Nature and Biodiversity: the largest sub-programme

This is the largest LIFE sub-programme: €2,143,000,000 of the €5.432bn total, and on top of that the Regulation guarantees it at least 60% of all action-grant resources in the field "Environment". In LIFE, nature is not one theme among several but the central one.

What exactly is funded

Restoration of habitats and species populations, the build-out and management of the Natura 2000 network, action against invasive alien species, and the practical implementation of the Habitats and Birds Directives.

The operative word is restoration. A project about inventory or monitoring will not pass on its own: monitoring has to be part of an intervention, not its purpose.

Why the rate is higher

The general LIFE rate is 60%, but for this sub-programme it reaches 75%. The logic is straightforward: habitat restoration rarely has an owner able to put up 40%, and almost never pays for itself. The higher rate compensates for exactly that.

What this means for a Ukrainian organisation

Ukraine is associated to LIFE, so a Ukrainian organisation can be a beneficiary. The practical constraint lies elsewhere: much of the call portfolio is built around Natura 2000 and EU legislation that Ukraine has not yet fully transposed. A more realistic entry is therefore projects tied to the Emerald Network and to legal approximation, together with partners from EU countries that have run such projects before.