s selling a lot of trans-critical systems in the Jørgen Modvig weren’t so good. So therefore we were very interested Today all major producers of cooling equipment all over UK, among other countries. Cisco is buying a lot of his in participating in the project because it would speed up Europe can make trans-critical equipment, but they equipment, and Danfoss, which makes valves, produced the search for an alternative, and there the LIFE pro- couldn’t in 2007. The LIFE project initiated a new compa- a complete unit that it could sell afterwards.

At the start of the project, there were no alternatives to HFCs because there were no compressors and valves that could manage the high pressure. During the development process, Danfoss (project partner) needed a store to test the new system [Rema 1000 came on board]. You can test a lot in a laboratory but in the real world things happen. I took a chance, because when you have customers visiting a store it must be operational 24 hours every day. There’s no place for error, and we took a big risk.

It cost a lot of money be- THE PROJECT cause it didn’t operate perfectly from the start. The CO2REF project demonstrated the environ- We tried it in one store and mental and commercial benefits of trans-critical tested for a year. The com- CO refrigeration systems for use in supermar- 2 pressors overheated and kets and similar areas. The project designed an the tubes couldn’t manage optimised CO2-based system, which was tested in a REMA 1000 supermarket store. the pressure – they explod- ed. The safety valve opened you haveagreat valuebecausetheylastlonger. You too expensive.But youcanuseLEDinsigns, and there stead oftraditionallighting,but for thetimebeingit’s We arelooking atusingLEDlightinginourstores- major companies to use trans-critical cooling equipment. tors. It has been routine in new stores since 2009 for all very short.We wereayearaheadofourmaincompeti- winter. Thetime periodwherewehadanadvantagewas consumption is much higher inthesummer than inthe 20%. Inacoldsummer, wesavemoreenergy. Energy [using thenewsystem];wesaveenergy–approximately cost-efficient most It’s commercial. were incentives The you can’topenitwithoutacoolingsystem. the store at the time when the building was finished and was myresponsibilitytomake surethatwecouldopen what they were talking about. I’m not an engineer, but it a lotofengineers.AtthebeginningIdidn’tunderstand a lotofmeetingsinAarhusTechnological Institutewith it wasanexcitingprocesstoparticipatein.Iattended us. It’s alwaysinterestingtodevelopnewequipmentand before. Someothercompanieswerehalfayearbehind it done had one no because interesting was project The Towards greaterenergyefficiency and theCO a trans-critical plant that was operational. a trans-criticalplantthatwasoperational. funding, itwouldhavetaken twoorthreeyearslongertoget speeded up the development process. Ifwehadn’tgot the “ the development process 2 got out. The EU funding for our project, however, our project speeded up The EU funding for The Voices ofLIFE20yearsgettingthingsdone “ awards ceremony, and the variety of the projects was projects the of variety the and ceremony, awards over Europe.We wonaprize and wenttoBrusselsfor the difference.a making is EU the It’s all projects supporting ry timeIseetheLIFEsign, I think positively, because the sameopportunitiesgrowing upthatwehad.Buteve- I havechildren,andwetomake surethatthey have are goingupandup. prices energy because efficient energy be must it pany at newtechnologies.WhenIbuysomethingfor mycom- you have10000-20000hours.We arealwayslooking have 40 000 hours in LED lighting. In traditional lighting term butinthelongterm.” this area,inregion,itmakes sense–notintheshort “Where’s the value?” But afterwards I think, “Of course, in think, always I project, a about hear I When impressive. Title: CO Project number:LIFE05ENV/DK/000156 a prototypetranscriticalCO Email: [email protected] Contact: Torben Olsen Beneficiary: KnudsenKoling 2 REF – Development and demonstration of REF –Developmentanddemonstration of 2 refrigerationsystem 83 MEET THE BUSINESSES 84 The Voices of LIFE 20 years of getting things done

Distributing healthy food without causing harm

Gianni Bonora is managing director of CPR System, the beneficiary of the LIFE Usa e riusa (“Use and reuse”) project. The goal of the project, which ran from 1999 to 2002 was to promote environmentally-friendly fruit and vegetable distribution in Italy through the use and reuse of recyclable boxes for packaging.

