ACTION  E.1: Realization of the project web site

The website www.lifeprimed.eu presents the characteristics of the Project, the objectives, the intervention areas and the concerned habitats and species. It is regularly updated with the progress of the Project and the results achieved. It will contain press releases, dissemination initiatives and the possibility to subscribe to the newsletter (see Action E2) through a simple online procedure. It also includes a download section for public users. It is linked to all the websites of the project beneficiaries and those of other relevant stakeholders and project supporters.

 The web 2.0 mode, by which the portal is developed, allows linkage with social networks (Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin). A Facebook page and an Instagram profile are also opened to reach a wider public and to stimulate citizen participation in the planned dissemination activities (Action E2).

 The website includes the following sections:

• a homepage with a general description of the Project and the latest dissemination activities, news and press releases, past or scheduled events, images and videos uploaded to the portal or social networks. It displays logos of LIFE Programme, Natura 2000 and all beneficiaries, and links to their websites. There is also a specific space where the user can subscribe to the newsletter and a multimedia gallery for photos and videos;
• a detailed section with information about the Project, its aims and, in appropriate subsections, a description of the planned actions and expected results, and an update of ongoing work and achievements;
• a section providing information on the Project Beneficiaries and the engaged stakeholders with linkings to their websites;
• a specific section with information on the two Project areas (origins, historical-environmental connotation, state of conservation), and about habitats and species;
• a section with the dissemination activities carried out through action E2, where news and a calendar is featured with the scheduled events, including periodic press conferences;
• a section for downloading data, maps and cartography, technical reports and protocols, brochures and other promotional material (action E2), and a questionnaire from where users can answer questions useful for monitoring the Project;
• at the end of the Project, a Results section will be added, including the proceedings of the Scientific Workshops;
• a section will be dedicated to the transferability and replicability of the project containing information, manuals and scientific papers (E3), links and contacts to support replication of the project restoration and conservation solutions in other contexts;
• a specific cloud will be activated for internal users, registered and approved, to facilitate the exchange of material between the beneficiaries, which will include:

1. a) the updated version of the detailed schedule of the interventions;
2. b) the Grant Agreement and its annexes;
3. c) the technical reports of the activities;
4. d) the protocols and the reports;
5. e) the financial reports;
6. f) the internal progress reports;
7. g) the minutes of meetings;
8. h) the Report Templates.

 The expected results of this Action are to systematically disseminate the activities of the Project to the population and to the scientific community, to make available the data produced by the Project and to raise awareness among the decision-makers of the local government to support proper management of the territory.

 The quantitative feedback on the impact of this action will be:

• access number: 60,000 for the entire duration of the Project;
• number of social network contacts: 5,000;
• number of requests for information: 1,000;
• number of questionnaires filled up: 500;
• number of downloads: 5,000;
• geographic coverage resulting from a request for information and IP

 The linguistic structure of the site will be trilingual, Italian, Greek and English, in most sections, using English for the dissemination in the international system. The website will have a 10-year lifetime guaranteed by HSPN, which will ensure its operation for a further five years beyond the end of the project, through the HSPN communication team and information system. The after-LIFE Communication Plan, elaborated in action F2, will define in detail this action.

Beneficiary responsible for implementation:

This Action is managed by HSPN and carried out under the supervision of the Project Manager (action F2). The website is created and managed by an IT Consultant, specifically contracted. All beneficiaries undertake to provide information, news and content to be included in the site.

ACTION E.2: Project communication

This Action is needed to ensure communication of the aims and progress of the Project, the features and importance of the Natura 2000 Network and the LIFE Programme. It will allow the local population, from adults to school children, and decision-makers to be approached to the two Natura 2000 sites, increasing the awareness on their problems, and favoring people participation, especially in the after-LIFE phase. Additional stakeholders among government and school institutions, tourism agencies and environmental protection associations will be gradually identified at local, regional, national and international level and involved in the communication events.

