The wildlife aspect in the linear transport infrastructure development processes

Abstract

The Carpathian Mountains present some of the most preserved natural habitats for wildlife species in Europe. These natural environments provide a great number of ecosystem services for the whole Europe and their protection is in the interest of all stakeholders in the territory, from the local and regional state authorities, NGOs and private sector actors. Many regulations in form of the various formal and informal documents exist and these are different from country to country which creates one of the key issues when protecting this vast natural area. The unified system of protection recognized in all Carpathian countries is rather missing and for this reason the Framework Convention on the Protection and Sustainable Development of the Carpathians (Carpathian Convention) had been formed with an objective to foster the sustainable development and the protection of the Carpathian region. One of their activities is to support the legal procedures aimed at protecting the Carpathian Mountains and INTERREG-supported TRANSGREEN and CONNECTGREEN project is one of its main activities, of which this paper is one of the main outputs. The objective of this paper is to clarify how and where the wildlife aspects have to be integrated in the general process of the linear transport infrastructure development processes within Carpathian countries.