CPR System is “an Italian company which is proud of its makes good business sense, because the raw materi- suitable solution for reducing the amount of single-use commitment to the environment,” says managing di- als for our work here at CPR System rely heavily on a packaging that was thrown away.” rector Gianni Bonora. “We are part of the nation’s large healthy environment.” fruit and vegetable distribution chain. Our respect for Gianni Bonora A reusable response nature thus not only comes from our hearts, but it also The firm’s commitment to the environment is evident in the beautifully landscaped gardens of its premises. Such A solution was identified that involved reusable plastic a sight is rare in most industrial areas but Mr Bonora’s packaging boxes. “The physical system was quite sim- company has strong green credentials, and these received ple, involving the introduction of new packaging lines. My a boost through being a beneficiary of a LIFE project pro- main challenge however lay in persuading people that moting sustainable approaches to waste management. the new environmentally sensitive technology was worth their while participating in”, explains Mr Bonora. “We work with a wide range of businesses in the fruit and vegetable sector, “Communication therefore proved to be an extremely im- THE PROJECT providing technical sup- portant tool for us and the LIFE project helped us get our port and guidance”, ex- message across to the people that mattered in our sup- Use and … re-use developed an innovative system plains Mr Bonora. “We ply and distribution chain. We explained that replacing a to avoid the substantial amounts of waste gener- were aware that a great disposable system with a reusable plastic system could ated in the packaging of fruit and vegetables. The deal of disposable pack- help save energy, reduce waste management require- project designed recyclable plastic boxes, which aging products were used ments and most crucially it could cut up to €150 off the can be folded and re-used up to 30 times. The in the sector and, for costs of distributing each tonne of fruit or vegetables.” scheme included a processing centre to handle both environmental and the cleaning, re-use and recycling of the boxes, and computer software to track their journeys. economic reasons, we Despite such potential positives, Mr Bonora’s partners in wanted to try to find a the distribution network, as well as his Board of Direc- cautionary thoughtswhenembarkingonachange.” situation andeverybusinesspersoncanexperience such people, butIguessfears like thisarenaturalinsucha I wasevenscoldedfor winningthefundingby some confirmed. was funding the once shift the make to have would we that fact the at terrified bit a were Board my ronment impact.Infact,totellthetruth,Ithinksomeof envi- our minimise to shift the make us help to agreed quite a few people who were surprised that LIFE had “Having saidthatthough,Iremembertherewerestill project thenitwasnotjustacrazyenvironmentalidea. achieve otherwise. People saw that if LIFE believed in the momentum that might have to been much more difficult and credibility of kind a project the gave it LIFE through I thinkthatbecausewereceivedsupportfromtheEU incentive thathelpedovercome someofthesebarriers. switch tothenewsystem.“TheLIFEfundsprovided an tors, werenotautomaticallyconvincedthattheyshould The Voices ofLIFE20yearsgettingthingsdone “ also havetoknow how tocommunicatewell.” you do, you what in good be just to sufficient rarely is it I alwaysbelievedinthepower ofcommunication.Forme was sometimeagonow thatIhaveturned63yearsold, friendly packagingsystem.EversinceIwasachild,which ing people’s behaviourtousethemoreenvironmentally “Communication wasthekey tooursuccessinchang- Behavioural change and momentum that might have the project akind ofcredibility been much morebeen difficult to [Support from LIFE] gave achieve otherwise “ meetings.” is particularlyuseful for meduringmyboard this find still I perspectives. and ideas ples’ of openingmyearstolisten otherpeo- have stayedwithme.Today I make apoint sons thatIlearntfrommytime withLIFE les- the and this for school good a was ject beneficial just listening can be. The LIFE pro- during thesemeetings.Icertainlylearnthow of themostimportantskillsthatweused Mr Bonorastresseshow, “listening wasone to beaddressed.” things thatwehadincommonwhichneeded the together identified all we and picture’ It meantwecouldallunderstandthe‘bigger very useful. It was a winning method for us. ers’ pointsofview. Thisapproachwasvery, guage’ andthattheycouldallheareachoth- being toldthesamething‘intheirown lan- together sotheycouldallknow theywereall talking. Ourtechniquewastobringeveryone people get to way a find to managed we but to spar witheachotherratherthancooperate, tuned more often are they as forward, collectively would probably not be straight- “We knewthataskingcompetitorstowork cost effective. be becausetheoverall operation would becomemore companies gotinvolved,thegreatersavingscould of time inexplaining the fact that if more people and ple’s peo- environmentaldecisions.Henceweinvestedalot inbusiness factor vital most the often is Money the cost savings and this seemedto be veryhelpful. communication campaign.“We focused onhighlighting prudent look to see a how it should took implement an effective beneficiary LIFE the principles, these on Based 85 MEET THE BUSINESSES 86 The Voices of LIFE 20 years of getting things done

Success story instance, soon we will be moving to provide services for charcuterie and dairy businesses. We The board of CPR System is now fully supportive are already expanding towards the meat sec- of the switch to the reuseable packaging system tor and we use the different coloured boxes for and they can see that it has been a success. different types of products.

