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The Pan-European
Biological and Landscape Strategy The initiative was
endorsed by the Ministerial Conference in Sofia in 1995. It is co-ordinated by
the Council of Europe and runs for a 20-year period from 1996-2016. The Strategy
has a joint secretariat provided by the Council of Europe and United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP). It is part of the European implementation of the
Convention on the Biological Diversity. Within the Strategy
biological and landscape diversity are defined as follows; - Biological
Diversity; the variability
among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia,
terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of
which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species and
of ecosystems (Article 2 of the Convention Biological Diversity). - Landscape
Diversity; the formal
expression of the numerous relations existing in a given period between the
individual or a society and a topographically defined territory, the appearance
of which is a result of the action, over time, of natural and human factors and
a combination of both (Council of Europe Recommendations on the Integrated
Conservation of Cultural
Landscape Areas as part of Landscape Policies). (Council of Europe (1996) No. R (95)
9). The Strategy sets
out ten Principles for action: - careful decision
making, - avoidance, - precaution, - translocation, - ecological
compensation, - ecological
integrity, - restoration and
(re)creation, - best available
technology and best environmental practice, - polluter pays, - public
participation and public access to information. "To
achieve wise management of biological and landscape diversity it requires the
application of these principles through all sectors using natural resources
including transport." (Council
of Europe 1996). The Strategy
comprises a series of five-year action plans, that for the period 1996-2001
relates to 12 action themes. Theme 2 considers the integration of biological and
landscape diversity into a number of socio-economic sectors, one of which is
transport, the subject of this Code of Practice. The action theme requires each
sector to be examined with respect to the positive and negative implications for
landscape and biological diversity. The Strategy
attempts to build on existing legal instruments and considers landscape and
biological diversity in relation to socio-economic factors. With respect to
transport the Strategy seeks to: "Integrate
biological and landscape diversity considerations into transport policies and
infrastructure development, avoiding areas of high value as much as possible,
prevent or mitigate negative impacts of infrastructure works and transportation
activities on landscapes and ecosystems." (Council
of Europe 1996) Scope of the Code
For the purpose of
this Code of Practice transport includes existing and proposed linear transport
comprising roads, railways and inland navigable waterways along rivers and
canals. It concentrates on major transport infrastructure although many of the
principles are applicable also to minor facilities such as byways or narrow
gauge railways. To avoid repetition the Code identifies a number of similar
features associated with the three types. It illustrates the differences between
the types by way of comparison. Transport terminals
such as harbours, stations and airports are omitted from the Code as are marine
shipping and aviation. Also, a number of indirect impacts of transport are
outside the scope of this Code including the use of fuel, aggregate quarrying,
improved access to remote areas,
the increase in development potential and land compensation. These omissions are
designed to enable the Code to focus on certain transport issues and do not
reflect their environmental effects which can be far ranging. The pan-European
region covers an extensive area comprising a physically and culturally diverse
landscape. This Code recognises the major differences in approach between
countries reflecting the development of the transport network and the economy as
well as natural characteristics such as the scale of the landscape and types of
habitat. Thus, a number of recommendations of the Code apply throughout the
Pan-European region, but the application of certain details will differ between
countries depending on the economy, landscape, biological diversity and traffic
flow capacity. |
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