Harmonisation of the Trans-European Networks for Transport, Green Infrastructure and Nature

The Carpathian ecoregion is an area of high biodiversity and ecological importance. Large carnivores and herbivores in the region have important regulatory roles in the landscape, maintaining balance in the ecosystem and the provision of important ecosystem services. Goals for socio-economic development across the region are driving the rapid expansion of transport networks, whilst failing to effectively consider or mitigate the associated environmental impacts in the planning and implementation stages. A series of transnational frameworks have been developed by the European Commission with goals to improve transport networks and conserve healthy ecosystems and the essential benefits they provide, but conflicts among the objectives of these frameworks make them difficult to implement. Understanding these conflicts and where they are occurring is critical to achieving an integrated approach and harmonisation of these frameworks.