Transport corridors, such as roads and railways, have been proven to be major causes of habitat fragmentation. They not only cause the loss of natural habitats but also affect the quality of adjacent habitats, inhibit animal movements and last but not least, increase unnatural wildlife mortality due to collisions with traffic. In Bulgaria, no measures have yet been taken to reduce the impacts of habitat fragmentation by transport corridors. Moreover, no plans exist to implement measures to overcome the problems that roads and railways cause by dissecting natural habitats.

ECNC is to participate in the project: ‘Restoring ecological networks across transport corridors in Bulgaria’, led by ALTERRA (the Netherlands). In cooperation with local project partners (the Bulgarian Academy of Science, the Balkani Wildlife Society, the Wilderness Fund, Bulgarian Herpetological Society), transport-affected ecological corridor areas of high nature value will be assessed and a plan to restore ecological networks will be developed. The project will end in 2007.

More information: Agnes Bruszik (bruszik@ecnc.org)