HARMON 2 project addresses Capacity Building Needs for Mainstreaming Biodiversity in the Transport Sector of the Danube Region

Projects’ duration: 01.09.2024 – 31.08.2025
Source of financing: The Interreg Danube Region Programme co-funded by the European Union
Total budget of the project: 116 270 EUR

Summary of the project

The HARMON 2 project proposal for the seed money facility is specifically addressing the EUSDR's Priority Area 4. - A better cooperation governance in the Danube Region with specific objective 4.1: Support for the governance of the EUSDR.

The development of the Transport Sector is a legitimate priority in the Danube region for socioeconomic and strategic reasons, but the requirement of mitigating its biodiversity impact is often seen by different categories of stakeholders and by the general public as either an unnecessarily costly barrier to rapid development or as a formal procedure without meaningful tangible results for safeguarding biodiversity. Linear infrastructure development is recognized as one of the biggest threats to biodiversity and the challenge in the Danube Region is how to develop it fast AND sustainable, while preserving the high biodiversity level and valuable landscape particular for our region.

The project addresses one of the key gaps/needs identified by DTP SMF HARMON – lack of capacity and integrated expertise of key actors for mainstreaming biodiversity into Transport sector in the Danube Region and will build on the progress / results achieved by HARMON-supported projects (DTP SaveGREEN, Horizon 2020 BISON).

The project is based on four main pillars:

identification of state of play concerning the knowledge and capacity related to mainstreaming biodiversity into the transport sector
development of the main project’s work plan. First, an Action Plan will be developed to tackle the most stringent issues identified during the analysis from the state of play phase
identification of potential key funding opportunities to implement the agreed strategic directions and ideas in order to mainstream biodiversity into the transport sector.
exploration of the possibility to develop a dedicated training curriculum in a joint venture with universities and practitioners.

The aim of the main project proposal is to contribute to preservation of biodiversity, including ecological connectivity, while developing linear transportation infrastructures in the Danube Region by promoting efficient awareness and engagement, adapted policies, capacity-building and transdisciplinary training involving different target groups such as universities, research centres, NGOs, decision makers, authorities, companies, sectoral stakeholders, and general public. By creating synergies between these actors, the main project proposal will promote development of new or improved professional skills / knowledge tailored to the occupational needs demanded by the specifics of transport ecology.

More about the project

Lead partner of the project:

Transport Research Centre (CDV), Czech Republic

Project Partners:

Zarand Association, Romania
Black Sea NGO Network, Bulgaria
Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Slovakia
WWF Romania Association, Romania

Associated Partners:

Secretariat of the Carpathian Convention, based in Vienna, Austria
Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology of Austria
Technical University of Varna, Bulgaria
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (A.P.TH.), Greece
WWF Central and Eastern Europe, based in Vienna, Austria
Egnatia Odos S.A., Greece