NAVIDIV

Inland navigation infrastructures and biodiversity: impacts and opportunities for waterwayscape management

Facing global change, inland navigation transport is a promising sustainable transport alternative to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, the development of infrastructures to promote this transport modifies eco-morphological characteristics of rivers with serious risk of disturbance of their biodiversity.

NAVIDIV investigate how to mitigate the impacts of navigation and inland navigation infrastructures on biodiversity. After a literature state-of-the-art, we will synthesize and analyse data from multiple European sources (including 30 spatio-temporal datasets) to quantify the effects of inland navigation infrastructures on biodiversity of fish, aquatic macroinvertebrates, and riparian/floodplain vegetation across various contexts and scales. The project will evaluate the general effects of navigation intensity depending on land-cover types (agricultural vs. urban vs. natural habitats) and territorial characteristics (e.g. protected areas) and investigate underlying mechanisms to identify management compromises.

NAVIDIV will provide useful synthetic knowledge and guidelines to prioritize management and restoration actions considering the various human uses of waterwayscapes.

NAVIDIV project members at CESAB in January 2023