Cycle routes and climate change: Can EuroVelo participate in biodiversity recovery?

We all agree that bicycles are better than cars for accessing natural sites (1) as they require less sealed surfaces and have a smaller impact on habitats. Cycling also brings people together, makes them healthier, more connected to the areas they cross and more aware of their impact. And it fights overtourism by bringing travellers away from the main tourism hubs.

All of this is true and important. However, poorly planned cycling infrastructure can also harm ecosystems and cause habitat fragmentation. Quick and cheap cycle tracks built in natural areas can retain water and get degraded fast, requiring even more maintenance work that disturbs local wildlife. If no trail is built, or if cyclists go off-trail, bike tires compress soil over time, reducing porosity and water infiltration. Cycling tourism can also generate high greenhouse gas emissions in case cyclists travel to their destination by plane.

Given the alarming current statistics regarding climate change and biodiversity loss (25% of animal species threatened, 81% of habitats in poor condition in Europe and the overall tourism sector responsible for 8.1% of global greenhouse gas emissions, largely from transport), wouldn’t it be better, ecologically speaking, to promote cycling only in one’s local area? Wouldn’t it be better to leave nature alone in the rare places where large forests and wildlife can still be found, rather than building new cycle tracks with a risk of causing further damage to the ecosystems?

Those are hard questions to answer. From a perspective of “humans vs the environment”, yes, it would be better to leave wildlife alone. But this perspective is historically and culturally constructed, and it is part of the current problem. There are other ways to think about it, such as taking a more ecocentric perspective, considering that human and ecosystem well-being are interconnected, humans being part of nature and its balance. This is close to the concept of regenerative tourism, an overused term nowadays, but meaning, at its core, that cycling tourists are part of a place’s ecosystem instead of being seen as either resources or threats.

According to systems thinking, it makes little sense to focus on climate or biodiversity in isolation, as multiple interconnected factors interact and reinforce one another. If we want to foster biodiversity recovery, social and economic dimensions should be considered as well. That’s how cycling tourism can act regeneratively: a cycle route through a natural area has social and economic benefits, and in return provides incentives to take better care of this environment and protect it – while keeping the most sensitive areas off-limits.

Many examples of this logic put into practice can be found across EuroVelo, which crosses Natura 2000 protected natural areas (2) on more than 15% of its length within the EU (where Natura 2000 areas are defined), according to recent geospatial analysis from ECF (3). That’s more than 11,300 km on which these types of synergies can be put in place. Let’s explore a few of them to show what it looks like in practice.

EuroVelo 8 in Andalusia connects mobility, environment and regional development (4)

At the very start of EuroVelo 8 – Mediterranean Route, a 5.4-km cycle route goes through the Natural Park of the Bay of Cadiz, a Natura 2000 protected tidal ecosystem and ecological corridor, home to rare species of birds, fish and native flora. The construction phase followed strict environmental safeguards, pausing during bird breeding season and using minimum-impact infrastructure adapted to sensitive habitats.

Besides encouraging walking and cycling which deepens visitor awareness and engagement with the Natural Park, this project, realised thanks to public investment of ~€2.6 million, also brings positive impact on other levels: it enhances and restores the ecological value of the place, it gives access to historical heritage as the area includes sites linked to the 1812 Constitution and Spanish War of Independence, it supports traditional activities (salt pans and fish farms) and it provides a connection between local communities on both sides of the Natural Park (San Fernando and Chiclana) through sustainable mobility infrastructure.

These positive outputs of the project thus act as even more reasons for communities to protect local ecosystems and wildlife habitats.

EuroVelo 19 in Flanders embeds cycling tourism into an ecological river restoration project

In Belgium, EuroVelo 19 – Meuse Cycle Route crosses the 15,000-hectare Rivierpark Maasvallei, a biodiversity hotspot with habitats for birds, beavers, otters and rare flora. Cycling infrastructure was built with as little land transformation as possible: using existing dikes, riverbanks and low-impact paths.

The restoration project included cycling from the beginning, with a goal of creating synergies between nature, landscape, tourism, education and public awareness. It is meeting this objective in many ways: rewilding processes and nature restoration, creation of local cycling-friendly services, cross-border integration between Belgian and Dutch cycle networks, car-free quiet routes that residents can also use to travel between villages, and creation of water heritage routes educating visitors on river ecosystems and climate dynamics.

