Environmental preservation and innovation: 25 years of LIFE+ projects in the UB

This year is the 25th anniversary of this milestone, which coincided with the creation of the Habitats Directive of the European Union. The University of Barcelona has been an active part of this call since its birth, with 11 projects of different themes which obtained more than 2.700.000 euros in funding.
The history of UB participation in the LIFE program started with its first funding call. Since 1992, researchers of the UB were trained as project partners in different subjects that build up part of the program.

Mining restoration with ecological criteria

First LIFE project coordinated by the UB: Ecotechnology for environmental restoration of limestone quarries (ECOQUARRY) The aim of LIFE+ ECOQUARRY was to apply ecological knowledge in the restoration of open-pit mining activities.

LIFE+ ECOQUARRY project was followed up by LIFE+ ECORESTCLAY, a 5-year project that began in 2013 with the participation of the UB as a partner.  “The current LIFE project allows us to verify a new restoration model, based on building final landforms which are more similar to the natural ones, more ecologically integrated in their environment” says Montserrat Jorba (IRBio).

Temporary rivers and habitat recovery in high mountains

LIFE+ TRivers project, which began in 2014 and will continue until 2019, and which studies hydrology and ecology in temporary rivers, aiming to create new tools to improve its management and ease decision-taking according to the Water Framework Directive of the European Union.

LIFE+ Limno Pirineus, dedicated to the recovery of marine habitats and species in the Pyrenees. Empar Carrillo, (IRBio), leads the UB team.

Environmental preservation and innovation

the UB has participated in actions of preservation and recovery of habitats and species such as the green algae Caulerpa taxifolia in the Mediterranean (Antònia Ribera, retired lecturer from the former Department of Natural Products, Plant Biology and Soil Science and IRBio).

The viability of the Mediterranean monk seal in Cap Blanc or the preservation of the meadows of the seagrass Posidonia oceanica (Àlex Aguilar, from the Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences, IRBio).

To commemorate this twenty-fifth anniversary, the LIFE project community has organized different events around Europe, which are available on this calendar.

Further information