UK LIFE National Contact Point

The joint report from the negotiators of the European Union and the United Kingdom Government published on 8 December  stated that UK entities’ right to participate in EU MFF 2014-2020  programmes will be unaffected by the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. This means that UK based organisations will be able to bid for funding, participate in and lead consortia, in 2018, 2019 and 2020, and will continue to receive funding for the lifetime of the projects.  It remains the case that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed, which is why the Government’s underwrite guarantee remains in place. UK organisations should continue to bid for competitive EU funds including LIFE while we remain a member of the EU and we will work with the Commission to ensure payment when funds are awarded. The Government will underwrite the payment of such awards, even when specific projects continue beyond the UK’s departure from the EU.

The EU LIFE programme

LIFE is the EC’s financial instrument supporting environment and nature conservation projects throughout the EU. Its overarching objective is to contribute towards implementation and development of EU environmental and climate policy and legislation.

The LIFE programme will contribute to sustainable development and to the achievement of the objectives and targets of the Europe 2020 Strategy, the 7th Union Environmental Action Programme, “Living well within the limits of our planet”, and other relevant EU environment, and climate strategies and plans.

LIFE covers the broad width of environmental policy to include: water, floods, marine and coastal management, waste and resource efficiency, soils, forests, chemicals, noise and the urban environment, air pollution, air quality, nature and biodiversity.

The LIFE programme runs 2014 - 2020 and is split into two sub-programmes; Environment and Climate Action, as illustrated in the below schematic.

Environment & Climate Action

The Environment sub-programme covers three priority areas:

• Nature & Biodiversity projects focus on implementing the Birds and Habitats Directive and EU Biodiversity Strategy;
• Environment & Resource Efficiency projects focus on trialling, developing and demonstrating approaches and solutions to EU wide environmental challenges; and
• Environmental Governance & Information projects focus on increasing knowledge and disseminating information.

The Climate sub-programme covers three priority areas:

• Climate Adaptation projects focus on increasing resilience to climate change;
• Climate Mitigation projects focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions; and
• Climatic Governance & Information focuses on climate related matters.

LIFE Photo Competition Winner

The winner of the first UK LIFE Photo Competition is the RSPB Isles of Scilly project with the following photo which shows local children celebrating the project's success. We thought it perfectly captured the community engagement element of the project. 

St Agnes school children celebrate the success of the EU LIFE funded project clearing rats from two islands in the Isles of Scilly. Here they are removing apples which are potential food sources for rats – the removal of rats is great news for protected Manx shearwaters and Storm petrels, as well as the locally important Scilly shrew © Lydia Titterton, RSPB (LIFE11 NAT/UK/000387)

Help and Support

JNCC is the UK LIFE National Contact Point on behalf of Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) and the Devolved UK Governments. Our services include a helpline, pre-screening of proposals for eligibility and fit, and advice on administrative and contractual issues. For further information on the support and advice on offer, please see the what we do page.

Terms of use for UK LIFE Support

While the UK LIFE National Contact Point (NCP) strives to make advice and information available as timely and accurate as possible, the NCP makes no warranties, claims, promises, representations or guarantees, express or implied as to the  accuracy, timeliness, completeness, or adequacy of the information provided (or referenced therein), and expressly disclaims liability for errors and omissions in the material content. The NCP accepts no liability for the information we provide or its use by third parties, or for the consequences of any actions taken (or not taken) in reliance on the basis of the information provided whatsoever, for any direct, indirect or consequential damages arising out of the access, use or inability to use the information provided.