International Conference on Habitat Fragmentation due to Transportation Infrastructure and Presentation of COST action 341 products. 1-109. 2003. IENE. Keywords: 78Eur/action/conference/cost/forestry/fragmentation/habitat/infrastructure/ Malme/network/road/transport Abstract: One of the radical changes to the landscape of the past centuries has been the creation and enormous extension of infrastructure networks. Towards the end of the 20th century, the expansion of trunk rail and road networks slowed, but did not cease. At the same time, an ever denser network of forestry roads and other minor roads, tracks and trails extended into the last wildernesses of Europe. Canals, pipelines, electricity and telephone networks added their impact to an exponential fragmentation of natural areas, while urbanisation rapidly increased the built- over area. Researchers, nature organisations and authorities have expressed their concern over the impacts of fragmentation and studies have shown the risks caused by shrinking, ever farther separated habitats and the increasing influence of edges and boundaries. But only during the past decade has there been sustained, broad scale international collaboration to review knowledge about the transport infrastructure's impact on fragmentation and especially about the means to mitigate it. Habitat fragmentation, the splitting of natural habitats and ecosystems into smaller and more isolated patches, is recognised as one of the most important global threats to the conservation of biological diversity. A short overview of the mechanisms, processes and effects on nature will be presented. This threat was the reason for the Infra Eco Network Europe (IENE) to start in 1998 an action in the framework of COST1: the action COST 341. This paper presents some background information of this action which is the base for the major findings of the European Review and the solutions recommended in the Handbook. International Conference on Habitat Fragmentation due to Transportation Infrastucture and Presentation of COST action 341 products Conference map Habitat fragmentation due to Tranportation Infrastructure – IENE 2003 Practical information: Conference map In this map you will find all abstracts of the presentations ranged per session. All poster abstracts are also included. All addresses of speakers, poster authors and the list of participants can be found at the end. Registration The registration will start on Wednesday the 12th from 17h till 18:30h. Thursday morning you will be able to register starting at 8:00h. The first plenary session (opening conference and presentations of the Cost 341 products) will start at 9:30. During registration there will be coffee and tea. Lunch Lunch is included in the registration fee and is organised in the restaurant of the Conscience Building. You will all receive 2 coupons, each for a meal at the restaurant in the building and one drink. Reception and Poster session On Thursday,from 17:30 till 19:00h there is a reception and the poster session. All posters will be displayed during the 2 days of the conference, but during the reception there will be time for some extra explanation. Conference Dinner At 20:00 we’ll be expecting those who have registered for the conference dinner at ‘La Manufacture’. You can find a map on the website of the restaurant www.manufacture.be. But there will be a plan at the reception of the conference. Excursion The excursion is scheduled on Saturday the 15th of November. For those who have registered for the excursion; we’ll be expecting you at 8:30 in front of the Conscience Building. The full programme will be available at the reception, but for those with a flight on Saturday; we’ll to our very best to be back at the Conscience building at 15:30. I’ll see to it that you can leave your luggage in the building and pick it up after the excursion. Then you can go directly the station and take the train to the airport. Travelling to and in Brussels For getting around Brussels you can use the Metro; in annexe you’ll find a map of the metro in Brussels. There are several possibilities for those who plan some site seeing, but one single ticket cost 1,40€ and you can buy them in every station at the ticket machines or a ticket office. Habitat Fragmentation due to Transportation Infrastructure – IENE 2003 Plenary session : presentation fo the Cost action 341 – IENE 2003 Plenary session : presentation of the Cost action 341 Chaired by Mr. Hans Bekker, Cost action 341 chairman Official opening by Mr. Jansson, PIARC, C14 Chairman 9:30 – 10:30 Welcome by Mr. Cor Dierckx , Advisor of theFlemish Minister of Mobility, Public Works and Energy Introduction on the COST action 341 by Mr. Hans Bekker chairman COST 341, Road and Hydraulic Engineering Division from Ministry of Transport (NL) 10:30 – 11:00 Coffee Break Presentation of the , the European Review by Ms. Marguerite Trocme, Scientific Officer from the Swiss agency for Environment, Forest and Landscape (CH) Presentation