The European Commission has announced the finalists of the 2020 Natura 2000 Awards! 27 finalists have been selected in five categories; communication, socio-economic benefits, conservation, reconciling interests/perceptions and cross-border cooperation and networking.

The Natura 2000 network is the network of natural protected sites throughout the European Union. The network includes both marine and terrestrial protected areas, protected under the Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive. Every year the European Commission hands out Natura 2000 awards to recognise excellence in management of these Natura 2000 areas, thereby showcasing the added value of the network for local economies, as well as increasing public awareness about these important sites for European nature.

One of the finalists for this year’s awards is the project “Reinforcing the roles of remote sensing in Natura 2000 monitoring”. The application is based on efforts to transfer knowledge on remote sensing. The 4th Eurosite Natura 2000 Monitoring workshop, hosted by Ricardo Díaz-Delgado (Doñana Biological Station) was an important event in these efforts. The event brought together Natura 2000 practitioners and experts in remote sensing to help promote the application of remote sensing in the monitoring of Natura 2000 areas. As a direct consequence of this workshop, Eurosite now operates a Remote Sensing Support Group (RSSG) to help practitioners apply remote sensing more widely in their day-to-day work. Two members of Eurosite’s RSSG have taken part in the application for the Natura 2000 award. Next to their efforts in our European wide Remote Sensing Support Group, Ricardo Díaz-Delgado and Clive Hurford played an important part as editors of the book “The roles of remote sensing in nature conservation” and Clive, as an individual member of Eurosite and chair of the RSSG, as the main organiser of the Monitoring of Natura 2000 workshops. You can read more and vote for their application here.

Voting is now possible until 15 September 2020. For more information and for casting a vote, please go here.