Brussels, 22/05/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 21 May, the Commissioner for the Environment, Karmenu Vella, revealed the names of the six 2015 winners of the Natura 2000 Awards, which aim to reward environmental conservation work and raise awareness about local initiatives to protect the environment.
For the first time, European citizens have the chance to vote for their favourite finalist. The winner of this new category is a communication project on the Community Natura 2000 programme in Spain, which received more than 4,200 votes.
The other winners, chosen from a panel of nearly 100 projects, are: - the Conservation Award went to a Danish project to restore rare cavernous boulder reefs, ensuring the return of key marine species such as cod; - the Socio-Economic Benefits Award was awarded to a French project to support biodiversity and the local economy (tourism, agriculture) in Gorges du Tarn, which has attracted more than 30,000 visitors; - the Reconciling Interests/Perceptions Award went to the project of the Spanish foundation Oso Pardo, which aims to reduce conflicts between bears and people; - the prize for the best cross-border project was awarded to the project DANUBEPARKS, which is made up of 30 Natura 2000 sites in 9 Danube countries.
Natura 2000 is a network of over 27,000 protected natural heritage sites in Europe, covering 18% of the land of the EU and 4% of its marine areas.
For more information: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/natura2000/ (Mathieu Bion)