The Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, through the Biodiversity Foundation, has presented the project “LIFE Changing lifestyles to recover nature” to the European Commission’s LIFE programme.
The Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, through the Biodiversity Foundation, has presented to the European Commission’s LIFE programme, the project “LIFE Changing lifestyles to recover nature”, which will be coordinated by the Biodiversity Foundation and will have four partners, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, the Autonomous National Parks Body, through the National Center for Environmental Education, the EFE Agency and SEO/BirdLife.
The project, if approved by the European Commission, would begin in January 2022, with a duration of five years and a budget of 3.8 million euros, 45% co-financed by the European Commission.
The general objective of the project is to promote more sustainable lifestyles and consumption in the food, leisure and tourism sectors, which promote the conservation and recovery of biodiversity and improve the health and well-being of society. The proposal is fully aligned with the European Green Deal and the European Union’s Biodiversity Strategy until 2030.
In recent weeks this proposal has been open to public participation and 70 contributions and 15 letters of support have been received during the time it has been published.
The aim is to make 15% of the Spanish population more aware and has initiated or is contemplating doing so, in the short term, a change in consumption habits towards a more sustainable model aligned with health. The crisis generated by COVID-19 has forced us to rethink our models of life and has shown how high human pressure on ecosystems can end up in a pandemic, as well as the essential role that nature plays in our well-being and health. In the post-COVID-19 context, it is necessary to protect and restore nature in order to have resilient and healthy societies and for it to occupy a central role in the European Union’s recovery plan.
GREAT IMPACT ON BIODIVERSITY
Our current model of life has proven to be highly unsustainable and has a serious impact on biodiversity. Ecosystems are deteriorating all over the world as a result of human activity, with the economy taking precedence over ecosystems. This loss of biodiversity is interconnected and affected by climate change, so integrative actions are essential.
In this sense, this project aims to reintegrate nature into our lives and make transformative changes. Lifestyles, the central focus of the project, represent the values and social behaviours that mark consumer decisions and habits. In the face of unanimous consensus on the importance of changing our lifestyle, it is important to address how to combine well-being with respect for nature.
To this end, this proposal pursues six main objectives: to improve the production, accessibility and information of the most sustainable products and services for all social groups; to raise awareness and sensitize about sustainable lifestyles, to promote reconnection with nature and its links with well-being and health; identify barriers and opportunities and promote measures in sectoral policies that integrate and promote sustainable lifestyles and coordinate the policies that promote them; promoting governance, cooperation and training the different agents (administrations, trainers, communication and marketing, etc…) in sustainability; to improve knowledge, promote previous successful experiences and analyse the factors to promote changes in lifestyles on a larger scale, and ensure the continuity, transfer and replicability of the project’s results to other sectors and groups.
SPECIAL ATTENTION TO EQUALITY AND GENDER ASPECTS
In a cross-cutting way, the project has an approach oriented to aspects related to the just transition, paying special attention to disadvantaged groups and to aspects of equality and gender.
To this end, citizens’ knowledge, awareness and sensitization on sustainable lifestyles will be improved. It will be done directly on more than 30,000 citizens and indirectly on 100,000. 6,000 professionals will be trained through courses and seminars to transfer knowledge. 4,500 employees from 90 companies will also be trained and a volunteer program will be launched for more than 26,000 people. In addition, a system of recognition of the sustainability of tourism in the Natura 2000 Network will be promoted to ensure that companies and tourist spaces join.
Finally, this proposal aims to improve information and communication on the benefits generated by biodiversity and the adoption of sustainable and healthy lifestyles for all citizens through different communication channels.
