Brussels, 09/09/2004 (Agence Europe) - On 9 September, the European Commission approved the financing of 20 new environmental projects under the LIFE Third Countries programme 2004. These projects will share a total Community contribution of 7,828,320 EUR. The EU's co-funding will help to improve the environment and the achieve sustainable development in regions of the Mediterranean and the Baltics. The 20 projects chosen focus around reinforcing the capacity and setting-up of administrative structures, and the implementation of policies and action programmes on environmental matters in Albania, Algeria, Croatia, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Russia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. LIFE Third Countries is one of the three planks of the EU's LIFE programme (see also other articles in this issue). The 20 projects chosen focus on capacity building (institutions, policies, methods of surveillance, training centres, networks and data bases). They cover a broad range of themes from waste management and clean technologies to the conservation of nature and biodiversity. Some projects promote alignment with the EU's environmental legislation or co-operation at regional or trans-national level. The total cost of the projects is 12,182,000 EUR, and the EU funding will cover 64% of the total. The projects will enjoy this financial backing on the condition that they come in line with the administrative and financial provisions.
LIFE Third Countries is one of the planks of the LIFE programme. The objective of the LIFE Third Countries programme is to contribute to set up capacity and administrative structures and to draw up environmental policies and action programmes in third countries in the Mediterranean and Baltic Sea (others than countries of central and eastern Europe which have concluded association agreements with the EU).