“In 1998, we were nine founding members of “Alongside these growth plans we also want to CPR System who each invested half a million venture into new countries. Our intention is not lira, which is equivalent to about €250, in get- to try and colonise Europe but we want to try ting our company started. The company’s capital and find partners from other countries that can value is now around €25 million and we feel sure do business with us using the same environmen- that LIFE’s €0.5 million grant made a big difference tally-friendly distribution systems.” in helping us,” observes Mr Bonora. Mr Bonora credits LIFE with helping his business de- “At the start of the LIFE project we had nearly 50 com- liver a lot of know-how in a specialist area and is happy panies involved along the supply and distribution chain. to share this positive experience more widely. “We tell This has now increased to over 950. The first process- other companies about how LIFE has helped us and we ing centre working with the new re-useable packaging are pleased to keep the LIFE logo on our delivery ve- was built in Gallo (Ferrara), after which we were able to Mr Bonora looks back on the achievements of the LIFE hicles. People tend to forget their origins. I will always expand our coverage throughout Italy. Some 15 differ- project as “very satisfying and very encouraging for the remember that the origins of the CPR System project ent food processing and packaging centres across the environmental challenges faced here in Italy. I believe was the LIFE project and that’s why we continue using country are using the re-useable boxes that LIFE helped that we made the right decision to start on our ‘adven- the logo on all of our trucks.” to introduce.” ture’ and I can say that it was a good one which has made everyone involved happy in the end. LIFE was Mr Bonora concludes by saying that “LIFE has helped us He points to further ben- definitely instrumental in making the success happen. reduce our impact on the environment. This has been efits that the work started Without the EU funding we would not have been able to good for both our hearts and our bank balances. I abso- by LIFE is delivering over afford to dream of achieving so many ambitious results, lutely hope that LIFE will continue for another 20 years time. “More people are re- but the combination of LIFE’s financial assistance and in order that more people can benefit and learn from its alising that we were telling moral support made the project happen.” achievements.” the truth when we said we could save them money Expansion plans by re-using boxes. They Project number: LIFE99 ENV/IT/000034 Title: Usa e riusa – Use and...reuse. The processing can see that we are able Taking a walk around the CPR System premises, Mr Bon- centre in the logistics of packaging of fresh fruit to help them reduce their ora points out that the company now use different col- and vegetable products running costs and many oured plastic crates. “CPR System’s successes in Italy’s Beneficiary: CPR System are pleasantly surprised fruit and vegetable sector have encouraged us to think Contact: Marco Salvi because they never be- that there may be new green business opportunities for Email: [email protected] lieved that could happen.” us in other sectors, as well as other countries too. For something bigger”, particularly when participating in Green something bigger”, particularlywhenparticipating inGreen tion ofdurablepartnerships andafeeling ofbeing “partof bled collaborationwithpartners across Europe,thecrea- ena- project LIFE The community. larger a to belonging of network, a of part being of sense a provided project the in involvement that reflects she view, of point personal more nies, whoarenow showing interest intheproduct.”From a and dissemination of the positive results toothercompa- the production accelerated “[It] biofiller. the demonstrate” leagues withtheopportunityto“perfect, implementand col- her and her provided project BioTyre the says Gregori Extremely enthusiasticaboutthe“LIFEexperience”,Ms analysed theproduct’s environmentalimpact. dispersal properties required when designing a tyre and the evaluated also partner project The distance. braking with lessrollingresistance,greaterdurabilityandareduced tyres produce to used be could that biofiller a produce to was project BioTyre LIFE 2009 to 2005 the in role main beneficiary – see box), Ms Gregori explains that Novamont’s project (the Goodyear manufacturer, tyre by Coordinated whilst alsoimproving theirperformance –in1995. the pollutingmaterialsusedinproductionoftyres– She explainsthatthecompanybeganworkintoreducing Novamont – a position she has held for the past 10 years. at projects strategic R&D for responsible is Gregori Giulia A breakthrough‘biotyre’ at theheartofaninnovative partnershipprojecttodevelop greenermaterialsfor tyres. well asenvironmentalgains.GiuliaGregoriandcolleaguesatItalianbioplasticscompany, Novamont, were as economic bring can efficiencies resource greater that aware increasingly are manufacturers European The Voices ofLIFE20yearsgettingthingsdone be pioneers of good practices and that the programme will be pioneers of good practices and that the programme will programme, Ms Gregori hopes that projects can continue to Finally, commentingonthe20thanniversary oftheLIFE for futureprojects”,saysMs Gregori. synergies and possibilities new to up us opening in eficial come of this research. “The LIFE project has also been ben- biodegradable bioplasticsand lubricantsareoneout- greening ofproductsfor thechemicalindustry. Novamont’s Ms Gregoriandcolleaguesarecontinuingtheirworkonthe she believes. ject made us understand the importance of such an event,” project and useful business contacts. “Being part of the pro - Week in Brussels in 2011, which generated interest in the for thedevelopmentofnewtyres. motion; andfinallyitoptimisedthetyrestructure energy lossthroughrollingresistancewhenin lysed andmodifiedthetyrestructuretominimise their reinforcement properties;secondlyitana- traditional non-renewablefillersusedintyres for components. Firstly, itdevelopedanalternativeto partnership LIFEBioTyreprojecthadthreemain Coordinated by GoodyearLuxembourg,the THE PROJECT mental impact,”shebelieves. promoting processesandinnovations withalow environ- tutions and citizens) act responsibly over the long term in stakeholders (companies, theacademicworld,publicinsti- territory anditscompetitivenesscanonlybepreservedifall haviour amongEurope’s citizens.“TherichnessofEurope’s resource” and encouraging environmentally responsible be- continue tosupportprojectstargeting“wasteasavaluable Email: [email protected] Contact: GeorgesThielen Beneficiary: GoodyearLuxembourgSA resources ing resistancetyreswithenvironmentallyfriendly Title: Developmentandvalidationofultralow roll- Project number:LIFE06ENV/L/000118 Giulia Gregori 87 MEET THE BUSINESSES 88 The Voices of LIFE 20 years of getting things done

Research and reuse of winery ‘wastes’ continues to grow

Serkos Haroutounian is Professor of Chemistry at the Agicultural University of Athens. The research he led into reuse of winery wastes for the LIFE Dionysos project promises to deliver new business opportunities for winemakers across the EU.

