This project will provide financial and expert support for the implementation of active measures that directly contribute to the protection, preservation and revitalization of wetland habitats in protected areas and their immediate vicinity. 

The Challenge Call will support the implementation of innovative ideas that ensure the continuous presence of water, improve hydrological infrastructure, ensure the natural restoration of water resources and systems, restore wetland connectivity and revitalize degraded peatlands. 

Managers of protected areas, local self-governments, public and private companies, as well as scientific research institutions and organizations can apply with their project ideas. 

The best developed project ideas will be eligible for co-financing of up to 70% of the total value of the project, or up to a maximum of $150,000 per project. These project ideas will be implemented over a period of 6 to 18 months.

Project Goal: 

• To preserve wetlands in Serbia by improving their climate resilience and protecting their biodiversity, in line with the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans. 

Project Focus: 

• Strengthening policies and opportunities for financing activities related to nature conservation and the fight against climate change. 

• Improving governance and ecosystem management by enhancing capacities for planning, implementing, and enforcing nature, water, and climate policies by 2026. 

Main activities: 

• Contributing to the improvement and harmonization of national legislation and policies related to nature protection and wetland conservation with the EU acquis, focusing on the Decree on Ecological Network and the Decree on Appropriate Assessment, as well as the Law on Nature Protection, in terms of its alignment with the recently adopted EU Nature Restoration Law. 

• Providing trainings and workshops for representatives of competent authorities and relevant stakeholders to enhance their knowledge and skills for more effective management of protected areas and to integrate nature, water, and climate into policy implementation. 

• Helping improve the way institutions collect, store, and process data on nature, biodiversity, and ecosystems by upgrading information systems and field tools, and by developing a citizen science app focused on wetland conservation. 

• Establishing a National Wetland Inventory and developing a Wetland Restoration Action Plan. 

• Assessing existing financing mechanisms for nature and water protection and for climate changeadaptation, and designing a proposal for sustainable biodiversity financing, and to secure funding for wetland restoration and the long-term implementation of nature-based Solutions (NbS) through both public and private investments. 

• Conducting a stakeholder dialogue and a public campaign focused on wetland conservation to raise awareness of the value of the ecosystem services that wetlands provide to people and the importance of applying NbS.

Find out more here.