LIFE participates at scale at SERE 2024

The protection of Europe’s ecological habitats was part of the hot topic in Tartu, Estonia at the SERE 2024 Conference in August. Over 650 specialists shared progress on science, on the ground actions and policy developments in European nature restoration across a broad range of habitats. Site tours were also on the agenda for participants to see examples of Estonia’s nature firsthand.  

LIFE Special sessions have become an integral part of the biennial  SERE conferences. This year there were three dedicated sessions showcasing the enormous importance of the LIFE programme in advancing ecological restoration across Europe. 16 LIFE projects demonstrated the huge experience and gathered valuable know-how timely considering the recent adoption of the Nature Restoration Law. 

The three sessions ran under the themes of ‘Bigger, Better, Faster’ and emphasised the need to scale up and speed up nature restoration to meet the European ambition for restoring degraded ecosystems. Restoration projects in focus were those with the most potential to capture and store carbon and prevent and reduce the impact of natural disasters. The three sessions included the LIFE projects:  

• Session 1 – ‘Joining Forces & Resources to Restore EU Nature’ – featuring LIFE DUNIAS; LIFE Revers’Eau; LIFE Bioscape; LIFE IP Wild Atlantic Nature; and 6 other LIFE projects in Germany focusing on upscaling restoration efforts.  
• Session 2 – ‘Scaling Up and Speeding Up’ – featuring LIFE Mires Estonia; GrassLIFE; LIFE Transilvacoop; Pennine PeatLIFE; and cumulative reviews of habitat restoration in Czechia, and Estonia.  
• In Session 3 – ‘Making Restoration Sustainable’ – with projects including: LIFE-IP-RBMP-Malta; LIFE RESILIAS; LIFE Nardus & Limosa; LIFE Granatha; and a series of LIFE projects restoring seminatural grasslands in Czechia. 

One reflection from the sessions concerned some of the largest restoration efforts in Europe operating on landscape or catchment scale levels in Ireland, France and the UK. “These were truly inspirational, fully embraced the themes of ‘Bigger, Better, Faster’ and demonstrate what can be done with the right political backing, technical and financial support,” said Maja Mikosinska, Deputy Head of the LIFE Environment Unit in CINEA. It was noted that smaller interventions can have big, cumulative impacts, particularly in small countries like Malta, Belgium, and the Netherlands. 

Another key observation focused on the drive to bring nature to people and communities through effective stakeholder engagement methods such as festivals, smart use of marketing tools, and adoption of citizen science approaches. Representatives emphasised the importance of embracing a holistic approach where projects benefit aspects of climate, water, and nature. It was also stressed that EU restoration ambition cannot rely on public financing alone. Private funding should be brought into the financial blend of projects, requiring the development of effective governance structures, partnerships, operational frameworks, and market platforms.  

Not only did the selected LIFE projects highlight successes of implementing conservation measures and meeting policy objectives, but they also highlighted obstacles, setbacks, and lessons learned. The conference demonstrated the crucial importance and role of the LIFE programme and LIFE projects for ecological restoration in Europe.  During the conference, over 60 presentations about LIFE projects were delivered by representatives, and 14 posters put up on display. A LIFE exhibition stand acted as the meeting spot for project beneficiaries and information point for conference participants that wanted to learn more about the programme. 

The LIFE Sessions covered the contribution of LIFE projects to the implementation of the EU Nature Directives (Habitats and Birds Directives), the Invasive Alien Species (IAS) Regulation,  andthe just adopted Nature Restoration Law as well as -other EU policies, programmes and funding instruments such as relevant pillars of the EU Green Deal (in particular the Biodiversity Strategy 2030 and the European Climate Law), the Water Framework Directive (WFD), the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).