The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and the Environment has opened the deadline for submitting projects for the calls for grants managed by the Biodiversity Foundation. These grants are aimed at carrying out activities in the field of terrestrial biodiversity, marine and coastal biodiversity or the promotion of environmental information.
A call for grants for the co-financing of projects approved by the European Commission, within the LIFE programme, and another for the development of collaboration and representation activities in the field of biodiversity, climate change and sustainable development have also been published.
In addition, as announced by Minister Isabel García Tejerina a few days ago, the 2018 call for subsidies of the Empleaverde Program has been published, an initiative co-financed by the European Social Fund that will allocate 8.9 million euros for the development of projects that promote a green, low-emission and sustainable economy.
The beneficiaries of these grants may be organisations that meet the requirements established in the regulatory bases of each of the calls that, as a general rule, may carry out their projects for a maximum period of one year.
MORE THAN ONE MILLION EUROS TO CONSERVE BIODIVERSITY
The call for the conservation of terrestrial, marine and coastal biodiversity and the promotion of environmental information has an endowment of 1.1 million euros, of which 800,000 will be allocated to projects that are presented for the terrestrial biodiversity line, 200,000 euros for those initiatives that do so within the framework of marine and coastal biodiversity and 100,000 for projects aimed at promoting environmental information.
The deadline for submitting applications to this call will remain open until April 30, 2018. Applicants for the grants must access the website of the Biodiversity Foundation (fundacion-biodiversidad.es) and fill in the required documentation in accordance with the established models and formats.
CO-FINANCING OF LIFE PROJECTS
For its part, the endowment for the co-financing of LIFE projects will be one million euros. Each beneficiary may be granted a maximum of 200,000 euros. The amount of the aid will be compatible with other aid, income or resources from other Administrations or public or private entities, national or international organisations, with the exception of other European funds other than those of LIFE.
The aid provided for in this call will be those activities included in LIFE Nature and Biodiversity, LIFE Environmental Governance and Information projects and LIFE projects on Information and Communication with objectives focused on nature and biodiversity, which are already approved by the European Commission on the date of submission of the application. The deadline for submitting projects to this call will end on October 16, 2018.
The call for the development of collaboration and representation activities before the General State Administration, the European Union and international organizations in the field of biodiversity, climate change and sustainable development, has a maximum endowment of up to 200,000 euros. The deadline for submitting projects to this call is March 7, 2018.
€9 MILLION TO PROMOTE THE GREEN ECONOMY
The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and the Environment, through the Biodiversity Foundation, has also published the 2018 call for subsidies of the Empleaverde Programme, an initiative to promote and improve employment, entrepreneurship and the environment. For this call, 8.9 million euros will be allocated.
The Empleaverde Programme is co-financed by the Employment, Training and Education Operational Programme of the European Social Fund, the most important instrument of the European Union for the promotion of employment and social inclusion.
This call seeks to support projects that promote employment and entrepreneurship in the green and blue economy, which contribute to generating new models of sustainable production and consumption, while generating social and environmental benefits in the territory and favouring the creation of new jobs.
The projects developed within the framework of the blue economy are aimed at encouraging and promoting job creation based on the potential offered by the marine areas of the Natura 2000 Network.
Interested entities may submit a project to each of the six lines of which this call consists. The call for proposals is 30 April 2018.
The minimum amount requested per project will be 100,000 euros and the maximum of 300,000 euros and the maximum duration of the projects will be 12 months.
The projects must pay special attention to protected natural areas and rural and depopulated areas, offering professional opportunities to people with special difficulties in entering the labour market, especially in these areas, such as women, people over 45 years of age, young people and people with disabilities, among others.
Applications, as in previous calls, must be submitted through the tool enabled on the website of the Biodiversity Foundation (fundacion-biodiversidad.es).
CARBON FOOTPRINT
In all calls, the Biodiversity Foundation will require the beneficiary entities to provide the necessary data to calculate the carbon footprint they have generated during the implementation of the project. This data will be used to know the impact of their actions and plan a more efficient management of projects, with the intention of reducing their environmental footprint.
