One of the aims of the Natura 2000 Award is to show the appreciation felt for those working on Natura 2000 sites across the EU and in their own countries and local areas. High level Commission officials have attended all the local events to date to learn more about the projects and celebrate the winners’ achievements with local and state officials and stakeholders. Information on the 2014, 2015 and 2016 winners’ events can be found on the website.

For the 2016 winners, the following key events have been held so far:

On 1 July 2016, European Commission officials attended one of the Dabas Koncertzāle (Nature Concerthall Association), winner of the 2016 Communication category open-air concerts. 10,000 participants attended the event at Zalenieku Manor House in the Jelgava district and learned about the importance of Natura 2000 and how to conserve the common brown long-eared bat, Plecotus auritus, which was the focus of this year’s event.

On 19 May 2017 European Commission officials attended a local event for the winner of the Reconciling interests/perceptions Award. The IFE-Elia-RTE project has been working across Belgium and France to restore biodiversity under high-voltage lines using innovative solutions to combine electrical safety of the powerlines network with biodiversity.  To celebrate this Award, the project organised this special event around the inauguration of their first viewpoint dedicated to wildlife observation.  The event received strong media coverage, including a full page spread in some of Belgium’s leading national newspapers as well as a news item on TV Luxemburg.

More information on the local events is available on the Award website.