Upload of all relevant spatial data of the project and transfer of the entire database to a public body (e.g. to the UN driven European Environmental Agency) that matches the required increase of the weight of CCIBIS and ensures its long-term use.

Description

CEEweb for Biodiversity (1021 Budapest, Széher út 40., Hungary, registration no. 1634) makes this Offer request for the services below:

"The uploading of all relevant spatial data of the project and the transfer of the entire database to a public body (e.g. to the UN driven European Environmental Agency) would offer the required increase in the weight of the CCIBIS and make sure its long-term use."

In your offer, please indicate also:

• the possible timeframe you can implement the task,
• the required fee,
• a short introduction of your colleagues to be involved on the expert side to the task.

Submit bids until 19 February 2021 to:

Dr Nagy Gabriella Mária
gabriella.nagy@ceeweb.org

ANNEX 1 – Brief project description

ConnectGREEN

Restoring and managing ecological corridors in mountains as the green infrastructure in the Danube basin

Duration: 1 June 2018 – 31 May 2021

Budget: ~ 2.5 Mio EUR, ~ 1,9 Mio EUR co-financed by the EU ERDF

Lead Partner: WWF International Danube-Carpathian Programme

Project Partners: Secretariat of the Carpathian Convention (AT), WWF Danube-Carpathian Programme Romania, WWF International Danube-Carpathian Programme (AT), CEEweb for Biodiversity (HU), Szent István University (HU), State Nature Conservancy of the Slovak Republic, SPECTRA – Centre of Excellence of EU – Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, URBAN INCERC (RO), Piatra, Craiului National Park (RO), Slovak Environmental Agency (SK), Institute of Architecture and Urban&Spatial Planning of Serbia(RS), National Park Djerdap (RS), VUKOZ (CZ)

Associated Strategic Partners: Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic, Bükk National Park Directorate (HU), Polish Ministry of Infrastructure and Construction, Romanian Ministry of the Environment, Romanian Ministry of Transport, Republic of Slovenia Ministry of Infrastructure

Project summary

The Danube-Carpathian region is one of Europe's last remaining strongholds for the large carnivore species: gray wolf, Eurasian lynx and brown bear, protected under EU law. Unfortunately, the planned infrastructure developments threaten to cut through the movement corridors of large carnivores and increase the fragmentation of their habitats.

Very few spatial planners have the knowledge and experience to ensure that conflicts between development and nature conservation are minimized as they develop new plans. More importantly, legally binding mechanisms taking into consideration the requirements of functioning ecological corridors is poorly implemented, mainly because of the lack of reliable data. These effects require a coherent transnational approach as the large carnivores frequently move across state borders in search of food, mates or other needs.

Thorough ConnectGREEN project, partners from different countries and various fields of activity (spatial planning, research, government, biodiversity conservation) joined forces to increase the capacity of ecological corridors identification and management and to overcome the conflict between infrastructure development and wildlife conservation. Valuable knowledge and experience will be made available to spatial planners and vice versa for finding the best ways to develop infrastructure and other plans in order secure  ecological connectivity in the Carpathians.
Maintaining or restoring ecological corridors will secure a viable population of large carnivores in the Carpathians and maintain one of the largest biodiversity hotspots and functioning ecosystems on the continent. Moreover, this new joint approach is meant to accelerate the implementation processes and put into practice much-awaited infrastructure developments that faces the risk of being delayed due to non-conformity with safety and environmental standards.

Objectives

The main objective of ConnectGREEN project for the next 3 years (2018 - 2021) is to maintain, respectively improve the ecological connectivity between natural habitats, especially between Natura 2000 sites and other protected areas of transnational relevance in the Carpathian ecoregion, namely in Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Serbia

Activities

→ Developing innovative solutions and guidance to identify ecological corridors and connectivity gaps in a harmonized way across the Carpathian ecoregion to maintain long-term, cross-border wildlife movement, associated ecosystem services and a high level of biodiversity in the region.

→ Engaging protected area and Natura 2000 site managers, conservationists, spatial planners and other key stakeholders in an integrated approach for strengthening the capacity for identifying and managing ecological corridors.

→ Reconciling nature conservation and spatial planning and development in ecological corridors and Natura 2000 sites by identifying and implementing strategic directions and instruments and practices.

Project main outputs

• Methodology for identifying ecological corridors
• State of the Art Report on the existing planning systems and their application for ecological corridor identification and management
• GAP analysis report on the identification of the needs for improving the planning processes and tools
• Set of recommendations developed together with spatial planners to avoid/ minimise fragmentation of ecological corridors and Natura 2000 sites
• Ecological connectivity related database under the CCIBIS
• Database with all relevant spatial information in each pilot site
• Maps with the distribution of target species, core areas, ecological corridors and critical barrier sites in each pilot areas
• Strategy on the identification, preservation and management of eco-corridors

Pilot regions

Long term solutions for wildlife movements: The ecological corridors will be identified in more detail by using the new Carpathian-wide methodology in 4 transnationally relevant pilot sites:

1. Piatra Craiului National Park (Romania);

2. Apuseni-SW Carpathians (Romania)/ National Park Djerdap (Serbia);

3. Western Carpathians (Czech Republic - Slovakia) and

4. Bükk National Park (Hungary)/ Cerová vrchovina Protected Landscape Area (Slovakia).