Last week I had the pleasure of travelling to Paris via Eurostar for the launch meeting of the EU Agency for Railways-funded SYMBIOSIS project, held at the headquarters of UIC – the International Union of Railways. This is my second project working with UIC on questions concerning how the European rail network both impacts and supports biodiversity – see this blog post from June 2022. And once again I’ll be working closely with the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, and principally Richard Pywell and Reto Schmucki, to deliver the work.

What is SYMBIOSIS about? Well, it’s not a research project as such, it’s actually a Coordination and Support Action (CSA) project designed to:

“improve cooperation between legal entities from the EU and associated countries to strengthen the European Research Area including, for example, standardisation, dissemination, awareness-raising, communication and networking activities, policy dialogues, mutual learning or studies”

SYMBIOSIS involves a series of work packages with some ambitious objectives that are aiming to mainstream biodiversity across a wide range of rail-related activities including infrastructure development, transport policy, environmental impact assessments, sustainability reporting, and procurement processes. It will also develop some practical tools for sustainable land management that can both enhance biodiversity and increase infrastructure resilience, mainly through the use of nature-based solutions to rail issues such as flooding and landslides.

The work package in which I am involved will assess what biodiversity monitoring rail operators are currently undertaking, and develop a standardised framework for recording and reporting such data. No small task! But we’re looking at some very hi-tech options including the use of real-time, AI-based monitoring.

The two day kick-off meeting was very successful, with over 40 representatives from a wide range of organisations attending both in person and remotely. There was a lot of energy in the room, as befits the Olympics host city, and a great willingness to work collaboratively on making SYMBIOSIS a success.

SYMBIOSIS has a three year programme of activities and as the project progresses, you can be sure that I’ll report back.