Nature and Biodiversity

Objective

To contribute to European Union objectives for the protection, maintenance and restoration of the Union's natural capital in its marine, freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems, through outcome-based implementation of the EU nature and biodiversity legislation and the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030.

Areas of intervention

Projects must target wild flora and fauna and natural or semi-natural habitats, and fall under at least one of two intervention areas:

1. "Space for Nature" — area-based conservation or restoration measures. Typical projects: restoring or improving natural or semi-natural habitats, creating or improving protected areas, building ecological corridors and green infrastructure (including for the Trans-European Nature Network), testing new site-management approaches, or acting on pressures affecting EU-protected habitats both within and outside Natura 2000.
2. "Safeguarding our species" — species-focused measures other than area-based conservation. Spans hard infrastructural works through to awareness-raising of stakeholders, depending on the threat profile of the targeted species.

First-level prioritisation gives priority to species and habitats listed by the Ornis Committee under the Birds Directive, to species and habitats in unfavourable and declining conservation status under the Habitats Directive (especially U2- status), to projects minimising conflict between humans and large carnivores, and to species in higher extinction-risk categories outside EU nature legislation.

What this means for cities and regions

The largest indicative per-project ceiling in LIFE 2026 — projects of €2 to €13 million over typically 5–8 years. For cities and regions this is the route to fund peri-urban habitat restoration, urban biodiversity corridors, river-basin and coastal ecosystem work, invasive-species control across municipal territories, or species-protection programmes tied to local Natura 2000 sites. Public bodies, regional authorities, and protected-area managers can lead alone or with partners. Standard EU co-financing is 60%, but projects targeting priority habitats listed under the Habitats Directive can access a higher rate (typically up to 75%) — material for adaptation-of-coastal-floodplain or peatland-restoration projects in many regions.