Particular attention will be paid to the agricultural reality surrounding the sites. Representing this important productive sector of the area of Palo Laziale, the CIA (Italian Agricultural Confederation) will be involved to undertake a process of awareness raising and involvement of agricultural producers (not focused on the management of irrigated water related to the site) that will be able to stay long after the end of the Project.

An important part of the activity is dedicated to media relations, with annual press conferences targeting national and local media journalists, especially those dealing with environmental issues, and engaging local public and institutions. The kick-off meeting and the final conference will be particularly crucial due to the presentation of the objectives and the results of the Project. Participants will receive info material on USB sticks prepared by the Project on recycled supports.

Field visits and educational meetings with the local population and tourists will be organised in the two project areas, in the forest nursery, and other premises, such as schools and universities. Examples are volunteering support for the restoration actions (e.g. tree plantation), Citizen Science activities for the data collection, BioBlitz, Science Café for adults or kids to raise awareness on thematic issues such as climate change, land/biodiversity conservation. At least 70 events are foreseen with the involvement of at least 5,000 people.

Periodical press releases will be prepared and disseminated trough an e-newsletter, containing information on events related to the implementation of the Project or related to its dissemination. A press review (text/audio/video) will be published periodically on the Project website.

Information and promotional material will be prepared and distributed during the events to support the communication initiatives. Brochures will be produced and printed on certified paper (in total 7,000 copies). A small part of the dissemination material will also be produced in English, especially for tourists who visit both areas during summer. Gadgets will be produced with the project and LIFE programme logos (1,000 USB 8G keys with project material and 4,000 pencils).

At the entrance of both areas will be set up two info points in a wooden lodge to support field visits and distribution of the informative material.

A Program of Communication Initiatives, containing a detailed list of planned initiatives and a calendar orientation, is implemented to support the activities. As part of the Action, the after-LIFE Communication Plan (Action F2), including the appropriate dissemination activities to be carried out after the end of the Project, will also be drafted.

Quantitative feedback will be based on:

• number of participants in press conferences: 40 per event – and media coverage: at least 2 articles on national newspapers, 5 on industry magazines, 1 on local television, 4 on local newspapers, 2 services on local radios;
• visits to the Project areas: 4 every year in each country (Greece and Italy);
• visits to the forestry nursery: 4 every year;
• visits to the nursery of the Forest Service of Kavala: 4 every year;
• meetings in local schools: 6 every year (3 in Greece and 3 in Italy);
• other communication events: 6 every year (3 in Greece and 3 in Italy);
• number of newsletters: 1 every 3 months (in Greece also articles in HSPN Magazine "I FYSI") - Mailing list contacts: 3,000

Beneficiary responsible for implementation:

HSPN manages this Action through two Communication Experts which are contracted on the basis of previous experiences in environmental communication and knowledge on the project areas' ecosystems. Their main task is to prepare the contents of the promotional material, to develop the detailed program of communication initiatives under the supervision of the Project Manager, to implement the communication events, including the press conferences, and to maintain media relations. The Project's supporters will also support the communication activities according to their prerogatives, capabilities and availability.

ACTION E.3: Organization of Scientific Workshops on Mediterranean Coastal Ecosystems and final guidelines

The Project aims to disseminate its restoration, conservation, and management solutions to other geographical, ecological and socio-economic contexts, targeting a broad spectrum of stakeholders from EU and non-EU countries. An important part of this commitment will coincide with the organisation of a series of scientific workshops. In total, four (4) international meetings will be held, in Italy (#2), Croatia and Greece.

A preliminary contribution to and from stakeholders will be provided in digital form and by videoconferences (E6). Project stakeholders will have the opportunity to fill up a tailor-made sheet where experiences and know-how consolidated during the implementation of their LIFE and non-LIFE projects will be shared.