“My main research interest concerns the exploitation of sity of Athens (department of Pharmacy), the Gou- extracts in connection with numerous scientific reports on plant derived natural products as a rich source of bioac- landris Natural History Museum and Terra Nova, an the significant antioxidant properties of grapes and wines tive molecules and extracts that may be used by phar- environmental consulting firm. polyphenols. Serkos Haroutounian maceutical or cosmetic industries as raw materials, or as food supplements. I’m also involved in research about The AUA chemistry laboratory team during the LIFE pro- It is well known that during the winemaking process a sig- the reuse of agro-industrial wastes. ject consisted of me and four young scientists (mainly nificant amount of solid waste, accounting the 15% of the PhD students). The driving force of our involvement was total grape biomass, is generated (grape pomace). Only a I worked for three years as the project manager of the growing scientific interest and public demand for the small fraction of this waste is processed or used for activi- the LIFE Dionysos project with partners the Univer- production of potent natural antioxidant compounds or ties of limited economic interest such as the production of ethanol, alcoholic drinks, seed oil and dietary fibre. The remaining biomass is usually disposed of onto nearby open THE PROJECT land, without any prior treatment. The large volume and increased organic (polyphenolic) load of this waste mate- The Dionysos project successfully developed rial, which is phytotoxic and toxic for aquatic organisms, an economically feasible and environmentally constitute significant environmental pollution problems, friendly process for the integrated manage- especially for surface and groundwater in the areas where ment of the waste generated by the winemaking industry. Specifically, the project demonstrated at they are being dumped. In Greece, every year we process a pilot-plant scale, technology for processing of around 550 000 tonnes of grapes and produce more than winery solid waste to enable the recovery of high 120 000 tonnes of waste. added-value polyphenols and to enable the use of the remaining waste for the production of high We were intrigued by the possibility of exploiting this nutritional value animal food or natural organic grape pomace as a rich source for the recovery of fertiliser. high added-value natural polyphenols (or their ex- LIFE experiences investing inthiswinerieswastemanagement process. in interested producers wine of cooperative a to findings project’sthe present will I weeks two next the within while Greece, northern in held results project the about event of interestinGreece.Justtwoweeksagotherewasan companies fromallaroundEurope.Ofcourse,there’s alot interested different 20 than more to report layman’s the asking mefor details.I’vesentthefeasibility studyand research. For example, I still get a lot of emails from people our about enquiries with ever than busier I’m project, the of end the after years four than more imagined: never I growing – interest about the project. This is something that One ofourmainachievementsisthecontinuing–and for everyone. most areasofEurope,soit’s aproblemandopportunity friendly manner. Winemaking isanactivitythatoccursin ing this waste in an efficient, practical and environmentally to was project demonstrate thatsomeonecanmake moneyby process- LIFE the with interests main our of One Money-making opportunities protection aroundthewine-producingzones. venture withasignificantadvanceinenvironmental the pomace.Thisactivitycombinesprofitable tracts), becausemostgrapepolyphenolsremainin three thingsthat Iwouldlike to highlight.Firstly, during are there experiences, project LIFE my at back Looking The Voices ofLIFE20yearsgettingthingsdone and affect many people…. I must underline, however, that averyspecial ingredientwastheinteraction with must underline, I people…. many affect and because it’s aboutwineand health,issuesthatinterest Maybe successful. so was project the why know don’t I natural compoundsorextracts. process for therecovery ofhighadded-valuebioactive an economicallyfeasible and environmentallyfriendly of development the is goal final The industries. cessing industrial wastes,e.g.fromthepeachandtomatopro agro- other to apply thewastemanagementtechnology tinuation ofthisresearchby youngscientists to transfer/ Thirdly, averypositiveachievementconcernsthecon- nols andtherearenoemissionstotheenvironment. are fullyrecycled)usedfor therecovery ofpolyphe- vironmentally safe, sinceonlywaterandalcohol(which portant topointoutthatthewholeprocessis100%en- adaptable by mostwineries(mainlySMEs).Itisalsoim- everywhere. The investment cost is low and therefore since istechnicallysimple,transferable andapplicable Secondly, thesolutiondevelopedisreallyattractive, tion oforganicwines. produc- the for it use and project the during developed Finally, some wineries produce compost in the manner ample, anewbeautycreamiscurrentlybeingtested. some cosmeticcompaniesusingtheseextracts.Forex- containing extractsofwinepolyphenols.Also,thereare this businesstodairyproductsandproduceyoghurt (recovered from wineries wastes). The plan is to expand bakery products enrichedwithwinepolyphenolicextracts other and flour producing is company a Greece northern the productionofmarketable products.Forexample,in wine polyphenols/extractsfromthiswastematerialand companies for therecovery ofthehighadded-value nology wasproducedthatiscurrentlyappliedby some tech- a implementation project the of years three the - the productionoffood supplements.” itors incancerprevention)andpotentialapplicationfor cal properties(asantioxidantsandangiogenesisinhib- scientific results on their polyphenolic content, biologi- ‘wastes’. We have already obtainedsomeinteresting ing withgrapestemsthatarealsoconsideredaswine This [project] was just the beginning. Now we are working teamandtheLIFEUnit. clear. We alsohadverygoodsupportfromthemonitor- well thought out, functions well and the rules are very say thattheLIFEprogrammeworksinanidealway;it’s funded by otherEuropeanorGreekauthorities,andIcan projects, various in involved been I’ve advice. and tions solu- offering implementation, project the throughout the LIFEpeople.Theyreallyinspiredandsupportedus Email: [email protected] Contact: Serkos Haroutounian Beneficiary: AgriculturalUniversityofAthens Project number:LIFE03ENV/GR/000223 89 MEET THE BUSINESSES 90 The Voices of LIFE 20 years of getting things done

The brewer: A toast to nature conservation

Whilst many conservationists appreciate the restorative properties of a good beer, especially after a hard day in the field, for Dirk Geysels and colleagues at the Liereman nature reserve in Belgium, the link between nature conservation and beer has taken on a whole new significance.

