Representatives of three Slovenian and three Italian project partners met at the opening meeting of the new project Green infrastructure and the Natura 2000 network for sustainable cross-border development - GRENNAT. The project continues the work and builds on the results and achievements of the completed strategic project Green infrastructure, preservation and improvement of the state of endangered species and habitat types along rivers - GREVISLIN, and transfers them to new partners and environments in the Interreg Italy-Slovenia program area.
At the meeting in September 2023, all project partners, the Slovenian municipalities of Ajdovščina and Miren-Kostanjevica, as well as the Italian partners Conzorzio di Bonifica della Venezia Giulia, Conzorzio di Bonifica Veneto orientale and the municipality of Monfalcone participated to the meeting under the leadership of the leading partner of the City Municipality of Nova Gorica. We outlined a tentative timeline for the implementation of project activities until the end of May 2025 and the dynamics of consumption of €742,760.81 of the total value of the project, 80% of which is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund.
During the project, a number of activities will be carried out related to awareness raising, holding public events for the presentation of achievements, developing the application, setting up river monitoring stations, preparation of implementation plans, reports and project documentation, actual infrastructural pilot interventions and the like. All activities will be linked to the capitalization of the Long-term cross-border green infrastructure development plan, consideration of the strategic importance of the NATURE 2000 networks in the cross-border area, and the dissemination of the NATURA 2000 info point.
Cross-border partnership is crucial for achieving the goals and results of the GRENNAT project. An action plan for improving the management of Natura 2000 areas in the cross-border area will be developed by analysing the current situation in connection with the management of Natura 2000 and reviewing legislative frameworks and especially practices from the point of view of managers, management methods and concrete examples from the Slovenian and Italian sides. We believe that the preservation and planning of green infrastructure, even in the urban environment, and the reduction of all forms of pollution, is beneficial not only for biodiversity, but also for humans and their long-term well-being.
