(06 November 2013) – On 1 July 2013, Croatia became the 28th Member State of the European Union. The accession means Croatia-based environmental and nature conservation projects are now fully eligible for LIFE+ programme co-funding.
Before this Croatia projects were eligible for EU funding under the LIFE Third Countries (LIFE TCY) component.
From 2000 to 2005, 14 projects were co-financed by LIFE TCY. Half of the selected projects were run by national authorities, with the rest led by non-governmental organisations or research institutions, and there was one private company beneficiary.
The 14 completed projects, which received more than €5.67 million of EU funds in total, targeted a wide range of themes including climate change, waste reduction, energy supply and air and noise pollution.
The projects sought to build capacities at individual, organisation and EU levels and looked at ways of assessing and monitoring problems and developing and implementing environmental management controls. Various nature conservation issues were also addressed such as the restoration of important habitats and species and the management of protected areas.