Redvert - Green and Blue Network of the Basque Eurocity
2015
Cross-border cooperation is a partnership between private or public players, separated by a State border, whose actions have repercussions at regional and local level on either side of the border. Within the European area, 360° mobility across the border, the projects and policies that accompany this mobility in territories close to the border, and the progressive cross-border integration that this cooperation builds and gives rise to cross-border territories, characterise different experiences. To illustrate the results of more than 20 years of cooperation within the Mission Opérationnelle Transfrontalière (MOT), 20 unique experiments conducted by MOT members for the benefit of the inhabitants of cross-border territories were highlighted. Numerous operations have been carried out in the environmental field. The Basque Eurocity Green and Blue Network project was launched by the Cross-border agency in 2011, supported by the European cross-border cooperation programme POCTEFA and by the Aquitaine-Euskadi Euro-region EGTC. Its aim is to provide the territory of the Basque Eurocity with a genuine green and blue network, enabling local authorities to take account of biodiversity conservation issues in their development projects.
Complementary to national policies and local initiatives, cross-border actions in this area have real added value. Cross-border territories are, or must become, areas of joint responsibility and management of environments and pooling of resources. Cooperation can cover various aspects such as the protection of natural spaces, the low-carbon transition or the integration of environmental concerns into sectoral policies.
The Bayonne-San Sebastian Basque Eurocity is seeking to develop a network of ecological corridors within its territory, with a green component (natural areas, permanent vegetation cover) and a blue component (rivers, canals, wetlands). The creation of this green infrastructure would be the ideal instrument for protecting and enhancing biodiversity in relation to human activity.
To this end, in 2012 the Eurocity cross-border agency launched the Green and Blue Network project (REDVERT) to identify and map the ecological networks of the cross-border territory and its area of influence in order to have an operational planning tool.
The project, which aims to identify the Eurocity’s green and blue tangle in order to develop an ecological territorial strategy, is being developed in 3 phases:
First phase:
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Definition of the Eurocity’s frameworks, biodiversity reservoirs and ecological corridors
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Identification of areas of conflict and black spots for ecological connectivity
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Determination of key areas and sectors of the Eurocity
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Formulation of recommendations to promote the connectivity of the Basque Eurocity’s ecological corridors
Second and third phases:
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Drawing up a strategy and an operational programme of actions to ensure the connectivity of the area’s natural spaces
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Coordination and promotion of the mapping study of the ecological corridors of the Basque Eurocity and the operational programme of actions.
Partners
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Basque Eurocity Bayonne-San Sebastian
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ETEN Environnement (consultancy firm)
Cost of the project :
304,280 € including €197,782 in European subsidies