LIFE+ Nature & Biodiversity project

Latvian Fund for Nature has started to participate in the implementation of the project “Innovative approaches for marine biodiversity monitoring and assessment of conservation status of nature values in the Baltic Sea” (Project acronym -MARMONI).

Project objectives: to develop concepts for assessment of conservation status of marine biodiversity, including species and habitats and impacts of various human activities. The project shall develop innovative monitoring and assessment approach based on joint set of marine biodiversity indicators as well as to test in practice the monitoring and assessment techniques. The project is acting in the Baltic Sea in territorial waters and EEZ of Estonia, Latvia, Finland and Sweden. It is aiming at applying a regional approach for future marine biodiversity monitoring and cross country co-operation when assessing marine biodiversity in the Baltic Sea.

Project duration: 01.10.2010 – 31.03.2015

Project is funded by: European Union LIFE+ Nature & Biodiversity program as well as other donors and project partners  

Project coordinating beneficiary: Baltic Environmental Forum – Latvia (project manager Heidrun Fammler).

Associated beneficiaries: Latvian Institute of Aquatic Ecology (Latvia); Institute for Environmental Solutions (Latvia); Latvian Fund for Nature (Latvia); Nature Conservation Agency (Latvia); Baltic Environmental Forum-Estonia (Estonia); Estonian Marine Institute (Estonia); Finnish Environment Institute (Finland); Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute (Finland); Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (Sweden).

The project web site will be launched soon to inform about the specific objectives of the project, planned activities, their implantation and results as well as get the more information about the biodiversity in the Baltic Sea, its research and protection of marine environment.

More detailed information about the project:

In Latvia: Baltic Environmental Forum – Latvia, Anda Ruskule, anda.ruskule@bef.lv, tel. + 371 6735 7548

In Estonia: Baltic Environmental Forum-Estonia, Laura Remmelgas, laura.remmelgas@bef.ee , tel. + 372 6597 027

In Finland: Finnish Environment Institute, Vivi Fleming Lehtinen, Vivi.FlemingLehtinen@ymparisto.fi tel. + 358 40060 9269

In Sweden: Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, Cecilia Lindblad, Cecilia.Lindblad@naturvardsverket.se , tel. + 46 10698 1295 and AquaBiota Water Research, Martin Isaeus, martin.isaeus@aquabiota.se,  tel. +46 8161 001