Life after LIFE The long-term effects of nine projects funded under LIFE-Nature I EUROPEAN COMMISSION Life after LIFE A review of the long-term effects of nine projects funded under LIFE-Nature I Authors: Anton Gazenbeek & Kerstin Sundseth Ecosystems LTD service contract n° B4-3200/2000/286966/MAR/D2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many people have helped in the preparation of this report and we are very grateful to everyone for sparing us some of their precious time to take stock of the situation vis-à-vis each project. We would like to thank in particular the people we met during our Flashback missions or who provided us with information during the course of the assessment: • In Crete, Greece: Thanos Belalides, Aliki Panagopopoulou + 3 volunteers from Archelon, Ioannis Kotsifakis (Mayor of Platanias), Mechtild Latussek (Tui Group representative), Maria Valerga (Grecotel representative) • In Lorraine, France: Laurent Godet (PNRL), Frédéric Bréton (CSL), Frédéric Mony (Laboratoire de Phytoécologie, Université de Metz) • In Sirente-Velino, Italy: Dr Giorgio Boscagli, Matteo Celeste, Dr Luca Gianotti, Arch. Maria di Loreto, Dr.ssa Paola Morini, Elisenda Pascali, Dr Ruffino Sgammotta, Dr Emilio Sinibaldi, Dr.ssa Sonia Stornelli (all Ente Parco Naturale Regionale Sirente-Velino); Dr Simone Angelosanto, Ing. Cesare Colorizio, Ing. Emilio Nusca, Ing. Donato Santili (all mayors and members of the Consiglio Direttivo del Parco); Prof. Pierantonio Tetè (Universita dell’Aquila, scientific expert in Consiglio Direttivo), Dr Carlo Console (forestry expert in Consiglio Direttivo), Mario di Braccio (agricultural expert) • In Anholt, Denmark: Poul Erik Thystrup (Arhus County) Peter Simonsen, Karen Christensen (Danish Ministry of Environment) • In Brandenburg and Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany: Thomas Bich, Gunter Braun, Bernd Girke, Jutta Zinnecke (all Landkreis Jerichower Land), Dr Wolfgang Wendt (Ministerium fûr Umwelt, Naturschutz und Raumordnung Land Sachsen-Anhalt), Dr Heinz Litzbarski, Dr Matthias Hille (both Landesumweltamt Brandenburg) • In Trento, Italy: Dr Claudio Ferrari, Piero Flamini, Dr Diego Zorzi (Provincia Autonoma di Trento, Servizio Parchi e Foreste Demaniali) • In Baixo Mondego, Portugal: Manuel Ferreira dos Santos, Carlos Manuel da Silva Barata, Deolinda Olivença Borges, Maria Cristina Lopez, Fernando Sabino Rodrigues, Paulo Jorge de Quadros Tenreiro (all ICN, Mondego section) • In the Jura, France: Christian Bruneel (PNR-J), Alexandra Besnier, Bernard Leclercq, Marc Montadert (all GTJ), Michel Carteron (DIREN de Franche-Comté), Jean-Michel Mourey, Christian Guillemot (both ONF), Jean-Luc Pacis (ONCFS), Thomas Leplaideur, Patrick Lechine (both CRPF), Bruno Allein (ENJ), Adrien Bauer, Stéphane Besnard, Patrick Longchamp, Régis Renaude, Gaël Roy, Jacky Ruat (all FDC) • In Dorset, UK : John Waldon, Nigel Symes (RSPB) We would also like to thank members of the external teams, both in MECOMAT and ECOSYSTEMS, for their invaluable assistance in guiding us through the history and context of each project and in assessing the latest state of play. In particular Oliviero Spinelli, Manuela Osmi, Osvaldo Locasciulli (Mecomat/Comunità Ambiente), Ana Guimarães, Jesus Lavina, Concha Olmeda (Mecomat/Atecma), Marc Maury, Marc Thauront, Mariella Fourli, Stefanos Fotiou (Mecomat/Ecosphere) and Mats Eriksson (Ecosystems). Last but by no means least we would like to thank members of the Nature Unit of the European Commission’s Environment Directorate for their comments and guidance throughout the whole exercise, especially Bruno Julien, Angelo Salsi, Bertrand Delpeuch, Maria Dolores Beceril, Joaquim Capitão, Olivier Diana, Maria Gaivão, Micheal O’Briain, Fotios Papoulias, Carlos Romão, Angelika Rubin, Oliver Schall and Isabelle Venti. TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ..........................................................................................................page i INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................page 1 - Purpose of this report..........................................................................................page 1 - The LIFE-Nature instrument: a quick recap .......................................................page 2 - Evaluating the success of LIFE-Nature ..............................................................page 5 CASE STUDY I – SAVING SEA TURTLE BEACHES IN CRETE ..................................................page 9 - The context........................................................................................................page 9 - Life after LIFE .................................................................................................page 15 - Overall assessment ...........................................................................................page 18 - The future .........................................................................................................page 19 CASE STUDY II – AT THE SEASIDE IN THE MEADOWS ................................................... page 21 - The context ........................................................................................................page 21 - Life after LIFE...................................................................................................page 25 - Overall assessment.............................................................................................page 27 - The future .........................................................................................................page 30 CASE STUDY III – UPS AND DOWNS IN THE SIRENTE-VELINO NP.................................. page 33 - The context ........................................................................................................page 33 - Life after LIFE...................................................................................................page 49 - Overall assessment.............................................................................................page 44 - The future .........................................................................................................page 47 CASE STUDY IV – DESERTS IN THE SEA : RESTORING LICHEN HEATHS .............................Page 49 - The context ........................................................................................................page 49 - Life after LIFE...................................................................................................page 55 - Overall assessment.............................................................................................page 56 - The future .........................................................................................................page 57 CASE STUDY V – FARMING FOR BIRDS IN GERMANY .................................................... page 59 - The context ........................................................................................................page 59 - Life after LIFE...................................................................................................page 65 - Overall assessment.............................................................................................page 67 - The future .........................................................................................................page 72 CASE STUDY VI – RESTORING WETLANDS ALONG THE TRENTO FLYWAY...................... page 75 - The context ........................................................................................................page 75 - Life after LIFE...................................................................................................page 79 - Overall assessment.............................................................................................page 82 - The future .........................................................................................................page 87 CASE STUDY VII – REEDS AND RICE IN BAIXO MONDEGO ............................................ page 89 - The context ........................................................................................................page 89 - Life after LIFE...................................................................................................page 95 - Overall assessment.............................................................................................page 99 - The future .........................................................................................................page 101 CASE STUDY VIII – ROUND TABLES FOR CAPERCAILLIE .............................................. page 103 - The context ........................................................................................................page 103 - Life after LIFE...................................................................................................page 108 - Overall assessment.............................................................................................page 113 - The future .........................................................................................................page 116 CASE STUDY IX – RESTORING DORSET’S LOWLAND HEATHS........................................ page 117 - The context ........................................................................................................page 117 - Life after LIFE...................................................................................................page 122 - Overall assessment.............................................................................................page