PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
The Carpathian Mountain chain is an important part of Europe's ‘green infrastructure’ and a region of great biodiversity. Its natural value reflects its location as one of the main ecological corridors both in Poland and in Europe (the Carpathian Corridor). Eighty-two Natura 2000 network sites cover almost 40% of the area in the Polish part of the Carpathians, covering more than 470,000 hectares. Unfortunately, in recent years, biodiversity and landscape in the Carpathians have been degraded and fragmented as a result of river regulation, unsustainable forest management practices, excessive gravel removal and, in earlier years, the construction of dams to create reservoirs. Grasslands are in poor condition and are significantly reduced in the area, mainly due to land abandonment followed by natural secondary succession of forests. Conservation and protection of Carpathian biodiversity and landscape will largely depend on the management or restoration of natural ecosystems and restoring ecological connectivity – thus enhancing the potential for delivery of a wide range of important ecosystem services. This will require restoration and enhancement of green and blue infrastructure through, inter alia, the continuation of extensive traditional farming and land use practices, the adequate management of ecological corridors at the local level, and cooperation between local stakeholder groups.
OBJECTIVES
LIFE Green-Go! Carpathians aimed to increase knowledge and awareness in Carpathian local communities concerning the need to protect biodiversity in rural areas. In particular, the project raised awareness on- and promoted green and blue infrastructure restoration, the need for maintaining and restoring ecological connectivity, and increased the level of knowledge about the importance of ecosystem services for sustainable local development.
To achieve this, the project aimed to support local cooperation for the participatory enhancement of green infrastructure at Natura 2000 sites in the Polish part of the Carpathians.
The project had four main goals:
- Involvement of local stakeholders in joint activities for the maintenance, restoration, and enhancement of green infrastructure at Natura 2000 network sites, as well as – for the sake of ecological continuity and connectivity – in areas lying beyond and in between Natura 2000 sites and other protected areas.
- Increased awareness, knowledge, and commitment of residents, local governments, and other organisations and entities operating in the Carpathians concerning the need to protect biological and landscape diversity, the benefits of nature conservation for local development, and the application of spatial information in decision-making processes.
- Better access to spatial data resources and tools and geo-information for participatory governance of the Natura 2000 sites in the Carpathians.
- Dissemination of good practices for the participatory governance of Natura 2000 sites throughout the Carpathian region – thus supporting the implementation of the Carpathian Convention.
RESULTS
The project reached the four main quantitative objectives of the project:
- It initiated the involvement of local stakeholders (local and regional authorities, citizens, members of local NGOs, scientists, local entrepreneurs etc.) in joint activities for the maintenance, restoration, and enhancement of green and blue infrastructure.
- It increased the awareness, knowledge, and commitment of the stakeholders concerning the need to protect the biological and landscape diversity of the Carpathians, benefits of nature conservation for local development, and the application of spatial information in the decision-making processes.
- It ensured stakeholders' access to spatial data and tools helpful in spatial planning.
- It disseminated information regarding the good practices of participatory spatial management in Natura 2000 sites among the stakeholders from Poland and other Carpathian countries.
Within the project, five small-scale, local initiatives aimed at the development and protection of different elements of the green and blue infrastructure were supported. They increased the scope of ecological services provided by the local natural system thanks to, inter alia, planting new trees around a community pond and recreation site (in Łapanów commune), preparing the nature inventory of the blue infrastructure elements and preparing recommendations regarding the way to protect them (in Ochotnica commune and in a nature-valuable oxbow on the Wisłoka river near the city of Jasło) or setting out tourist paths and promoting nature-friendly tourism and the traditional cultural landscape (“Żywiecki Raj” group of communes).
The beneficiary disseminated among the communes a set of materials that could be used to take into account the necessity to maintain and develop green and blue infrastructure in their spatial policy (e.g. a knowledge base, geoinformation tools, maps of the green and blue infrastructure, set of case studies as best practices, etc.). Additionally, the beneficiary prepared and submitted to all communes in the Polish Carpathians a detailed spatial analysis developed using GIS tool software and thematic data. It also produced and published Guidebook on formation of green infrastructure in the Carpathians, with basic information regarding green and blue infrastructure definition, data on the development of the green and blue infrastructure in the Carpathian Mountains (including good examples in forestry, water management, agriculture, spatial planning, etc.), and a set of guidelines on how to implement such projects at the local level.
The beneficiary developed and launched an e-learning platform with reference information about green infrastructure and space management and an “information hub” for project materials on green infrastructure. It also launched the geoportal and mobile app to map green infrastructure. It is available as the Knowledge Base module on the Project website. Also, the geoportal is available at the project website (as a separate module: http://mapa.karpatylacza.pl/GreenGO-Carpathians), and it contains the following layers: ecological corridors– both national and regional; landscape indices; existing built-up areas; spatial planning policy; habitat fragmentation; protected areas; ecosystem types; and boundaries of communes. The mobile app is also complete. The application permits the identification and on-site mapping of green infrastructure elements, and subsequently uploading them onto the geoportal for further edition and scrutiny.
A series of workshops for representatives of local self-government authorities and other stakeholders – including regional nature protection authorities – were carried out to disseminate knowledge about the role and importance of green infrastructure as well as legal and administrative conditions for its shaping, enhancing competences in the use of geoinformation tools, etc.