“It all started in 1995,” recalls Dirk, a volunteer at the re- the discussion would eventually come around to beer. In The name Gageleer comes from the Flemish word for serve for over 27 years. “At the time, we were developing fact one of our colleagues, whose father was a brewer, bog myrtle (gagel), an indigenous plant that grows the visitors’ centre and we were looking for something suggested the idea; that we brew our own beer and sell throughout the reserve and a key ingredient in the beer. that would make the experience more interesting and it on-site.” “It gives the beer a very distinctive flavour but you have memorable. Being Belgian, I guess it was inevitable that to know which part of the plant to use and how much,” Although not all the members of the conservation group says Dirk, with a twinkle in his eye. were immediately convinced, Dirk and four other volunteers liked the idea and decided to take it further. “We thought it could be fun, and a good way to generate some revenue for the reserve, but we felt it was impor- THE PROJECT tant that there should be a strong link between the beer The LIFE Liereman project involved the restora- and the local environment.” tion of the ‘Landschap De Liereman’, a nature reserve situated in the north of Antwerp Province. The first step was to enlist the help of a local brewer The project succeeded in purchasing and carrying and to try out some different recipes. After some very out restoration work on 141 ha of land. It also thorough tasting sessions, which Dirk concedes, “prob- secured the engagement of local stakeholders ably went on a bit longer than necessary,” they finally in drawing up a coherent management plan that has enabled ongoing preservation of the target narrowed it down to three options. At this stage a close heathland habitats. A key aspect of the project group of friends and family were drafted in to help with was to explore opportunities to develop the eco- the final selection. “We organised a blind tasting and the nomic potential of the reserve, including through result was very clear: over 90% of those who partici- the production and sale of beer, using ingredients Photo: Lenneke Schot, Biojournaal pated favoured the beer we had colour coded red, and harvested sustainably on site. Dirk Geysels (right) and colleagues which we later named Gageleer.” Dirk hasplansto producebothcropslocally. Discussion But Antwerp. near based supplier major a from comes have to be imported from New Zealand and the grain ganic ingredients.However, atpresenttheorganichops ingredients. Gageleer is brewed using only natural, or- New developmentsarealsounderway inthesourcingof putting together.” might evenbepartoftheLIFE+bidwearecurrently his shoulder. “Butifitcomestofruitionwillbebig.It eries toknow aboutourplans,”saysDirk,checkingover say toomuchaboutitfor now, Idon’twantthebigbrew- can’t I but mind, in project a have We objective. social some otherlocalbreweries,one(of)whichalsohasa to speaking currently “We’re developments. new major leagues busyplanningwhattheyhopewillbesome But thisstoryisonlybeginning,withDirkandhiscol- seems thattheylike ourstory.” in California. Iguessthisisthehomeofhippy andit “In theUS,averyinterestingopportunityhasopenedup den, Denmark,Italy, theUKandevenUSA. out Belgium,aswellintheNetherlands,France, Swe- increased toover 100000litres,whichissoldthrough- bar inthevisitor’s centre.Today, annualproductionhas 5 000litres,allofwhichwassoldon-site,inthesmall toaround came production total year, first the In the wholeventuremorefeasible.” made and investment up-front major for need contract brewer, Proefbrouwerij. Thisavoidedthe ourselves, wedecidedtousetheservicesof ing andother set-up costs.Rather than brewing packag- bottling, the for and brews, first the for pay to enough about just was “This business. ling fledg- the in 000 €30 invested they them tween be- and cooperative a established friends five The

The Voices ofLIFE20yearsgettingthingsdone a minimumof2 eurocentsfromthesaleofevery bottle. stream for the Lieremannaturereserve,which receives Gageleer hasalsocreatedan important newrevenue But thegoodnewsdoesnotend there:thesuccessof to thegoalofnatureconservation.” around thereservetoorganicfarming alsocontributes crops; andthirdly, theconversion ofmoreandland eleer; secondly, thefarmersgetabetterpricefor their ley, whichfurtherstrengthensthenarrativeofGag- organic bar- of supply alocal get we firstly, situation: farmers aboutgettinginvolved.Thisisawin,win ley for our current production, so we are talking to more “We wouldneedaround120hatosupplyenoughbar- years. coming the in significantly this increase to hopes Dirk planted, producingover 30tonnesoforganicbarley, but supply oforganicbarley. In2011,atotalof7hawas with localfarmershasalreadyledtocontractsfor the Photo: LennekeSchot,Biojournaal result, wenow havemorepeopleinfavourthanagainst.” have totake moreresponsibilityfor ourown future.Asa that publicsubsidiescannotbereliedonforever andwe have changedsince then. Morepeoplenow recognise not brewing,whichtheysawasadistraction.Butthings idea; they felt our business was nature conservation and the to objected who people of lot a were there ginning initially sceptical,ofthemeritsGageleer. “Inthebe- vincing thosewhowere a longwaytowards con- nature reservehavegone Liereman the for benefits other and financial the nature conservation, but not besynonymouswith Beer andbrewingmay plement this.” “This isbecominganimportantsourceofincomefor end of the year we make a profit, we can also sup- the reserve,whichwehopetocontinuegrow in minimum fixed contribution per bottle. If atthe If bottle. per contribution fixed minimum the future,butwehavetogetrightbalance happy. Thisismainlywhywehavenow seta between conservationandreinvestinginthe up makingaloss,soouraccountantwasn’ttoo we gave so much to the reserve that we ended been toomuchontheformer. Infact,oneyear business. To date,theemphasishasprobably “ which wehope to continue to grow Email: [email protected] Contact: JoostDewyspelaere Beneficiary: NatuurpuntBeheerv.z.w. De Liereman Title: Liereman-Habitatrestoration inLandschap Project number:LIFE04NAT/BE/000010 source ofincome for the reserve, This isbecoming animportant in the future “ 91 MEET THE BUSINESSES 92 The Voices of LIFE 20 years of getting things done

LIFE marks ‘turning point’ for rural tourism in Latvia

Asnate Ziemele is President of the Latvian Country Tourism Association and of the tour operator, Baltic Country Holidays.