of the European Handbook, by Mr. Bjorn Iuell, Norwegian Public Roads Administration (N) 11:00 – 12:30 Infra Eco Network Europe and the COST341 database, by Mr. Dick van Straaten, Institute for Nature Conservation- IENE Chairman (BE) “Linking roads and land-mosaic pattern for clues to habitat-fragmentation effects: road ecology at work “ by Mr. Richard T. T. Forman,Harvard University, Harvard Design School, USA Habitat Fragmentation due to Transportation Infrastructure - IENE 2003 Official opening Anders HH Jansson, Chairman PIARC C14 Committee on Sustainable Development and Road Transport Plenary session Abstract It is said that when the European Commission asked Finland to report the number of forests in our country, the answer was: one only. That forest covers most of Finland. Indeed, if one sums the forest area and the marshes, the sum is somewhat over 100%. So then, we need not worry about habitat reduction and fragmentation? There will always be enough forests, enough wetlands to provide space for all the flora and fauna of Finland? As we all know, even though population and habitation pressure in Finland is radically less than, for instance, in Belgium, we still have numerous species on the brink of extinction or endangered, rare birds, flowers or butterflies; diversity is continuously being reduced on almost any scale of measurement. In Finland too, the impacts of human habitation and activities spread not only through landscape changing into built-up areas but also through industrial forestry and agriculture, infrastructure networks and their long-range impacts, pollution and barrier effects. Of course, we should not make the mistake of expecting some kind of ever unchanging “Nature” to exist where we have not happened to build our cities, or expecting that no species may ever disappear or experience changes to its habitats. Such changes always happen and we are only a very recent actor in the sometimes drastically catastrophic history of our globe. But we seem to have the capacity to produce radical, unmanageable changes in a very short time and our impacts grow cumulatively with considerable speed. I would again like to quote the EEA indicator report, “Environmental signals 2001” concerning land take and impacts on biodiversity: “Land is under continuous pressure for new transport infrastructure: between 1990 and 1998 some 33 000 ha, about 10 ha of land every day, were taken for motorway construction in the EU. …Most areas in the EU are highly fragmented by transport infrastructure. The average size of contiguous land units that are not cut through by major transport infrastructure ranges from about 20 km2 in Belgium to nearly 600 km2 in Finland, with an EU average of about 130 km2.” One of the radical changes to the landscape of the past centuries has been the creation and enormous extension of infrastructure networks. Towards the end of the 20th century, the expansion of trunk rail and road networks slowed, but did not cease. At the same time, an ever denser network of forestry roads and other minor roads, tracks and trails extended into the last wildernesses of Europe. Canals, pipelines, electricity and telephone networks added their impact to an exponential fragmentation of natural areas, while urbanisation rapidly increased the built-over area. Researchers, nature organisations and authorities have expressed their concern over the impacts of fragmentation and studies have shown the risks caused by shrinking, ever farther separated habitats and the increasing influence of edges and boundaries. But only during the past decade has there been sustained, broad scale international collaboration to review knowledge about the transport infrastructure's impact on fragmentation and especially about the means to mitigate it. Finland does not make for a very good example of such efforts; there has been and remains a certain lack of urgency in the administrations concerned. But we do have some experience. Some of it will be taken up later at this meeting, but I’d like to refer to what we have, because I think it is still fairly typical of what has been done in our countries. Habitat Fragmentation due to Transportation Infrastructure - IENE 2003 Official opening As I started work at the Finnish Road Administration in the early 90s, I was told about a beetle study made by four Nordic professors of zoology. They had been looking at beetle populations on different sides of roads along a specific latitude in the Nordic countries, assessing population changes and possible genetic impacts. We never got to see the results; the Finnish professor concerned declared that it was their private research and not intended for application or publication. Since then, researcher attitudes have changed somewhat. Finnish studies have dealt with embankment impacts on bird populations, road kills, ecological passages and their monitoring, elk migration routes’ interaction with the road network and, lately, road alignment impacts on flying squirrel habitats.