In the first workshop, which will be held in Italy by the end of 2021, preliminary results, experiences and outcomes achieved by LIFE and non-LIFE Projects will be shared and disseminated. Methodologies and results will be presented by different stakeholders selected among those involved in nature conservation and management, including Competent Authorities of Natura 2000 sites and NGOs. In this event, LIFE PRIMED will also disseminate the main features of the Project, receiving comments and feedback from participants to better support the implementation of the actions. A roadmap will also be drafted during the meeting to plan the following synergy and networking activities. The aims of the first meeting are:

• to collect and share good practices on the restoration of Mediterranean habitats targeted by the Project, and tips for the replication in other environmental contexts;
• to share the preliminary outcomes of the Project;
• to plan further dissemination and data exchange;
• to analyse common issues and conflicts.

Two more international workshops will be organised during the 4th and 5th year of the Project. A second one will be organised in Rome in the facilities of Sapienza University. The other one will be organised in Croatia in cooperation with local stakeholders. In these workshops, international participants will be invited from various surroundings countries (Slovenia, Italy, Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, etc.).

The final workshop is planned for 2023 in Greece, to disseminate, together with the stakeholders involved during the Project, results, monitoring methods, approaches for the restoration, conservation and management of the Mediterranean coastal ecosystems. It will be held in three languages: Greek, Italian and English, and it will involve stakeholders from Balkan areas dealing with Natura 2000 management. Consequently, a good practices manual will be prepared to collect all the contributions and to facilitate the replication of the Project's solutions in areas with similar ecosystem conditions and disturbances. The manual will include the workshop proceedings, the final reports of the Actions, analytical elaborations, and the results derived from at least two scientific papers published on international scientific journals. It aims at providing a technical-scientific reference for institutions and associations interested in gathering detailed information of the Project and in replicating its approaches and methods.

The proceedings of the final workshop, as well as the digital version of the good-practices manual, will be available for download on the project website. The manual will be also printed on certified paper (150 copies).

The quantitative expected impact of the Action is:

• 320 people involved (80 for each workshop);
• 1,600 people involved through the dissemination of scientific and technical results.

Additionally, to increase dissemination, the project team will also present the project findings through accredited scientific journals, with at least five publications over the duration of the Project, starting in the 4th year.

Beneficiary responsible for implementation:

HSPN coordinates the Action through a Communication expert in charge of organising the workshop and collecting the information for the preparation of the conference proceedings and the good-practices manual. DEB also employs a Researcher to draft the scientific papers and to present at the workshops the findings related to the hydraulic system developed by the Project.

ACTION E.4: Information Panels

Thirty (30) information panels (15 for each project area) (90x120 cm format) will be installed in the two Project areas to raise awareness of the visitors on LIFE programme, Natura 2000 network, on the Project and the naturalistic values of the sites. The info boards include pictures, maps, details of the habitats and species present in both Natura 2000 sites, as well as a description of the main characteristics of the Project. They will be put in place at all the entrances of the areas in the proximity of the Info Points.

In addition, other twenty-one (21) information boards will be placed only in Nestos Delta in the closeness of the temporary ponds (habitat 3170*) and the alluvial forest (habitat 91E0*) to reduce trampling and illegal lodging, respectively. They will provide information about the priority habitats and the need for their conservation.

These two sets of info-boards have different purposes. The first aims at supporting the communication activity of the Project; the second, represents a concrete conservation Action aimed at reducing the threat of illegal lodging in priority habitat 91E0* and the off-road practices in priority habitat 3170*.

Both typologies of panels will be assembled using eco-friendly supports.

What we expect from this Action:

• an increase of the visibility of the Project and the LIFE Programme for the local population and visitors in general;
• an increase of the number of visitors attracted by the presence of the panels at the entrances of the Project areas;
• an increase of the effectiveness and quality of the visits for different target groups such as local schools. For example, the panels can be used as educational support to facilitate the transmission of the scientific and naturalistic aspects of the Project areas.

Beneficiary responsible for implementation:

In Greece, the Action is managed by HSPN who will recruit a Technical Officer for the preparation of the panels' text and the supervision of installation in the Project Area. For Italy, the responsible partner for the installation and maintenance of the panels is DEB. A Researcher from the department will be also committed to prepare the texts of the panels.

