Posted on September, 25 2020

Converging Crises and Sustainable Infrastructure in a COVID-19 World - Infrastructure and Nature Pavilion Webinar Series Session 1
Thursday, October 1^st at 8 AM EDT/2PM CET.

The Infrastructure and Nature Coalition, representing more than 20 organisations including WWF formed to organise the Infrastructure and Nature Pavilion at the 2021 World Conservation Congress. From October to December the Coalition is holding a series of virtual discussions with leading private and public sector actors on financing, planning, and development of sustainable infrastructure where we will explore solutions for reducing risks and generating incentives for building nature into future infrastructure business models. During Session 1, private and public sector panellists will set the stage for the webinar series, discussing barriers and opportunities for the private sector to catalyse sustainable investments that address the multiple crises we face today, from global biodiversity loss to climate change to the COVID-19 pandemic. WWF Central and Eastern Europe is intimately associated with these issues in the Danube-Carpathian Region, one of Europe´s last remaining strongholds for the grey wolf, Eurasian lynx and brown bear.

Unfortunately, many planned infrastructure developments threaten to cut through the movement corridors of large carnivores and increase the fragmentation of their habitats. Very few spatial planners have the knowledge and experience to ensure that conflicts between development and nature conservation are minimised as they develop new plans. More importantly, legally binding mechanisms taking into consideration the requirements of functioning ecological corridors is poorly implemented, mainly because of the lack of reliable data. These effects require a coherent transnational approach as the large carnivores frequently move across state borders in search of food, mates or other needs. Through the ConnectGREEN and the just launched #SaveGREEN Project, WWF-CEE and its partners from different countries and various fields of activity (spatial planning, research, government,  biodiversity conservation, agriculture, forestry, protected area and water management) joined forces to increase the capacity of ecological corridors identification and management and to overcome the conflict between infrastructure development and wildlife conservation.

To learn more, please register for Session 1 here.
We hope to see you next Thursday and at the other upcoming webinars!