European Commission Directorate General Environment Page 1 Regulation (EC) No 2152/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning monitoring of forests and environmental interactions in the Community (Forest Focus) Draft Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the Financial Instrument for the Environment (LIFE+) Ernst Schulte Head of Sector ‘Forest Focus’

European Commission Directorate General Environment Page 2 Environmental protection = one of the key objectives for sustainable development = priority for Community co-financing, to be funded primarily through Community´s horizontal instruments, including: * European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) * European Social Fund * European Cohesion Fund * European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development * Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme * European Fisheries Fund * 7th Research Framework Programme Since these instruments do not cover all environmental priorities, there is a need for a Financial Instrument for the Environment.

European Commission Directorate General Environment Page 3 LIFE+ (L´Instrument Financier pour l´Environnement) shall provide specific support for developing and implementing Community environmental policy and legislation, in particular the objectives of the 6th Environmental Action Programme. It is necessary to ensure a smoth transition and to continue to monitor, audit and qualitatively assess the activities financed under current programmes following their expiry. LIFE + ( ) is replacing existing programmes, such as Forest Focus, NGO´s support, Urban and LIFE. LIFE+ should be complementary to other Community financial instruments and the Commission and the Member States should ensure such complementarity at Community, national, regional and local level.

European Commission Directorate General Environment Page 4 Measures eligible for funding (Annex I of the LIFE+ proposal) Studies, surveys, modelling and scenario building Monitoring, including the monitoring of forests Capacity building assistance Training, workshops and meetings, including the training of agents participating in forest fire prevention initiatives Networking and best practice platforms Information and communication actions, including awareness raising campaigns and, in particular, public awareness campaigns on forest fires Demonstration of innovative policy approaches, technologies, methods and instruments National agencies’ staff costs Specifically for the Nature & Biodiversity component: –Amongst other measures, the monitoring of conservation status, including –but not limited to- setting up procedures and structures for such monitoring. –The purchase of land for maintaining or restoring the integrity of N2000 sites.

European Commission Directorate General Environment Page 5 Working Procedure under LIFE+ The Commission will present multi-annual strategic programmes ( and ) that will set out principal objectives, priority areas and type of actions, as well as expected results. National agencies will have to implement national annual work programmes in the context of multi-annual strategic programmes. They have to ensure that there is a European added value and they should avoid recurring activities. Detailed implementation provisions will be adopted for the implementation and evaluation of the programmes.

European Commission Directorate General Environment Page 6 Multi-annual strategic programme LIFE+ Component 2: Environment Policy and Governance, Section “Forests” Principal objective: Providing through an EU coordination network a concise and comprehensive basis for policy relevant information on: *forests in relation to climate change (impact on forest ecosystems, mitigation, substitution effects) *biodiversity (baseline information and protected forest areas) * forest fires * forest condition * the protective functions of forests (water, soil and infrastructure) as well as contributing to protect forests against fires.

European Commission Directorate General Environment Page 7 LIFE+ Budget and Calendar Budget: approx. EUR 2 billion (80 % decentralised management with 50% co-financing) At least 40% of the budget is planned to be allocated to support the conservation of nature and biodiversity (component 1). 27 June 2006: Council (common position) Autumn 2006: European Parliament (second reading) January 2007: Entry into force, first meeting of the LIFE+ Committee Spring 2007: designation of national agencies, consultations on national annual work programmes June 2007: Launch of national calls for proposals

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