The European Commission has approved funding for 210 new projects under the third call for the LIFE+ programme, the European fund for the environment.

The projects are from across the EU and cover actions in the fields of nature conservation, environmental policy, and information and communication. Overall, they represent a total investment of EUR515 million, of which the EU will provide EUR249.8 million.

"The LIFE+ programme continues to fund high quality, innovative projects with a high level of added value for the EU," said Environment Commissioner Janez Potocnik.

"I believe that these new projects will not only make a significant contribution to nature conservation and to improving the environment, they will also help raise awareness across Europe of the key environmental challenges facing us, notably biodiversity loss, water scarcity and climate change."

The Commission received more than 600 applications from public or private bodies from the 27 EU Member States during the call for proposals.

The approved 210 projects include:

*Nature & biodiversity projects to improve the conservation status of endangered species and habitats;

*Environment policy & governance projects for piloting innovative policy ideas, technologies, methods and instruments;

*Information and communication projects to disseminate information and raise the profile of environmental issues, and provide training and awareness-raising for the prevention of forest fires.

LIFE+ is the European financial instrument for the environment and has a total budget of EUR2.143 billion for the period 2007-2013. During this period, the Commission will launch one call for LIFE+ project proposals per year.