A new project supported by UN Environment will help ensure road and rail networks respect the environment in mountainous regions, with a special focus on the Carpathians.

The TRANSGREEN project, which kicked off on 28 February, will see various measures for more sustainable transport systems introduced at four pilot sites.

These range from developing monitoring plans for existing measures, a road kill registration system being set up for a site between the Czech Republic and Slovakia, to supporting the planning procedure for Tirgu Mures-Iasi motorway and Arad-Deva railway in Romania. Planning procedures will also be supported for motorways in Hungary, Slovakia and Ukraine.

An in-depth analysis will be carried out, with a focus on transport plans, existing transport infrastructure and ecological corridors. Planners, economists, engineers and ecologists will work together to develop guidelines for the region on infrastructure planning, construction, management and monitoring, taking road safety and biodiversity conservation into account.

The project will “provide a fresh boost to help ratify the Carpathian Convention’s Protocol on Sustainable Transport,” said Harald Egerer, Head of UN Environment’s Vienna Office, at its inauguration meeting.

“An action plan – to be developed with the Convention’s Working Group on Sustainable Industry, Energy, Transport and Infrastructure – will also help ensure the Protocol becomes a reality on the ground”, he noted.

The project was launched during a three-day conference bringing regional players together to contribute to a dialogue on Green Infrastructure development for the Danube-Carpathian region. The launch event was hosted by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Transport, Innovation and Technology.

TRANSGREEN is coordinated by WWF Danube-Carpathian Programme. It will run until 30 June 2019 and will be supported by UN Environment as the host of the Secretariat of the Carpathian Convention. The project is co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund.

For more information please click here or write to harald.egerer@unvienna.org