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As part of its Smart Regulation policy, the European Commission in December 2012 initiated the Regulatory Fitness and Performance Programme (REFIT), a rolling programme to keep the entire stock of EU legislation under review. It affects the whole policy cycle, from initiation to evaluation, and aims to make EU law simpler and less costly. On February 2, 2016 the review process of the Nature Directives was concluded[1]. A process that started one year ago to promote citizen participation

Stopping the illegal wildlife trade is one of the most important and urgent problems of international organizations for  biodiversity protection. There’s been an unprecedented growth in illegal wildlife trade across the world in recent years, which is threatening to overturn decades of conservation successes. Especially for iconic animals like rhinos, elephants and tigers. The numbers are horrific: around 20,000 African elephants killed by poachers each year, and the number of rhinos killed  in South Africa has consistently increased since 2007. But it’s not

Environment Action Programmes provide a general policy framework for the European Union’s environment policy in which the most important medium- and long-term goals are defined and set out in a basic strategy, if applicable, including concrete measures to be taken. Environment Action Programmes date back to a Conference of Heads of State and Government held in October 1972, where States agreed that a common Community environmental policy was essential and called on the Commission to develop an Environment Action Programme.

Sustainable development has since long been at the heart of the European project and the EU Treaties give recognition to its economic, social and environmental dimensions that should be tackled together. The essence of sustainable development is a life of dignity for all within the planet’s limits and reconciling  economic efficiency, social inclusion and environmental responsibility. The EU, to achieve these objectives, sets out its priorities with “The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, that includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and

IAS (Invasive Alien Species) have become, over the years, a real problem for the conservation of nature in all Member States of the European Community. On the basis of risk assessments and scientific evidence, Member States (represented through the Scientific Forum and the Committee on Invasive Alien Species) have drawn up the recently published List of Invasive Alien Species of Union Concern. Several Projects have targeted many invasive species by establishing control, eradication, prevention and early warning measures in line with

In the last years Ecolinfa has strengthened its activities abroad. We have prepared several international projects and have actively participated in some of these. In particular, our experiences in LIFE Projects, in Europe, and in UN Projects, in Africa, represent important results of our professional life. Thanks to our efforts and to the support of our main partner SETIN, , we significantly extended our network and this newsletter is a way to keep in touch with you. Many challenges will be waiting

The last LIFE Programme call, launched the last spring, was recently closed. Many public officers, practitioners and researchers have designed hundreds of project proposals, with significant effort. The total budget for project action grants for this call is €337 536 184. Of this amount, €273 936 184 has been allocated to the sub-programme for environment and €63 600 000 has been allocated to the sub-programme for climate action. At least 55% of the environment allocation will be dedicated to projects supporting

The Antwerp Declaration on Ecosystem Services was launched during the European Ecosystem Services Conference 2016. The declaration, with the scope to deliver societal impact, is based on 3 pillars: refocus on principles of sustainability, reclaim the notion of value and expand collaboration. One of the explicated needs is “Bring business and researchers together to encourage innovation and creation of new flexible business models that integrate ecosystem services”. Ecolinfa is very active in bring business and scientific aspects together, to give value

Giacomo was the chair of the session “Ecosystem Services for Sustainable Development Goals from around the globe”, with the co-host SoEun Ahn, from the Korean Environmental Institute. At the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit on 25 September 2015, world leaders adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which includes a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and tackle climate change by 2030.  The SDGs aimed at an array of issues that included slashing poverty, hunger, disease,

This presentation intends to provide an overview of the guidelines to apply the Economic Environmental Evaluation (EEE) in Guinee-Bissau, one of the poorest countries in the world, with a very low Human Development Index (HDI). Recently, the Government of Guinee-Bissau and the United Nations have assigned the Partnership Framework 2016-2020 (UNPAF), the UN integrated system’s contribution to the National Development Plan, considering the principles of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Currently the UN is assisting the Government in applying the impact