The LIFE MareNatura project, with a total budget of almost 11 million euros, is co-funded by the European Union (75%). It will cover an extensive marine area from the Aegean to the Ionian Sea and the southern Adriatic, thus becoming the largest European marine biodiversity protection project ever implemented in Greece. A significant part of the program’s actions will be implemented in 44 Natura 2000 protected areas (41 in Greece and 3 in Italy).
With primary objectives to mitigate threats faced by nine important but vulnerable species of Greek marine fauna and to protect their marine habitats (Mediterranean monk seal, loggerhead sea turtle, green sea turtle, fin whale, common bottlenose dolphin, Cuvier’s beaked whale, and common dolphin, as well as seabirds such as Yelkouan shearwater and Audouin’s gull), the LIFE MareNatura environmental program launched in July 2023 in Greece and Italy and is expected to be completed by June 2029. The ultimate goal of the project is the effective protection of these species and, more generally, the protection of marine biodiversity, by proposing the declaration of new marine protected areas, which will expand the Natura 2000 network in Greece. In this way, the project will contribute significantly to the implementation of the European Union’s new biodiversity strategy, which stipulates that at least 30% of the sea and land in Europe must be under protection by 2030, as well as the global biodiversity strategy.
Duration: 2023-2029
Funding: EC LIFE Programme
Contact: Dr. Ch. Giannakopoulos (cgiannak@noa.gr)
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