VAPEO

Within Europe, Belgium has one of the highest population densities, a high degree of business activity and the second most compacted road network. When these roads were built, plant and animal habitats were lost. Their habitats have been divided into smaller and smaller, isolated patches. Waterways, railways and ribbon development also create obstacles for animals.

As a result, the survival chances of wild species are very much under pressure. Moreover, ten years of monitoring by the Animals Under the Wheels project show that some 5 million wild animals die on Flemish roads every year.

In the period 2019-2024, VAPEO implemented 10 priority bottlenecks of ecological fragmentation, and worked to further substantiate complex projects.

All known bottlenecks along regional and highways were included in an escapement database and scored using ecological criteria and feasibility criteria. A project scoring high can still be included in the list of bottlenecks to be implemented.

The constructions of this project range from very small or short to very big. So the contribution to objective ‘ecological connectivity’ is unknown, as there are no clear indicators for progress monitoring for defragmentation in Flanders.

Ecological connectivity

• Facilitate the safe migration of animal and/or plant species across the different zones of the green-blue network;
• Restore and/or promote biodiverse landscape elements (e.g. trees, hedges, flowers, rivers) along linear infrastructures (e.g. roads, railroads);
• Have respect for and/or improve the environmental and ecological characteristics of the area.
• Incorporate these amenities into the surrounding area and environment;
• Manage the amenities ecologically (e.g. no use or rational use of pesticides).

Infrastructure managers are responsible for maintenance the engineering structures. ANB is responsible for green space management. The management is different for each site.