“I am one of the founders of the Latvian Country Tourism Association, which was started in 1993 to promote rural tourism in Latvia. I was also the project manager of the LIFE Green Certificate project, started by the association in 2000, to promote sustainable rural tourism. Asnate Ziemele I was elected president in 1993, and I’ve been re-elected every four years since. So you could say I’m a kind of ‘mother’ to the association, which started shortly after the Soviet Union broke up (Latvia attained full independence from the U.S.S.R. in 1991).

Rural tourism didn’t exist at all at this time, as during the Soviet times there was no-one really going on holiday to the countryside. However, we knew that it was becoming quite popular in western European countries. So we started the association to involve THE PROJECT all those people living in No phones the accommodation owners we had to leave messages rural areas who had spare with the local post office, or shop. The Green Certificate project developed the ‘Green rooms. The tour operator, It’s quite funny when I look back and compare the situ- Certificate’ environmental quality eco-label for tour- Baltic Country Holidays, a ation today with how it was back then. When we started The business started with farmers. It was mainly bed and ism establishments in Latvia and then applied it to Limited company (owned we were really very naïve. And it was not easy from a breakfast-style accommodation. Self-catering cottages a number of small rural tourism providers (mainly small businesses offering accommodation). A ‘Green by the association), was practical point-of-view. On the other hand, people were didn’t really exist, because there really weren’t any empty Holidays’ brand was also developed and promoted. launched in 1998 to handle very open and willing to do something new in the coun- buildings in the countryside. The first members of the as- the holiday reservations. tryside. Few of us had telephones, so, in order to contact sociation joined in 1994. Today we unite more than 300 understood themessage. have who ones, best the only are certificate green the get but itistheideologyofrural tourist.Andthosewho project, European a just not is this them told We think. we We trytobehonest withthemandtotellexactlywhat strength. our is this that and job good a doing are we lieve For the main part, the providers are very positive and be- tural heritageetc. energy intoresource-savingandpromotingthelocalcul- persuade theproviders togetintotheideasandputmore rural tourismestablishments–themainchallengewasto for is, logical and was, certificate the speaking Generally viders inthecountrysidearereallygreen-thinking. which means that around 10% of allaccommodationpro- ly smallbusinesseswithaccommodation.Now wehave75, 2004, we had 54 green certificate holders. These are main- in project the finished we When success: continued its for half. Ithinkthisisoneofitsmainstrengthsandthereason be- our on projects submitting and writing consultants any had never we is, that ourselves, project the developed We and especiallyintermsofruraltourism. however, thatitwasoneofourstrengthsinthecountryside ally somethingnewanditwasnotpopular. We understood, cal values and the values of nature protection etc – was re- – sortinggarbage,savingelectricityorwater, promotinglo- (eastern European)countries,theconceptof‘sustainability’ our in when time a at came project LIFE the of idea The Something new ments –thatwasstartedundertheLIFEproject. –environmental qualityeco-labelfor tourismestablish- certificate’ ‘green the of creation the with or marketing fee andreceiveavarietyofassistance,suchashelpwith small businessesthroughoutLatvia.Theypayanannual The Voices ofLIFE20yearsgettingthingsdone “ then theystart to understandandappreciatemore the countryside, they like whatthey seearoundthemand selecting theirholidays.However, whenvisitorsareinthe are people when choice first the is price So all. at cation afford va- hardly a can proportion large a where society oped. It’s astep-by-step advance.You’re talkingabouta many, theunderstandingof green issuesislessdevel- Comparing oursocietywith,for example,theUKorGer- what wecoulddo. But theLIFEprogrammelistenedtousandbelievedin tourism. Atthattime,no-onebelieveditcouldwork. of the green certificate; it was an initiator of sustainable creation the just than more was It did. we what lowed Latvia andalsofor manyothercountriesthathavefol- in tourism forrural point turning a was project LIFE The the projectdevelopers,butfor theruralcommunities. as us, for only not needed - correct was project the continuing afterwardsisthetrueconfirmationthat by thecertificateholders.Also,factthatthisis labelled establishment.Thisisverymuchappreciated ism outlets. Moreover, the Minister visits each newly today becomethenationaleco-labelfor ruraltour- has LIFE under developed certificate the that is achieved of theEnvironment.Somethingwe’rereallyproudtohave Importantly, thismessageisalsosupportedby theMinistry Sense ofpride to have achieved isthat the certificate developed LIFEhas today under Something we’re really proud become the national eco-label for rural tourism outlets “ just ‘greenadvice’”. understand themessage.Itsayssomuchmorethan - and, of course, when you look at the cartoons, you cycling). Thetouristslove them-they’rereallyfunny topics suchasfor theoutdooractivities(e.g.boating, we recently orderedsomemoretocover someother them (seep.92).Thishasreallyworked; somuchthat interpreted he then and Vitkovskis Romāns artist the to the tourism accommodation. We gave our greening ideas trate someoftheenvironmentallyfriendly practices in larly successfulwastouseaseriesofcartoonsillus- One thing we did under the LIFE project that was particu- ple, closetorealityandeconomicallyviable. tion (messages)aboutgreeningissuesshouldbesim- wrong for thecustomersandtravellers.Communica- the environmentandnature,thenitwillalsogo influencing are who those just or areas, tected doesn’t workfor thebusinessesinpro- nication aboutsustainabilityiswrong,or the smallbusinesses.But if thecommu- low the greeningadvicepromotedby most of our visitors are happy to fol- munication iscorrectlydone,wefind key toeverything. Andifthecom- that communicationisactuallythe One ofmymainpiecesadviceis waste. ity andofsortingmanagingtheir importance ofsavingwaterorelectric- Email: asnate@celotajs Contact: AsnateZiemele control inruralareasandsmall towns inLatvia teria for the Green Certificate, implementation and cri - the of Development – Certificate Green Title: Project number:LIFE00ENV/LV/000959

MEET THE BUSINESSES 94 The Voices of LIFE 20 years of getting things done

Restoring national pride

in North Karelia Photo: Markku Tano

LIFE actions in Finland’s Koli National Park are inspiring new business opportunities. Here we meet two entrepreneurs that have benefitted.

