In February and March, the applicants were informed about the results of the first phase of the 2016 LIFE Call selection process. Slovenia did a great job, since seven of the 14 project proposals submitted passed to the second phase.

The selection of project proposals for LIFE funding is carried out in two phases. The first – evaluation phase checks the fulfilment of the technical conditions (all the required forms are attached, the accuracy of the completed application) and evaluates the content of the project proposals. Proposals that receive the highest score in a particular priority area pass to the in the second – revision phase, where they are ranked and invited to supplementing. The results of the second phase are expected in May 2017.

To last year’s LIFE call the European Commission received as 867 applications from 26 member states, of which only 23 % successfully passed the first phase. Slovenia was the second-most successful country with 50 % success with the following projects passing to the second phase:

• priority area Environment and Resource Efficiency:
  LIFE for Acid Whey: Reuse of waste acid whey for extraction of high added value bioactive proteins (applicant: Arhel d.o.o.)
• priority area Nature and Biodiversity
  LIFE LYNX: Preventing the extinction of the Dinaric–SE Alpine lynx population through reinforcement and long-term conservation (applicant: Slovenia Forest Service)
  LIFE STRŽEN: Improvement of Natura 2000 statuses with renaturation of Stržen’s riverbed on intermittent Cerknica Lake (applicant: Notranjska Regional Park)
  LIFE for LASCA: Urgent measure to conserve nearly extinct Protochondrostoma genei (applicant: Fisheries Research Institute of Slovenia)
• priority area Environmental Governance and Information
  ECOLEX LIFE: Raising awareness on Environmental Liability Directive in Slovenia (applicant: TAX-FIN-LEX d.o.o.)
  LIFE NATURAVIVA: Biodiversity – Art of Life (applicant: National Institute of Biology)
• priority area Climate Governance and Information
  LIFE ClimatePath 2050: Slovenian path towards Mid-Century Climate Target (applicant: Institut “Jožef Štefan”)

The good results of our applicants are encouraging for the LIFE Capacity Building Slovenia (LIFE CB SI) project team. The project has been carried out by the Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning for a very year now. The LIFE CB SI team organizes numerous events with the aim of informing and training Slovenian applicants and promoting the LIFE programme among Slovenian organizations. Namely, the purpose of the project is to improve the performance of Slovenia in obtaining LIFE grants. More information on LIFE programme and activities organized by the LIFE CB SI team can be found on the project website, which hosts also the new Life Slovenija portal – a platform for easier search for partners and exchange of project ideas and experiences.

0

0