Projects
Capital of Biodiversity: A Competition for Local Authorities
IUCN’s Countdown 2010 initiative is participating in the European Commission-funded LIFE+ project, European Capital of Biodiversity. The project involves organising a competition in each of five partner countries – Germany, Slovakia, Spain, France and Hungary – to recognise and reward local authorities that implement strong initiatives to conserve and enhance biodiversity. The contest will run simultaneously in the five participating countries and will lay the groundwork for a major European-wide contest.
Local authorities will be judged in different size classes and thematic categories including: municipal green spaces; planning instruments; conservation of species and ecosystems; agriculture and forestry; water management; organisation and cooperation; and communication and environmental education. The winners will be honoured at national and international events whilst their performance will be communicated at a national and European level.
In partnership with ICLEI-International Training Centre, Countdown 2010 will develop a set of training modules to diffuse biodiversity-related knowledge to decision-makers and planning technicians at a series of workshops to be held within each participating country. In addition, Countdown 2010 will develop an easy-to-apply set of biodiversity indicators, which will empower local authorities to self-assess their biodiversity and gauge the effectiveness of the conservation measures they employ.
The project is led by Deutsche Umwelthilfe (Germany) and the national competitions are being implemented by NatureParif (France), Lake Balaton Development Coordination Agency (Hungary), Fundación Biodiversidad (Spain) and the Regional Environmental Center (Slovakia). IUCN’s Countdown 2010 Initiative and ICLEI–International Training Centre are international partners of the project.
For further information on this project, please contact Russell Galt.
This is a LIFE+ project funded by the European Commission.
