Thematic map Miskolc-Kosice-Uzghorod Pilot Area contains data for the Miskolc-Kosice-Uzghorod Pilot Area collected within the TRANSGREEN Project.
Description
The Miskolc-Košice-Uzhgorod Pilot Area is located on the Hungarian-Slovak-Ukraine border and is an example of the Planning Stage of an infrastructure project. The site was selected due to the presence of ecological corridors, protected sites or Natura 2000 sites located along the areas that are in the transport infrastructure planning or construction phase. A particularity of this pilot area is its transnational status: the Miskolc-Košice-Uzhgorod motorway network connects three countries. Consequently, three nations need to coordinate their efforts for ensuring wildlife connectivity. Even more problematical is that the infrastructure projects are at different stages of development in each of the three countries.
Key species and ecological connectivity
Forests, floodplain forests, grasslands, wetlands and agriculture fields cover the hilly landscape of this pilot area. Several nationally and internationally protected areas such as Natura 2000 sites and Ramsar sites indicate its great natural value. Large mammals such as red deer, roe deer, fallow deer, wild boar and large carnivores are the most sensitive to the presence of transport infrastructure. The Slovak part of the area includes migration corridors for dispersal of large carnivores to Hungary. Transport infrastructure also represents a barrier to many medium-sized mammals such as badger, otter, red fox, European hare and different species of Mustelids. There are also many wetlands in the area which create important habitats for large birds of prey, waterfowl and amphibians. Unfortunately, as a result of this proximity, high numbers of these birds are killed annually on the roads.
Other concerns that infrastructure plans raise in relation to nature in the pilot area include habitat fragmentation; biodiversity loss; disruption of migration routes; mortality caused by collisions; and issues of noise pollution, emissions from vehicles and visual disruptions.
In Hungary, there are new motorways planned from Vásárosnamény to Beregsurány (HU-UA direction) and from Miskolc to Tornyosnémeti (HU-SK direction). In Slovakia, there is the ongoing construction of the R2 expressway from Trenčín to Košice, the D1 motorway from Košice to Vyšné Nemecké (SK – UA border), and the R4 expressway from Haniska to Kechnec (SK – HU border, towards Miskolc).
Within the TRANSGREEN Project, a Catalogue of Measures for this pilot area was created and is accessible here. The data collected during the project fieldwork can be accessed here.