Since the launch of the LIFE programme by the European Commission in 1992, a total of twenty “traditional” projects have been co-financed in Malta. Of these, ten focus on Nature conservation and biodiversity, six on Environment and resource efficiency and four on Environment Governance and Information.
In addition to the traditional projects, Malta has also benefitted one Integrated project “LIFE IP 2nd RBMP - River Basin Management Plan”, one Technical Assistance project “LIFE TA Malta RBMP” and one Capacity building project “Increase LIFE”.
The Technical Assistance project was meant for the development of the integrated framework in support of the implementation of Malta's LIFE IP 2nd RBMP, outlined below. The Capacity building project focused on the Increasing Malta’s participation in LIFE.
Ongoing LIFE Projects
LIFE PanPuffinus
The LIFE PanPuffinus! projects overall aim is to improve the conservation status of two endangered shearwater species (Puffinus mauretanicus and Puffinus yelkouan) across the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic coast of Portugal, by tackling two major threats on land and at sea through transboundary conservation efforts.
The project will assess national policies to understand how management measures are being implemented and aligns them with the Birds Directive and the Habitats Directive. A Policy Advocacy Plan - PAP will be developed and implemented in each participating country. By exchanging experiences between countries working on the conservation of these pelagic seabirds, the partners will also contribute to the implementation of the already produced International Species Action Plans for the Balearic shearwater and Yelkouan shearwater.
This project represents a total investment of € 3.540 million, of which € 2.124 million has been contributed by the EU.
LIFE-IP-RBMP-Malta
The main aim of the LIFE-IP RBMP-MALTA project is to support the implementation of the second RBMP through the establishment of an integrated framework for the optimised management of all water resources on the Maltese islands. To achieve this, it will seek to address the key horizontal challenges identified during a gap analysis undertaken as part of the development process for the second RBMP. The challenges will be addressed through the implementation of best practice, demonstration, pilot study, and capacity building actions and will be mainly linked to severe water scarcity and drought conditions, high population density, high urbanisation rates, saline water intrusion, contamination, and vulnerability of coastal waters.
In addition to the IP budget itself the project will facilitate the coordinated use of complementary funding from ERDF, CF, EMFF, EAFRED, INTERREG, national and private funds, as applicable.
This project represents a total investment of €17 million, of which €10.2 million has been contributed by the EU.