Projects

E-NAT2CARE – Enhancing cross-border cooperation to conserve and restore Natura 2000 sites in a larger transboundary area is a cross-border project implemented under the Interreg VI -A Italy-Slovenia Programme 2021-2027. The main objective of the project is to conserve and restore the high biodiversity and richness of ecosystems, from the Alps to the Karst landscape.

The E-NAT2CARE project will reinforce the excellent results of the NAT2CARE project from the previous 2014-2020 Interreg Italia-Slovenia programming period, which showed that transboundary areas need coordinated management to halt biodiversity loss and habitat and species degradation. Forests consisting of old trees with stunted trunks and containing large amounts of deadwood are among the most diverse ecosystems. They harbour many animal and plant species, have important economic value, an educational and aesthetic function, and contribute to mitigating climate change. These forests are under severe threat from deforestation, climate change and unpredictable and violent natural events such as fires and floods, including in the Alps and Karst. This also threatens many species that need such forests to survive. On the other hand, there is a growing need for sustainable water resource management.

Specific objectives of the E-NAT2CARE project

• To introduce innovative, cooperative, transboundary monitoring approaches for specific animal groups, i.e. saproxylic insects and owls, which are good indicators of forest conservation status. These approaches will enable the coordinated collection of relevant information on the biology, ecology, distribution and threats of target species and habitats in the transboundary area. The information obtained is crucial for designing, implementing and monitoring the effectiveness of conservation measures, as well as for setting guidelines and conservation priorities in protected areas and beyond.
• To increase community awareness of ecosystem services. We will achieve this by creating an atlas of ecosystems and ecosystem services in the karst region and designing payments for ecosystem services provided by water.

Five partners from Slovenia and Italy are involved in the project:

• Nacionalni inštitut za biologijo (kot vodilni partner) (NIB)
• Parco Naturale regionale delle Prealpi Giulie (PNPG)
• Park Škocjanske jame, Slovenija (PŠJ)
• Università degli Studi di Udine - Dipartimento di Scienze Agroalimentari Ambientali e Animali (UNIUD)
• Univerza na Primorskem, Fakulteta za matematiko, naravoslovje in informacijske tehnologije (FAMNIT)