The European Union’s LIFE program turns 30 on 21st of May. The University of Évora will commemorate this event with a major exhibition allusive to LIFE projects in which it participates either as a coordinating beneficiary or as an associated beneficiary. This exhibition will take place in the week of May 16th to 20th, in the Cloisters of Colégio Espírito Santo of the University of Évora, with the university community, national and foreign tourists and the general population as its target audience.
LIFE is a European Union financial instrument that currently co-finances projects in 4 sub-programmes: nature and biodiversity; circular economy and quality of life; mitigation and adaptation to climate change; and transition to clean energy. From its inception in 1992 to date, it has co-financed more than 5500 projects across Europe. For example, within the scope of nature conservation alone, this program has already invested more than 3 billion euros in around 1800 projects, which benefited 6000 classified areas within the European Natura 2000 Network.
Currently, 11 LIFE projects are taking place (or have ended in the last few months) at the University of Évora. Most of them are dedicated to the management and conservation of European biodiversity, such as Life-Relict, Life Charcos, Life Águeda, Life Lines, Life Saramugo, Life Olivares Vivos+, LIFE Scrubsnet and Life Alnus Taejo. Added to these are Life Montado Adapt, which is dedicated to the adaptation to climate change, Life Invasaqua, focused on preventing and combating invasive species in fresh and estuarine waters, and Life BIOAs based on an environmental perspective focused on the circular economy and quality of life. However, throughout the LIFE Program’s history, the University of Évora has participated in many projects.