All these generate about €25 millions of yearly revenues from recreational visitors, which can be reinvested in the river restoration project.

EuroVelo 13 as the European Green Belt crosses and connects border areas

EuroVelo 13 – Iron Curtain Trail runs along the former Iron Curtain from Northern Finland all the way down to the Bulgarian-Turkish border. In this 10,000+ km corridor, nature was largely spared from intensive human use, and the area counts a lot of habitats with exceptional biodiversity. It includes for instance the Schaalsee Biosphere Reserve in Germany, the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve Mura-Drava-Danube encompassing parts of Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, and Serbia with largely preserved river ecosystems, and many National Parks.

The European Green Belt project itself is multidimensional as it transforms the former Cold War division line into a peace and reconciliation corridor with biodiversity conservation. EuroVelo 13 is being developed in these areas using mostly existing rural roads and paths, with minimal environmental disturbances.

Furthermore, the transnational EuroVelo 13 supports the creation of cycling tourism products that stimulate rural development and SME innovation. And to close the wheel, initiatives such as Good Impact Cycling, developed with the ICTr-CE project, fund environmental and social projects along the route.

The power of greenways: EuroVelo 6 in Serbia and the National Cycle Network in the UK

Greenways are great for bringing together cycle tracks, landscape design and nature preservation. They make it possible to include wild areas along the route, which constitute habitats and unfragmented green corridors for various species of animals and plants, helpful for migration. Green corridors situated along riverbanks are even more important for ecosystems.

This practice is increasing across Europe, including in Vojvodina, Serbia. This province, encompassing the Danube and Sava Rivers, is building several greenways in the Danube area, connecting multiple protected wetlands and floodplains (5).

Greenways are also a focus of the UK National Cycle Network, developed by Walk Wheel Cycle Trust (6). The charity even hired in-house ecologists who analyse planned routes and educate delivery teams to make sure the cycle routes are developed in a way that’s most beneficial humans, animals and nature alike.

Going further: general facts on building cycling infrastructure from CycleRight

To complement the above-mentioned good practices, the Interreg Europe CycleRight project published a factsheet on surfaces with interesting conclusions on what the most sustainable surfaces for cycle tracks are in the long-term.

The main surface needs for climate resilience in the long-term are resistance to heavy rains and droughts. And contrary to common belief, paved surfaces have lower carbon impact when considering the whole infrastructure lifecycle, because of their durability, resilience and lower maintenance needs. Asphalt, in particular, combines the best quality parameters with the lowest environmental impact. Even though gravel surfaces have less impact at installation, their life span is only 4 to 6 years, after which heavy machinery needs to be brought again for repairs, while the asphalt lifecycle is 15+ years, causing much less disturbance to habitats. As a result, there is no issue for cycle tracks to combine accessibility for all types of cycles with climate resilience requirements.

Conclusion

The good practices above show that the question is not whether cycling tourism and cycling infrastructure should exist in natural areas, but how they are planned, built, and managed. When bringing together ecological, social and economic considerations, cycle routes can participate in nature restoration, environmental awareness and regional resilience rather than being sources of degradation.

As climate and biodiversity crises intensify, EuroVelo has an opportunity to go beyond reducing harm and actively contribute to regenerative tourism. Achieving this will require careful route planning and recognition that thriving communities and thriving ecosystems ultimately depend on one another.

Author: Florence Grégoire

Footnotes and references:

• (1) That was one of the main objectives of the Interreg Europe ECO-CICLE project that run from 2018 to 2022: to "make bicycle the official sustainable transport to access natural heritage".
• (2) More on the Natura 2000 Network
• (3) More insightful data can be found in the EuroVelo Data Hub
• (4) More information on this good practice can be found in this factsheet prepared in the frame of the ECO-CICLE project
• (5) More information on the greenways in Vojvodina can be found on the website of the Fábos Conference on Landscape and Greenway Planning, on which all papers are in open access. For instance, Connecting Natural Heritage in Vojvodina Province (Republic of Serbia) with the EuroVelo 6 Route via Greenways by Olivera Z Kalozi
• (6) Source: Walk Wheel Cycle Trust