LIFE Awards 2024 Winners: prominence on Water – Journal Today Internet

The unequalled and vital persona that decent liquid plays in the chronicle of every EU citizen was constituted by the LIFE Special Award 2024 – the prototypal instance that liquid has been so constituted in the programme’s 32 year
history.

‘Water is primary for life. Managing our liquid resources sagely is pivotal for the forthcoming of our follower but also for the forthcoming of humanity,’ said DG Environment Director General Florika Fink-Hooijer. ‘The whole Green Week was around the thought of liquid snap and our crusade See Water Differently, so it was a no-brainer to hit a primary honor for a liquid project. Tonight, we take a send that has shown unpaid conception and effect in liquid management. Freshabitat LIFE IP prefabricated a bounteous slush with both unstoppered and media – it was most power building, integration, and antiquity passion and dedication among some assorted stakeholders.’

FreshHabit LIFE IP was among the prototypal tranche of so-called ‘integrated projects’, introduced more than a
decade ago, which alter unitedly binary stakeholders and funders crossways assorted regions. In Finland, this meant desegregation freshwater projects in octad assorted direct areas exercising over a 1,000 km from Naamijoki in the farther northerly to Kiskonjoki on the sea coast. Its results hit been genuinely awesome basins and subsurface weirs; 40 ha of newborn shapely wetlands; 870 ha of remodeled peatlands; 25 km of remodeled rivers; 13,300 newborn stocks of endangered freshwater mussels; and 185 ha of newborn advance areas.

Public contact and hold was also primary to the success of the project. FreshHabit LIFE IP union fivesome move camps which attracted more than 100 participants, apiece delivering 40 life of intentional work. There were also 150 ‘nature edifice days’ which were attended by around 3,000 grouping fascinated in acquisition more most nature and the surround in Finland.

‘LIFE was primary for the success of the project,’ said send trainer Jari Ilmonen. ‘At prototypal I was a taste worried most the ogre we had created! We had 31 beneficiaries. We were among the prototypal desegrated LIFE projects – we learnt a Brobdingnagian turn most managing super projects, and how to refer binary beneficiaries. We are every rattling chesty of this Special Award.’

Several endangered species hit also benefitted, including the once-plentiful freshwater pearl mussels.

According to the project’s Layman’s Report, ‘In the rivers of gray Finland, there were mostly older freshwater pearl mussels that are in a slummy information and do not hit the capableness to reproduce. The River Ähtävänjoki freshwater pearl mussels hit spent a flourishing humanities hotel fortuity at the Konnevesi investigate send and, low certain supervision, the prototypal effort plaything babies hit been returned to their bag river to grow.’ Sea trout (which spawn in freshwater rivers), salmon, cyprinid and birds much as gulls and waders are also making a comeback.

‘The send was exclusive a success because we had an awful aggroup and rattling beatific partners,’ additional Jari Ilmonen. ‘We’re already applying a aggregation of the lessons scholarly in newborn projects.’

FreshHabit LIFE IP has matured newborn methods and models which are already existence adoptive elsewhere in the EU, with a pore on Natura 2000 sites. The LIFE Programme is the EU's resource helper for the surround and status action. Since 1992 it has co-financed more than 6,000 projects crossways the EU and another countries. Applications are today unstoppered for 571 EUR meg worth of resource for LIFE projects in 2024.