Focus area 4
Environmental initiatives, biodiversity and nature protection
Grants up to 5 million CHF shall be available for projects falling within the priority area:
ENVIRONMENTAL INITIATIVES, BIODIVERSITY AND NATURE PROTECTION
Types of eligible projects:
”A” Promotion of protected natural assets by awareness campaigns
Supported activities (either together or separately):
- Enhancement of the utilization of forest kindergarten and forest school services provided their programmes also include the presentation of Natura 2000 habitats and areas. Purchase of accommodation, capacities, catering and transportation services of the Forest Kindergarten and Forest School services. Qualification procedure of forest kindergartens;
- Widening the Green Kindergarten and ECOSCHOOL movements and assist in their operation, thus making their environmental education approach widely available;
- Development of curricula and educational programmes for the objectives of component “A”, identification and utilization of resource centres;
- Joint initiatives of NGOs or local governments to socially enhance protection of local natural assets;
- Protection and presentation of protected values of local significance with special regard to Natura 2000 areas;
- Publishing and free distribution of posters, stickers, book-markers, etc. presenting natural values, processes, ecological farming in connection with the elements of component “A”;
- Implementation of a nation-wide/regional/micro-regional/local public awareness raising campaign targeting primary and secondary schools with the aim of facilitating their initiatives to present nature, local protected values and also Natura 2000 habitats;
- Other activities linked to the above-mentioned, supporting component ”A”.
Optional additional activities the implementation of which can only be carried out together with one or more of the above activities (thus individually not supported):
- Review of foreign environmental education methods and experiences (preferably Swiss), establishment of a benchmarking method based on local practices and global lessons learned, adaptation and eventual utilisation of best practices with the involvement of partners; also quality improvement in environmental education, e.g. for work with external providers in relation to one or more of the above activities;
- Green Kindergarten and ECOSCHOOL and/or forest kindergarten and forest school related activities national and international networking activities of schools can be carried out. in order to implement the above activities.
”B” Pilot projects and Studies for the preservation of Natura 2000 species and habitats
Supported activities (separate or linked to other eligible activities ):
- Surveys of water habitats and water species of community interest; forest habitats and related species of flora and fauna protected or that of community interest (with special attention to insects and forest bats); and the development of their monitoring methodologies,
- Pilot projects aiming at the maintenance and improvement of habitats, focusing on typical water types in the Pannon Biogeographical Region (with special regard to sodic lakes and oxbow lakes), forest habitat types, as well as suppression of invasive species,
- Elaboration of action plans for the management of Natura 2000 sites concerning wetland and forest habitats of community interest and related species,
- Elaboration and operation of monitoring system based on country-wide remote sensing data that ensures identification and mapping of habitats of community interest
- Surveys, pilot projects and action plans of habitats and species of community interest on the sites under the scope of Carpathian Convention.
Minimum grant rate: 1 000 000 CHF
There is no geographic concentration applied for the projects.