These questions will be addressed by a special LIFE conference to be held in Brussels on 25-26 May 2011.The conference, which is being organised by the European Commission, will take stock of the contribution of LIFE’s Environment Policy and Governance component to environmental protection in the EU, its main achievements, and its potential future contribution, particularly in the context of the next financial perspective 2014-2020.*Funding programmes are an essential complement to EU legislation. The LIFE programme is the EU’s main financial instrument for the environment. It includes three components: LIFE Environmental Policy and Governance, LIFE Nature and Biodiversity, and LIFE Information and Communication.LIFE Environment Policy and Governance supports the implementation and updating of EU environment policy through the development of new solutions to environmental challenges and the dissemination of best practices, in both the public and the private sector.Expected outcomes of the conference:A clearer understanding of LIFE’s contribution to environmental protection in Europe;Greater awareness of this contribution, particularly among policy-makers at EU level;Ideas for the future of the programme, its design and development, which can be fed into the planning cycle.The conference will also provide an opportunity for stakeholders to exchange experience in the context of the implementation of the LIFE programme.* Note that this conference does not cover the activities of LIFE Nature and Biodiversity, whose objectives are the preservation of Europe’s nature and biodiversity through the implementation of the Habitats and Birds directives and through other activities.Target audiencesThe conference will bring together:Professionals (public authorities, SMEs, other industries, academia);EU policy-makers (Commission, Parliament, Council, Committee of the Regions, Member States); andStakeholders of the LIFE programme (beneficiaries, national contact points, other funders).The outcomes of the conference will be taken into consideration in the revision of the LIFE programme for 2014-2020.