BESTbelt - More power for the European Green Belt

Radolfzell. Connecting and protecting unique landscapes throughout Europe by empowering local stakeholders is the focus of the new BESTbelt pilot project. In the framework of the European Green Belt (EGB), BESTbelt provides not only funding for conservation projects and sustainable development but also training and guidance on project management.

To unlock the local potential across the 24 countries along the EGB, the European Commission is providing 1.5 million Euro over the next four years. The European Parliament – on initiative of the Members of the European Parliament Jutta Paulus and Nicolae Ștefănuță – established the idea of promoting a new project in the framework of the EGB with long-term, sustainable perspectives for local actors. "Biodiversity is life's safety net we all depend on. To preserve the wealth of nature, we need bold action. But not only large projects are called for, the interconnectivity of ecosystems is crucially important to enable species to migrate and thus improve the genetic diversity of populations“, Paulus and Ștefănuță say. "With the BESTbelt project, we want to empower people along our European lighthouse project for biodiversity, the European Green Belt, and support local initiatives in protecting and conserving nature as well as making sustainable use of nature's resources“, both MEPs add.

“BESTbelt will bring a lot of opportunities to make local projects at the European Green Belt in the fields of biodiversity conservation, restoration and the sustainable use of ecosystem services happen and to increase their visibility”, EuroNatur Executive Director Gabriel Schwaderer says. “I encourage conservation organisations and other stakeholders to use this opportunity and participate in the offered webinars, and even more important, in the call”, Schwaderer continues.

One of the main elements of BESTbelt is a small grant scheme. 800,000 Euro will be available for two calls for proposals. Applicants are invited to apply for funding in the fields of biodiversity conservation, restoration and sustainable development. Applications have to be submitted via email to the BESTbelt Office (bestbelt(at)europeangreenbelt.org) until 11 April 2022.

Background information:

• „BESTbelt“: Based on the successful European Life4BEST-Initiative, which supported projects to sustain the natural heritage in European overseas regions, the „BESTbelt“ campaign (Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services and Training along the European Green Belt) now focusses on countries along the European Green Belt. The project is set for four years. More information: https://www.europeangreenbelt.org/bestbelt/
• Call Design: BESTbelt is designed as a two-stage call. Applicants will submit a concept note for their projects first and if successful they will be invited to submit a full proposal. All documents for the concept note application are available for download on the BESTbelt website: https://www.europeangreenbelt.org/bestbelt/calls-for-proposals/  The deadline for submission of the concept note is: 11 April 2022 at 23:59 CET. Applications must be submitted via email to the BESTbelt Office (bestbelt(at)europeangreenbelt.org). The data volume of the email should not exceed 5 MB.
• The official contractual partner of this project is EuroNatur, working closely together with the BUND Department Green Belt, BUND Mecklenburg-West Pomerania and the Karelian Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences as project team. EuroNatur chairs the “European Green Belt Association” (EGBA) and holds responsibility for this project. Furthermore, EuroNatur is the regional coordinator of the section Balkan Green Belt.

Further Information: BESTbelt Office, E-Mail: bestbelt(at)europeangreenbelt.org