ACTION E.5: Layman's Report

A divulgation report will be prepared after the conclusion of the actions to describe what has been implemented during the Project. It will be issued in a trilingual version (Greek/Italian/English) and using a non-technical language for maximising public understanding (e.g. local population, local and national media) and outreaching of decision-makers. It will be printed on certified paper (2.000 copies, max 15 pages) and made available in digital version through the website. The report will also be spread through the newsletter to all the addresses listed in the final index of the Project. It will contain a description of the Project with its objectives, the methodology and results as well as the environmental benefits, the socio-economic impacts and the long-term prospects. It will feature texts, pictures (before and after the restoration) and explanatory tables. A specific mention of the financial support of the LIFE Programme as well as the LIFE logo will also be included. The report will be elaborated at the end of the first trimester of 2023.

Beneficiary responsible for implementation:

This action will be managed by the HSPN who will recruit a Technical Officer for the text writing and supervision of the report implementation. The text writing also requires the consulting of the DEB who will employ a Researcher from the department. The editing, translating, digitalisation and printing will be attributed to external services via public tendering.

ACTION  E.6: Networking with LIFE and non-LIFE projects

The Natura 2000 sites of Palo Laziale and Nestos Delta are composed of peculiar coastal Mediterranean ecosystems. In both areas, the Mediterranean temporary ponds (habitat 3170*) are located at few hundreds of metres from the seashore and are ecologically and spatially interconnected with the woodland habitats (91M0 and 91E0*, in Italy and Greece, respectively). They also share a similar intensity of pressures due to human impacts and climate change and, to date, limited conservation and restoration efforts. Therefore, the adoption of methods and approaches from other geo-ecological contexts where more has been done for conservation and restoration is of crucial importance to the effectiveness and replicability of the Project actions. In this respect, national and international stakeholders will be invited (e.g., Competent Authority of protected areas) to transfer and verify good practices. This exchange will be carried out in an ex-ante, in-itinere and ex-post way.

The networking action is also aimed at supporting the replication of the applied solutions of LIFE PRIMED. The potential audience is very large, from the EU member countries participating in the project (Greece, Italy) to those already committed to receive and replicate the results (Project Supporters). Based on the EUNIS data, there are more than 400 Natura 2000 sites in Italy with the alluvial forests with Alnus glutinosa and Fraxinus excelsior (habitat 91E0*), and about 20 in Greece. Mediterranean temporary ponds (habitat 3170*) are present in about 20 sites in Greece and more than 150 in Italy.

Networking with other LIFE projects

From the beginning of the Project, other LIFE Projects will be identified and invited to share experiences on restoration, conservation and management of Mediterranean coastal habitats. This exchange will facilitate the establishment of a technical-scientific platform. Some LIFE Projects have already been identified (see section "Supporters") and a preliminary exchange of information achieved.

The exchange of expertise with stakeholders will be intensified during the mid-term workshop and the two workshops that will be organised in the 4th and 5th years of the project. The process will last with the final workshop when all the work carried out will be brought together and, through the preparation of the good-practice manual, will begin the scaling-up and the replication of the Project solutions in other similar Mediterranean coastal ecosystems.

Networking with non-LIFE Projects

A suitable opportunity for transferring the results outside the two project areas and the framework of LIFE programme is represented by the cooperation with stakeholders from the Ionian-Balkan-Mediterranean region established by HSPN and DEB. For example, the Project has already formally agreed on the involvement of the Albanian National Agency for Protected Areas (NAPA) in some actions. More specifically, some NAPA experts and representatives of the Albanian protected areas will take part at the implementation of the concrete conservation actions in Nestos (training on the job) for 20 man/days. The collaboration will also include an exchange of data and information until the end of the Project. NAPA will be also attending the final workshop.

Indicators for transferability and replicability success are the following:

• number of participants in the four scientific workshops (at least 300).
• reports produced by the trained experts in the project sites (at least 10).
• number of data download from the project website (dataset, reports, manual) (#5000).

Beneficiary responsible for implementation:

HSPN will manage the action in collaboration with DEB. All the other beneficiaries and stakeholders are invited to provide their contacts. The Sapienza University of Rome provides support to the networking action through the Internationalization Office.