Irja Tanskanen is the owner of a local guided tour estry tradition of ‘slash-and-burn’ in Koli. Burning and sow- company THE PROJECT ing using traditional rye and turnip seeds has made the big “I was born in the Koli national park area in North Karelia, The LIFE to Koli project implemented long-term difference for me. It was carried out in a 17 ha area with the Finland. My partner and I are local entrepreneurs and own management plans for the boreal forest, bog involvement of the local community.

Photo: Markku Tano Koli Activ Oy (www.koliactiv.fi), a company that organises woodlands, herb-rich forests, as well as reintro- trips and provides tourist services in the park. I have been ducing the practice of slash-and-burn and the I now have the pleasure of showing the slash-and-burn ar- Irja Tanskanen providing guided tours and snow-walking/hiking services for management of semi-natural grasslands. Some eas to all of my customers by doing the trails where these more than 15 years. 107 ha of cultivated forests were restored. actions took and still take place. Along these trails, I also show the restored meadows and grasslands habitats Before the LIFE to Koli project we had no nature trails and and grazing introduced by LIFE. I and other tour guides people had almost no information on the park´s ecology, habitats and species. Koli attracts around 140 000 visitors received training from the LIFE project. every year; the majority are Finnish but we also have foreign visitors (manly Russians) during winter. Before LIFE I was a freelance guided tour operator and Ilkka Aula runs nature training for schools and now two families make a living from this business. LIFE Koli is the heartland of Finland, and has been an inspiration has made Koli more accessible to tourists and numbers team-building exercises for such great artists as the composer Jean Sibelius. It is a are steadily rising.” magical place for us. On my guided tours, I usually sing to “My wife and I moved last June (2011) are directly benefiting from the project. give some ambience to the landscape. This scenery is so from Helsinki to Koli. We wanted to start a And, of course, I try to explain the project meaningful for everyone that I have seen people cry when new life closer to nature. And we decided to our guests and schools. The restored to set up nature training for schools and forests are just behind the house, and we get to the hilltops. Project number: LIFE03 NAT/FIN/0035 leadership and team-building courses us- Metsähalllitus (the park authority) will Title: LIFE to Koli ing the nature around us (www.elontila.fi). carry out a slash-and-burn next year. I am In 2003, when the LIFE project started, Koli had fewer Beneficiary: The Finnish Forest Research Institute We rented the cottage for our guests just really proud to be able to show the site to visitors than it has today and lacked proper forest habi- Contact: Kari Mielikäinen where one of the LIFE trails starts, so we my guests.” tat management. Therefore, one of the main actions that Email: [email protected] makes me proud is the restoration of the Finnish agrofor- camper-vans and16woodchalets. aine. Today, wehave70‘pitches’for tents,caravansand Aquit- of fortified region the in town Navarrenx of campsite (CampingBeauRivage)aformer municipalsite we soldupandmoved south.In2004weboughtthis build a campsite in the Deux-Sèvres, which we ran until “We moved toFrance from Jersey at the end of 1991 to Camping: “It’s awayoflife!” featured, CampingBeauRivage. campsites intheregionofAquitaine,including tions andrenovations thatwastestedby fivepilot voluntary ‘eco-label’for newcampsiteconstruc- formance ofcampsites.Theprojectdevelopeda project wastoimprove theenvironmentalper- The overall objectiveoftheLIFEEco-camps THE PROJECT Aquitaine, southwest France. in town a Navarrenx, in eco-campsite Rivage Beau the run Curtis Richard and Wendy owners Campsite The Voices ofLIFE20yearsgettingthingsdone to workwithvariousconsultantsadviseatallstages us enabled project Eco-camps LIFE the in Participation had todealwithduringthe2011season. it turnedouttobeastroke): theseareallthingswe’ve – blocked toilets, breakdowns, evenaheart-attack(well, hours-a-day andyouneverknow what’s goingtohappen gether andit’s fantastic.Butyouhavetobeavailable24 doto- can we something It’s maintenance. off-season we ‘close’,take ashortholiday, before tacklingallthe week from March through to mid-October. Then, when for everyone. It’s a way of life! We work seven days-a- Although welove whatwedo,runningacampsiteisnot how the panels could be most effectively used with the with used effectively most be could panels the how an environmental impactstudyanddetailedanalysis of provided experts independent whose firm, consultancy Thanks toLIFE,wewereable usetheservicesofa you canimaginethequotesfor thiswerehorrendous. replace theexistingsystemand startfromscratch.As we wanted to do was impossible and we would have to ing tosellustheirsystems.We kept beingtoldthatwhat mation weweregettingfromthe‘experts’whotry- as we had become so confused with the conflicting infor- here, us saved really LIFE heaters. water gas-fired isting ex- our with conjunction in water pre-heat to panels the the twocommunalshower blocks.We wantedtoinstall LIFE concerning the installation of the solar panels on We’re especiallygratefulfor thehelpwereceived from LIFE savings a processofconsideration,comparisonandjustification. environmentally friendlythananyother. Soitbecomes available totellyouwhichproductsormethodsaremore control allaspectsoftheprocess.Thereisnomagiclist as possibleontheenvironmentby takingmeasuresto was toensurethatthebuildingworkhasaslittleimpact recovery systemandawastedisposalsystem.Theidea play area,solarpanelsontwoshower blocks,awater- serviced chalets,includesaswimmingpoolandchildren’s campsite –whichaswellthecampingpitchesand our of profile environmental the of development the of Richard andWendy Curtis 95 MEET THE BUSINESSES 96 The Voices of LIFE 20 years of getting things done

