Brussels, 25/09/2002 (Agence Europe) - On 25 September, the European Commission approved sixteen environmental projects that will benefit from financial aid in the context of the LIFE-Third Countries 2002 programme. Selected from 74 proposals, these projects will share a total of EUR 5 773 335. They will be implemented in the following regions or countries: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Gaza Strip and West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Russia, Tunisia and Turkey. The selected projects have capacity building as their main objective (development of institutions, policies, monitoring tools, training facilities, networks, data bases) and cover a wide range of themes, from water and solid waste management to nature and bio-diversity conservation (wetlands, marine environment, wild fauna). Some of them will encourage alignment with EU environmental regulations or cooperation at regional or transnational level. The total cost of the projects is EUR 9 324 582.