26-27 November 2018. Praid, Romania. A mountainous area in the Carpathians’ Gurghiu Mountains, a natural beauty almost unaltered by human activity. Here, the A8 motorway is planned to be built in order to link two of Romania’s historical regions, Transylvania region with Moldova region and thus to create a Northern connection from West to East of the country. The highway will cross the valleys and wooded abrupts and impact the effervescent local biodiversity.  A reason for the ProPark Foundation and the Milvus Group to organize nearby the planned itinerary of the future highway an EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) workshop, entitled "Using EIA in Developing an Environmentally Responsible Transport Network".

Over the two days of discussions expert Marius Nistorescu lead the participants through the multiple aspects of environmental impact studies: ecological connectivity and the best ways to preserve it, the importance of adaptive management and its significant impact. "A correct assessment of impacts should be based on the identification of ecosystems and their key processes," Marius Nistorescu stressed in most of the exercises proposed for resolving and debating. The participants, representatives of the Ministry of Transport, the National Railway Company, the environmental agencies from three counties (Harghita, Neamţ and Mureş), non-governmental organizations, as well as the experts in the field appreciated the quality of the information and the analytical aspect of conveying them.

Perhaps one of the most important findings of the workshop is that the development of grey infrastructure must not interrupt connectivity. In fact, the field visit organized for participants  to check the camera traps in the area helped to stress these conclusions. The camera traps were installed by the Milvus Group within the TRANSGREEN project to propose a catalogue of measures for the conservation of animal species and habitats in the area.

Moreover, we enjoyed the presence of regional mass media crews, which accompanied us along the visit and was particularly interested in the conclusions of the seminar and the measures that we will continue to mitigate in order to build a green motorway. The event organized in the locality in the heart of Harghita County was organized within the project "TRANSGREEN - Integrated Transport and Green Infrastructure Planning in the Danube-Carpathian Region for the Benefit of People and Nature".