existing equipment. We were then able to ask for a more cess of evaluating every stage and justifying each choice Participation in the LIFE “ realistic quote and also to request a (50%) grant from made along the way. ADEME – the French Agency for the Environment and En- Eco-camps project enabled us to ergy Management. This suddenly made this part of the work with various consultants Of the eco-innovations, campers seem to love the idea of project feasible. With the increase in gas prices looking the solar panels. But we’ve noticed that they don’t always likely to continue, we hope to have recovered the cost in to advise at all stages of the let us know if, say, the temperature of the water is not hot 12 years easily. “ enough. We think some people think it’s because there’s development of the environmental not been enough sun. Whereas of course, it’s us who con- By installing low-debit push-button taps everywhere, we profile of our campsite trol the temperature and we just need to turn the gas up! have found that we were able to reduce general water consumption on the site. Even having put in the swim- the expertise of Olivier Hantz, our LIFE project organiser. We give all our campers information on the environmental ming pool and the 10 ‘eco-chalets’ (installed during the The chalets had to be a certain height above the ground efforts we have made. While they do appreciate the work LIFE project), our water consumption has only increased by in order to leave enough fall for the drains. So a certain we have done, we are not under any illusion that it in any about 30% since our first years. We have also installed a amount of terracing work had to be carried out. There was way influences their decision as to where they take their recirculation pump on one of the shower blocks to reduce a need to ensure that that the people sitting on the ter- holidays. When we give people the recycling information, the amount of water wasted while people wait for hot wa- races would not be overlooking other holidaymakers, and some are very enthusiastic and extremely careful about ter to arrive. also a need to ensure that the terraces were angled in such getting it right, while others will throw up their hands and a way that they did not overheat in the height of summer. say: ‘Oh, but I’m on holiday’, as though it is all too much of The construction of the chalets was an issue that had to We wanted to avoid the necessity for air conditioning and an effort. On the whole though, we think it makes people take into account a lot of conflicting interests. We were able so made use of the trees as much as possible, to provide feel better if they think things are being done in a way to make use of the environmental impact study, as well as shade in the hottest part of the day. that respects the environment.”

Because of its location in the historical town of Navarrenx, with its magnificent ramparts, we also had to take into account the restrictions imposed by the Architectes des Bâtiments de France (responsible for protecting France’s urban and environmental architectural heritage). The ABF, wanted to ensure that the chalet section did not look like a housing estate! We were told, for example, that we couldn’t include individual parking in the new-build chalet section. This would have meant asking new arrivals to carry all their suitcases and belongings right across the campsite. In Project number: LIFE04 ENV/FR/000340 the end, the ABF relented, and we were allowed to provide Title: Eco-design and eco-engineering of buildings, onsite parking in the chalet section. amenities and accommodation in campsites Beneficiary: Conseil Regional d’Aquitaine Looking back over the six years since the project ended, we Contact: Laurent Beaussoubre would still have implemented the environmental changes Email: [email protected] started under the LIFE project. But LIFE showed us a pro- The Voices of LIFE 20 years of getting things done 97

LIFE 20 years competition

To mark the 20th anniversary of the LIFE programme in 2012, the LIFE Units organised two competitions open to all beneficiaries and project partners, past or present: a photo competition and a competition to sum up, in 20 words or less, what LIFE means to you.

From the numerous entries received, a panel of judges had the hard task of selecting the 20 “Best” photos and 20 “Best” texts. This long- list of “Best” entries was then whittled down to select the three “Best of the Best” photos and texts, which are presented below. All the winning entries can be found on the LIFE 20th anniversary website: http://life20.eu

l Submitted by: Farkas Szodoray- Parádi l Project beneficiary: LIFE08 NAT/RO/ “Thinking how, to save our water “Best of the Best” 000504 first. Thinking now, to quench “Best of the Best” our future thirst” photographs l Submitted by: Suzy McEnnis l texts Project number: LIFE07 ENV/E/000845

“LIFE to więcej niż fundusz. “‘Era il tempo migliore, era il LIFE to filozofia, która łączy tempo peggiore’ per i nostri ludzi i przyrodę. Niemożliwe czyni paesaggi rurali. Misurarsi con la możliwym.” contraddizione, il progetto LIFE.” (Translation: “LIFE is more than a fund, it’s a philosophy that connects people and nature. The (Translation: “‘It was the best of times, it was the impossible becomes possible.”) worst of times’ for our rural landscapes;

facing up to the contradiction: LIFE.’”) l Submitted by: Artur Wiatr l Anna Natali Project number: l Submitted by: LIFE09 NAT/PL/000258 l Submitted by: Adriano De Faveri l LIFE95 ENV/IT/000154 l l Submitted by: Heinz Wiesbauer Project number: Project beneficiary: LIFE00 NAT/IT/007215 l Project beneficiary: LIFE04 NAT/AT/000002 WINNERS KH-31-11-451-EN-C Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Union Luxembourg: Office 2012 - 100p - 29.7 x 21 cm ISBN 978-92-79-22675-5 doi:10.2779/86780 LIFE Publication / The Voices of LIFE: 20 years of getting things done of LIFE: 20 years of getting LIFE Publication / The Voices