Published: 05 Sep 2011
Roads, motorways, railways, intensive agriculture
and urban developments are breaking up Europe’s
landscapes into ever-smaller pieces, with
potentially devastating consequences for
flora and fauna across the continent, according
to a new joint
report from the European Environment Agency
(EEA) and the Swiss Federal Office for the
Environment (FOEN). The report, 'Landscape
fragmentation in Europe', demonstrates how
areas of land are often unable to support
high levels of biodiversity when they are
split into smaller and smaller parcels.
As new roads and railways
criss-cross Europe, the further fragmentation
of the landscape increases the isolation
of animal populations in smaller and more
vulnerable fractions. This also increases
the number of animals killed in collisions
with vehicles, and transport routes block
their access to resources and breeding mates.
These problems are compounded by the growing
area taken up by transport infrastructure
and the area bordering these developments
– many animals cannot live in the fringe
areas. Moreover, landscape fragmentation
also facilitates the spread of invasive
species and reduces the ecosystem services
that human society relies on.
Professor Jacqueline McGlade, Executive
Director of the European Environment Agency
(EEA), said: "Landscapes change constantly
but in recent decades humans have often
shaped them with little thought to the cumulative
impacts and at a pace that is unprecedented."
"For the first time, this report presents
the extent of landscape fragmentation across
an entire continent using a scientifically
sound method. It reveals the most relevant
driving forces behind fragmentation, demonstrating
that varying factors are relevant in different
parts of Europe. The picture it paints is
worrying."
The brown hare in Switzerland is an example
of a species which has been pushed to the
brink of extinction by landscape fragmentation
in combination with other human impacts
such as intensive agriculture. The animals'
movement has been blocked by roads, so they
find it more difficult to escape bad weather,
and they are often killed by vehicles.
Extinction of the Swiss brown hare may be
impossible to avoid as the 'point of no-return'
may have been crossed. Indeed, animal populations
often react slowly to changes in their habitat,
so the current decline may be due to changes
that occurred several decades ago, with
further decline in animal populations across
Europe to come as a result of more recent
increases in landscape fragmentation.
However, it is not all bad news - the report
also presents some positive stories. For
example, badgers in the Netherlands were
in decline for many years, until a 'defragmentation
policy' was established in 1984, encouraging
developers to build 'badger pipes' to allow
easier and safer movement of these shy animals.
The Dutch badger population has since increased
slightly.
Landscape fragmentation: a mixed picture
across Europe
The highest levels of fragmentation are
found in the Benelux countries, followed
by Malta, Germany and France.
Romania, dominated by the Carpathian Mountains,
has successfully avoided large-scale landscape
fragmentation. The country's 13 national
parks and more than 500 hundred protected
areas mean that the country provides the
habitat for 60 % of bears, 40 % of wolves
and 35 % of lynx in Europe.
The UK is extremely varied – it has the
some of Europe’s highest levels of fragmentation
around London, while the Scottish Highlands
are some of the least fragmented areas.
Low population densities,
mountains and remote areas mean Scandinavia
has generally very low levels of landscape
fragmentation.
Mediterranean countries
like Spain, Greece and Italy have a medium
level of landscape fragmentation overall,
with greater fragmentation in many built-up
coastal areas.
In East and Central
Europe, there are ambitious road building
plans. For example, Poland has an unprecedented
motorway building programme, representing
40 % of the road building market in the
region in coming years. This may further
divide the remaining patches of habitat
unless measures are taken to preserve connectivity
and compensate for the habitat loss.
Although the situation
is critical, there are several proactive
policies for more effective protection of
remaining unfragmented areas, and wildlife
corridors which could successfully reverse
the trend of growing fragmentation. Developers
should build more tunnels, passages and
bridges to allow animals to move more freely,
the report says. In addition, planners should
aim to upgrade old roads instead of building
new roads, and ‘bundle’ new infrastructure,
for example by building bypasses close to
settlements or constructing road and rail
routes next to each other.
Where the volume of traffic has fallen,
roads should be reduced in size or dismantled
completely. Most importantly, cumulative
effects need to be considered more effectively
in the future, based on the precautionary
principle, to avoid repeating mistakes of
the past. The problem of landscape fragmentation
is also considered by the recently-adopted
European Union Strategy on Biodiversity
and Ecosystems, where green infrastructure
features prominently.
+ More
Environmental information
network extends across Europe, Central Asia
and Russian Federation
Published: 23 Sep 2011
Government ministers and delegates from
53 countries agreed to extend the European
network for sharing environmental information
across the pan-European region. The commitment
was made at the seventh Ministerial Environment
for Europe summit in Astana, Kazakhstan,
which concluded today.
Ministers agreed to
extend the Shared Environmental Information
System (SEIS). SEIS is a system for bringing
together huge volumes of data and information
from governments, scientific organisations,
businesses and citizens. The European Environment
Agency (EEA), the European Commission and
Member States have been using the ideas
underpinning SEIS to gather data over the
last 5 years.
In the Ministerial Declaration, the EEA
was given the mandate to develop the future
of environmental reporting in the region.
Professor Jacqueline McGlade, EEA Executive
Director, said: “The Ministerial Declaration
is an important turning point for environmental
protection in the region. Countries have
recognised the need to both develop and
sustain their environmental monitoring systems,
and also create the right policies for greening
the economy by sharing data.”
The summit had two major themes: green economy
and sustainable management of water and
related ecosystems. The EEA supported the
conference with a report entitled 'Europe's
Environment — Assessment of Assessments',
which aimed to demonstrate the quantity
and quality of environmental information.
A large number of countries committed to
improving water management through diverse
actions. Examples include water treatment
plants (Moldova), increasing water efficiency
(Finland) and new planning regulations for
flood plains (Hungary).
Alongside a commitment to SEIS, the final
declaration recommended boosting investment
in the water sector. Ministers also confirmed
their countries would take the lead in transforming
their countries to a green economy, noting
the importance of “decoupling of economic
growth from environmental degradation”.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of
the “Environment for Europe” process, which
is organised by the United Nations Economic
Commission for Europe (UNECE). There are
53 UNECE member countries in the pan-European
region, covering the European Union, neighbouring
countries, the Caucasus, Western Balkans,
Central Asia, Turkey and the Russian Federation.
The US, Canada and Israel are also members
of UNECE.
