On Wednesday 29 May, the European Commission announced the winners of the Natura 2000 Award for 2024. According to the Commission, the award recognises the outstanding management of Natura 2000 sites and highlights the added value of the network in terms of nature conservation for local communities and economies across the EU.
The Estonian Fund for Nature has been awarded the Conservation on Land Award for its ‘Initiative to restore 8,000 hectares of mire habitats’. The Marine Conservation prize was awarded to the Portuguese NGO Ocean Alive, for the restoration and protection of ‘blue forests’.
The Wild Atlantic Nature project, with its ‘Ground-breaking agri-environment payment scheme for farmers in Natura 2000 areas in Ireland’, and the Franco-Spanish initiative led by the HAZI Foundation, ‘Grazing to preserve Natura 2000 habitats and species in the Pyrenees’, also received awards.
The Italian association Artetica was awarded the Communication prize for its community involvement and citizen science initiative ‘From the woods to the web and back’, and the Polish initiative to ‘Protect the black stork’, presented by the Forest Experimental Station in Rogów, received the Citizens’ Prize.
Further information: https://aeur.eu/f/cfh (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)