Report “European railways: Strategy and actions for Biodiversity” launched by UIC featuring WWF Case Study

Posted on 15 Sep 2022
With a report launched by UIC (International Union of Railways) in June 2022, WWF stresses the necessity to continue co-operation with UIC in the region of Central and South-East Europe and to identify and promote some of the many solutions urgently needed to secure sustainable infrastructure for people and nature in the region.

WWF underlines the potential of railways as a clean and environmentally  friendly cornerstone of green transport systems. The report includes the plan to improve lineside management thinking in the railway sector, and shares with stakeholders the 13 strategies and action guides determined during the implementation of the project “Ecological Effects of Railways on Wildlife (rEvERsE)” led by UIC, where WWF-CEE participated.

It sets out a series of strategies and action guides to ensure that management for biodiversity is embedded at every level of the railway business. It also uses case study examples from the project partners to demonstrate best practice management for biodiversity. They include creating and restoring  habitats, linking habitats together, and approaches to minimize the negative impacts of rail infrastructure development on wildlife and the free movement of fauna in general. One of them is Case study 11: Partnership working between UIC and WWF-CEE – as an example of stakeholder engagement of UIC with a conservation non-governmental organization.

In 2020 UIC signed a Memorandum of Understanding with WWF-CEE to promote environmentally conscious rail transport in Central and Eastern Europe by enhancing cooperation between stakeholders and by catalyzing this approach globally. The partnership between UIC members and WWF-CEE has established a dialogue and facilitated  knowledge sharing in domains of common interest, including e.g. management of landscapes for ecological connectivity  as promoted by three Interreg projects, TRANSGREEN, ConnectGREEN and SaveGREEN, funded by European Union Fund (ERDF), smart design and construction of green bridges. 

Please read the report here.


For more information:

Hildegard Meyer, Regional Project Manager Conservation WWF-CEE, hmeyer@wwfcee.org
 


 

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