Cross-border corridors : demonstrating a transboun.. (LIFE BioCorridors)
Cross-border corridors : demonstrating a transboundary ecological network
(LIFE BioCorridors)
Start date: Dec 1, 2015,
End date: May 31, 2020
PROJECT
FINISHED
Background
Species are being lost through habitat destruction and land fragmentation. Since the 1990s, the re-establishment of ecological corridors has been considered essential to safeguard biodiversity. Such corridors enable populations of species to spread out, preventing the phenomena of isolation and genetic impoverishment. Ecological networks have been mapped in different countries and regions as âblueâ and âgreenâ corridors. In France, they are called âTrame Verte et Bleueâ, and in Germany âBiotopverbundâ.
Objectives
The LIFE BioCorridors project aims to re-establish an extensive ecological continuity in a cross-border context, in the biosphere reserve located in the northern Vosges (the Alsace and Lorraine regions, France) and the Pfälzerwald (German Rhineland-Palatinate region).
Consequently, the projectâs objectives are to:
Restore natural watercourse dynamics as regards sediment transit and water quality for fish;
Increase and sustain the number and dispersal ability of open-environment species;
Increase and sustain the number of forest species linked to caves or wood;
Advise and assist relevant stakeholders in implementing ecological networks in the area; and
Raise the awareness of elected officials and the general public of the importance of ecological networks favouring species and the quality of the environment.
Expected results:
Improved and enhanced habitats that benefit species linked to caves, and to old and dead wood (e.g. stag beetle, woodpeckers, owls, bats);
Restored refuge zones for species in open environments;
Restored ecological corridors in open environments, to improve conservation status of species;
Restored natural watercourse dynamics, elimination of barriers and enhanced presence of fish such as trout, bullhead and spined loach; and
Raised awareness among elected representatives, stakeholders and the general public about ecological corridor restoration, through consultations and the production of a brochure, a website and a documentary film.
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