This episode highlights the work being done by young people as they take ownership of the environmental challenges - and possibilities - that the LIFE Programme has focused on since its beginnings in 1992. Generation Change also looks at how the European Year of Youth 2022 has given fresh impetus to young people active in nature protection, climate action and biodiversity. 

We hear from the Italian volunteers of the LIFE Choo-Na! project about their work in nature protection, we meet with Bankwatch representatives that work in the Just Transition Regions and with the CEEBWEB for Biodiversityactivists to learn more about biodiversity in Central and Eastern Europe. Finally we go to Spain to understand how LIFE projects are working to improve green mobility for university students and encouraging sustainable food choices in schools.

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We talk to entrepreneurs detoxifying paints and coatings with environmentally-friendly alternatives; developing new fungi-based food from cereal bio-processing waste; using farm by-products to cultivate alternative proteins, a circular desalination process on an isolated Greek island using solar power; and tackling the waste footprint of the ski boot industry through materials recycling. 

European Commission official Paola Migliorini sets out the policy aspects of the circular economy, and former European Commissioner for the environment Janez Potočnik, now Co-Chair of the UN International Resource Panel, adds valuable perspectives on resource efficiency. 

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Agriculture is indispensable for our food for now and for the future, that’s why it’s important that our food production is developed in the most sustainable way, with regard to the use of natural resources, greenhouse gas emissions, and the use of chemicals. For the past three decades, the LIFE Programme has worked to bring stakeholders together, to foster innovation and enterprise that enables a more sustainable system of food production and consumption throughout the agri-food chain.

In this podcast we hear from the coordinators of six pioneering LIFE projects. We also talk to two European Commission officials whose work interfaces with the LIFE Programme’s contribution to farming and food: Alexandra Nikolakopoulou, who oversees the Farm to Fork strategy in the Commission’s Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety and Gaëlle Marion, head of unit for the environmental sustainability of agriculture in Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development.

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Conservation is not only about saving iconic species, it’s also about restoring and protecting habitats, food chains and Earth’s web of life. Species recovery is an essential part of any ecosystem's long-term resiliency and health. The last word in #LIFEis30 ‘How to save a species’ goes to Florika Fink-Hooijer, director-general of the European Commission’s environment directorate, who explains how new proposals from Brussels could soon make nature restoration a legal obligation for national governments.

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The LIFE Programme is closely associated with the EU Habitats Directive, which first became law in 1992. This legislation protects thousands of animal and plant species and some 200 vulnerable habitat types. 

This episode, ‘Roots in nature’, follows the work of four projects that have transformed habitats and the biodiversity within them: we showcase restored dunes in the Netherlands, we learn about revitalised grasslands in Estonia, we follow the fortunes of the magnificent great bustard in central Europe and we chart the migration of the twaite shad up the river Severn in the UK.

We also speak to two senior officials (including director for biodiversity Humberto Delgado Rosa) from the environment department of the European Commission about the policy perspective on habitats, and Europe’s ambitious goals for nature protection and restoration, including a recent ground-breaking proposal for a nature restoration law.

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.