The LIFE project will help

endangered species

and ecosystems in the southern

Bohemia and the South

Slovakia

The international project to save species and habitats of the NATURA 2000 system was launched in September 2017 and will be implemented until June 2024. The main goal is to improve the unfavourable conservation status of 11 priority habitats and 3 priority species (with a special focus on endemic species) in 25 European important sites in the South Bohemian Region and 30 in southern Slovakia. The objects of protection are in an unfavourable state due to the long-term absence of site management, inappropriate management, the expansion of invasive plant species, etc.

The project is aimed at improving the condition and subsequent protection of endangered species of plants, animals and entire natural habitats. It will be implemented in the area of local sites of European importance declared within the Natura 2000 system. These are often natural phenomena that are exceptionally rare not only within the Czech Republic and Slovakia, but also throughout the European Union. The herb Czech gentian (in the opening photo, top right) is found worldwide only in the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria and Poland, with the most abundant (but still very rare) being in the South Bohemian Region. A similar example is the subspecies of the predatory beetle Ménétriés's ground beetle (in the opening photo, top left), which is a rare relic of the Ice Age in our territory and also a Central European endemic. A rare and strictly protected species of beetle throughout the European Union is the brown stink bug (bottom middle in the opening photo), which lives in the cavities of old trees and feeds on decaying wood. This is a typical species, the management of which will not only help protect a number of other species (beetles attached to dead wood, but also birds and others), but will also significantly contribute to the revival of local traditions and the preservation of cultural heritage.

The CZ–SK SOUTH LIFE project is funded by the LIFE programme of the European Union and is only the fourteenth LIFE project approved in the Czech Republic since 2004. At the same time, the project received the highest subsidy from the European Commission and is also the project with the longest implementation. This is an international project and is focused on the care of 11 priority habitats, 3 priority species in a total of 55 European important localities. It is therefore undoubtedly one of the most important projects historically focused on nature conservation in the Czech and Slovak Republics.