PRESENTATION

The Environment and Climate Action Programme is European Union’s financial tool for environment from 2014 to 2020.               Its goal is to provide solutions and practical improvements in order to catalyse changes in development and implementation of policies  so as to meet climatic and environmental expectations , as well as by promoting innovating technologies for climate change and environment. It also needs to support the implementation of EU’s General Programme for environment and climate change until 2020. ‘Living well, respecting our planet’s limits’ LIFE programme is managed by the European Commission; Agriculture, Nutrition and Environment Ministry (through General Services Direction) being its national authority in Spain.

HISTORY

LIFE programme was born in the year 1992, and is destined to the implementation and development of communitary policies and legislation in environment affairs. It has successfully developed four stages: LIFE I from 1992 to 1995, LIFE II from 1996 to 1999, LIFE III: 2000-2006, and last, LIFE+ from 2007 to 2013.

During all this period of time, the programme has partly financed more than 4.000 projects with 3.4 billion euros.In March 2014, bases were established for the new stage, which will last until 2017 and will be called LIFE+.

In this edition, 1.7 billion euros in total will be used, dedicating 75% to the Environment subprogramme, and the rest to Climate Action. The main goals are:

1. Promote the change to a more efficient economy in resources use.

2. Help to implement environmental legislation in the EU.

3. Support a better environmental govern management in which NGOs, local agents and society in general can participate.

4. Contribute to biodiversity protection.

PROJECTS

As of yet, LIFE Environment has cofinanced 321 projects in Spain, with a total inversion of 531 million euros, 201 million of which come from the European Union.

There are currently 121 projects in Spain, which cover a wide range of topics, which include: industrial, municipal, hazardous and agricultural waste; reducing emissions of greenhouse gases; air quality and noise management; transportation planning and urban design; integrated environmental management; life vehicles, clean technologies; plastic waste and packaging; sustainable construction, wastewater treatment; assessment and risk management; production and industry (chemicals, textiles and clothing products, non-metallic materials and food and beverages); energy conservation, protection of water resources; transport and storage and GPP.

1. Demostration of a process to recycle fiberglass waste which produce polypropylene (WGF-PP)

WGF-PP projectpresented, in a semi-industrial scale, an innovating recycling process for fiberglass waste, to be used as thermoplastic reinforcement. The project first designed and built a station which allowed technical and economical viability to be tested, and produced several final products which were approved by potential users.

WGF-PP project can be considered a starting point in the reduction of fiberglass waste in UE’s rubbish tips, were 150,000 tonnes of this material are thrown each year. Thus, the project is helping to reduce this waste’s footprint , as well as avoiding new fiberglass production, and as a result, raw material consumption.It also saves energy, and this way reduces CO2 emission.

The use of non-virgin fiberglass wouldn’t be possible in the classi production system. However, fiberglass, recycled with tiny plastic pellets has properties which are necessary in specific applications in cars and electrical appliances industries. Instead of throwing away fiberglass waste, this project offered  a way for them to be reused in the market or as part of a plastic component.This process also allows reinforced plastic waste from scrapped cars to be recycled.

The project also benefits the environment, reducing fiberglass production and consumption, both of which consume a lot of energy..

2. Reestablishment and management of wetlands: Castille Channel special protection zone.

This project took place in 34 small wetlands in the north of Spain. The execution will be made by Castille and Leon Assembly´s Environment Department, the Duero Hidrographic Confederation and other public and private organizations.

The project establishes active and preventing actions to maintain or reestablish habitats’, species’, and local natural ecologic processes’ conservation state. This project works with ‘Natura 2000’. Some of these actions are:

-Increasing water levels in 14 wetlands by blocking current drainages and installing 12 water entries.

-Carrying out an annual control of reproductive populations of bittern, imperial heron and marsh harrier.

-Creating 15,140 linear metres of bush tree hedgerow along the channel’s benches and planting 109, 087 plants and bushes in the surroundings.

-Inspecting 38 information panels throughout the wetlands.

-Creating interpretive routes which covered 44 km of the channel and building two bird observatories with maximum ornithological interest near the wetlands.

3. Demonstration project of the compatibility between the use of the collection of indigenous medicinal species, the conservation of the environment and the viability of these crops in rural areas of the Pyrenees.

The demand for aromatic and medicinal plants has grown in recent years, and this trend will continue in the future. It is an abundant resource in the forests of the Pyrenees and Pre-Pyrenees, which is frequently overlooked and underutilized.
With this project it is intended that the different groups understand the need to exploit in a more organized manner the areas in where these plants grow spontaneously. It also tries to encourage landowners to consider the cultivation of aromatic and medicinal plants as a viable alternative to their current exploitations.
In many rural areas, agriculture and tourism are the main source of wealth. However, its development is conditioned by the negative impact which entails the rural depopulation, since the presence of a stable population, guarantees the ecosystem’s conservation that man has helped to shape. They are, therefore, advisable measures that stimulate the economic activity in these areas to set the population in order to protect the environment and maintain the countryside.
To develop the project, a preliminary study of the physical environment was conducted, with the most significant variables, in order to determine the representative plots in the area where the demonstration will take place.
The working process follows two parallel lines. On the one hand, it is based on the study and monitoring of wild native populations at a particular rate of exploitation or use, while on the other hand, plots with own medicinal and aromatic plants typical of the natural flora of the areas were planted, cultivated in a biological way, and which will serve to demonstrate and publicize the real possibilities of cultivation.