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Safeguarding Space for Giants: building sustainable infrastructure for the benefit of nature and people

Project description

How transport infrastructure can make space for wildlife

Transport infrastructure in Africa and Asia will increase significantly in the future due to China's Belt and Road initiative. Despite its economic benefits, this growth will have a major effect on both people and the natural environment; for example, large species like elephants require wide open spaces to adapt to the future impacts of climate change. The EU-funded Space4Giants project will assess the impact of transport infrastructure and changing human populations on Kenya's Amboseli–Tsavo conservation area, which is home to the country's largest elephant population. Space4Giants will support conservation efforts by developing the tools that will be used to understand and mitigate the socio-ecological and environmental impacts of linear infrastructure in Kenya, with the potential to be applied across the Global South.

Objective

The growth of transportation infrastructure since the turn of the century has been phenomenal and is expected to expand significantly by 2050, especially in Africa and Asia, under the Chinese global Belt and Road Initiative. Despite positives, this growth presents potential adverse outcomes for nature and people, especially in biodiversity-rich nations, such as Kenya. It is expected that the impacts will affect large and charismatic terrestrial giants such as elephants that depend on high mobility and open spaces for climatic and anthropogenic impact adaptation. In Kenya, large and numerous infrastructure projects and rapidly changing land-use systems are found within biodiversity-rich and fragile ecosystems such as the Amboseli-Tsavo Conservation Area in the south-eastern part of the country, hosting Kenya’s largest elephant population. Elephants are important flagship species that significantly influence conservation efforts in many parts of Africa. Understanding the consequences of transportation infrastructure is important for their management and conservation, and securing their spaces and livelihoods depending on the resources in these spaces. The Space4Giants project will assess the impacts and interactions between changing human population, environments, infrastructure, and development at a landscape scale in the recent past and the near future. The findings of this study will support the development of tools and capacity that will provide insight into the socio-ecological-environmental impacts of linear infrastructure in Kenya that will be used to mitigate the impacts nationally with the potential to be applied across the Global South.

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

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MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2020

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Coordinator

UNIVERSITY OF YORK
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 224 933,76
Address
HESLINGTON
YO10 5DD YORK NORTH YORKSHIRE
United Kingdom

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Region
Yorkshire and the Humber North Yorkshire York
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 224 933,76
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