The aim of the project is to test, evaluate and disseminate measures designed to mitigate the negative effects of linear infrastructures on various species of fauna and, at the same time, to promote the creation, along them, of a Green Infrastructure to support the increase and conservation of biodiversity in the territory in which it operates, an important transport and energy corridor between Portugal and Spain.

The proposed work is based on solid knowledge of the fauna/flora of the project area, years of data collection on fauna mortality in existing infrastructures and, unusually for the socio-economic context in which it is located, the active participation of stakeholders related to the problem, with common objectives to solve it (including public and private infrastructure managers/constructors at local and national level, supported by academic institutions with recognised work).

The project’s intervention strategy is conceptually based on the application, for the first time on an integrated scale to support decision-making and the implementation of conservation measures, of concepts resulting from the main beneficiary’s research into mapping the spatial distribution of the functional and structural connectivity of the landscape for the target species, whose source of information is their movement in space and preference/use of habitats.

In order to achieve its objective and solve a number of identified problems (reduced connectivity, mortality and the barrier effect of infrastructures, mortality due to electrocution, lack of refuges and corridors, scarcity of information for management, and the spread, detection and control of invasive flora), the project includes a series of actions, with integrated and coherent action for the whole territory, most of which are based on demonstrative and innovative solutions.

It also includes extensive monitoring work to evaluate the measures implemented in ecological terms, in terms of ecosystem functions and at socio-economic level.

The project also includes work aimed at disseminating its results to other potential users (professionals associated with the issue), both nationally and internationally. The hope is to promote the replication of the work and other Green Infrastructures that are more functional and permeable to the movement of fauna, with the associated increase in ecosystem services.