Blue&Green Corridors – sustainable mobility along surface waterbodies in the Baltic Sea Region
active 1 day, 15 hours agoProject Description
The “Blue&Green Corridors” project addresses the environmental impact of transport and mobility routes located near surface waterbodies in the Baltic Sea Region. These blue-green corridors—defined as areas adjacent to rivers, lakes, and coastal waters—are often intensively used for tourism, local and regional transportation, and freight movement. However, such usage may negatively affect nearby aquatic ecosystems through surface runoff, air and noise pollution, or physical modifications to land and water interfaces.
The project aims to adress existing valuable solutions and best practices that reduce the environmental pressure of transportation on waterbodies, especially in the areas of protecting biodiversity, water and air quality, noise and light pollution reduction. For this purpose a set of existing best available solutions will be promoted among participating partner countries.
Specific challenges addressed by the project
Transport corridors that hug rivers, lakes and coasts—the Baltic Sea Region’s blue-green corridors—have become multifunctional arteries for commuting, tourism and freight. Their attractiveness, however, masks a growing challenge that falls squarely under Programme objective 2.1 “Sustainable waters”. Intensive traffic along waterfront roads, and cycle paths accelerates storm-water runoff laden with micro-pollutants, tyre particles and de-icing agents; funnels exhaust and noise into sensitive riparian habitats; and relies on hard engineering that fragments the land-water interface. Together these pressures jeopardise Water Framework Directive targets and the ecological services—bathing water, fisheries, recreation—on which local economies depend.
The pressure is most acute for medium-sized municipalities and counties that own or operate waterfront transport infrastructure yet lack the technical tools, harmonised data and resources to introduce nature-based drainage systems, low-emission mobility options or real-time environmental monitoring. They are our primary target group, supported by regional planning bodies and specialised agencies.
Secondary target groups that feel the impact and will be directly involved are:
• transport and mobility operators (public transport companies, cycling-share providers, port authorities) who need water-friendly design standards to decarbonise fleets and infrastructure;
• tourism SMEs whose business model depends on clean water and attractive landscapes but who currently contribute to peak-season congestion;
• local residents, commuters and visitors who suffer diminished amenity and health risks when water quality deteriorates yet can act as citizen scientists and early adopters of greener mobility;
• environmental NGOs and research institutions that can convert monitoring data into actionable guidance and policy advice.
By tackling the nexus between mobility pressure and water pollution, the project will enable these groups to co-create and pilot transferable solutions—nature-based runoff filters, smart traffic management and evidence-driven spatial planning—that restore ecological integrity while keeping people and goods moving.
Focus of the call
Blue & Green Corridors gives small and peripheral Baltic municipalities practical, non-infrastructural means to tackle water pollution and mobility isolation that weaken their social-economic fabric and regional cohesion.
Water-quality protection mobilises residents as citizen scientists using one protocol to track water, air, biodiversity and riparian integrity. Data reveal runoff hot-spots, enable cross-border benchmarking and guide low-cost nature-based or digital fixes—e.g. vegetated swales or predictive overflow alerts—meeting Water Framework goals while keeping local character.
By coupling citizen monitoring, low-carbon trials and smart data, the project lifts environmental quality, connectivity and local capacity, making small and challenged Baltic areas greener, more attractive and more cohesively integrated into the wider region.
Transnational relevance
Polluted runoff, biodiversity loss and traffic flows in the Baltic Sea Region’s blue-green corridors do not recognise national borders: water, air and travellers move freely from one catchment to the next. If one country cleans a riverside cycleway while the neighbour allows tyre-particle drainage, Water Framework targets remain out of reach for both—and for the sea they share.
Transnational cooperation therefore underpins every core activity of Blue & Green Corridors. A single, citizen-science monitoring protocol and an interoperable digital dashboard would be far too costly for any small municipality alone, yet jointly developed they generate harmonised data that local authorities can compare, benchmark and act upon across the whole macro-region .
Low-emission mobility pilots also need alignment beyond borders. Ferries, bike-share schemes or “bike + bus” corridors run along rivers and coasts that physically link countries; to measure modal shift or emission cuts we must test tariffs, booking systems and user incentives on both sides, as the project’s focus on harmonising mobility systems in riparian and cross-border areas confirms .
Finally, the diversity of partner settings—from Finnish archipelagos to Polish lowland rivers—multiplies learning. Solutions validated in one hydro-climatic context can be rapidly transferred to others, producing economies of scale and a common voice when advocating nature-based or digital standards with EU regulators and technology suppliers.
In short, without a transnational partnership the project could only deliver scattered local gains; together we create comparable evidence, jointly evaluate smart green mobility, and diffuse best practices that cumulatively safeguard water quality and social cohesion across the entire Baltic Sea Region.
Key Components
1. Water Quality Protection
o Present indicators such as water quality, biodiversity, air quality, and ecological integrity of riparian and ecotonal areas.
o Use monitoring outcomes to assess the impact of different land-use patterns, surface infrastructure, and mitigation measures.
Compliance with Interreg BSR Programme Objectives:
Priority 2, Objective 2.1 – Sustainable Waters:
• The project directly addresses the goal of preventing pollution by implementing solutions that reduce runoff and protect water resources.
• It supports climate-adaptive water management practices through nature-based solutions and smart planning.
Specific aims to be addressed
Building trust that could lead to further cooperation initiatives
Blue & Green Corridors converts small Baltic municipalities into a confident transnational network:
• Shared evidence – one citizen-science protocol and open dashboard let residents, NGOs and officials collect and validate identical water- and mobility data.
• Rotating Living Labs – partners host on-site sessions to openly show successes and failures of nature-based runoff filters and low-emission mobility, forging bonds.
• Open resources – manuals, code and indicators are released under permissive licences, inviting others to adopt and improve the tools.
• Multi-level forum – local, regional and sector actors co-draft joint policy briefs to HELCOM and the EU, learning to speak with one voice.
These actions create mutual confidence, transparent knowledge and personal ties that lower transaction costs and pave the way for new joint investments, pilots and lobbying across the Baltic Sea Region.
Initiating and keeping networks that are important for the BSR
Blue & Green Corridors will aim at facilitating of launching a lasting “Baltic Blue-Green Corridors Network.” It will:
• connect waterfront municipalities, operators, NGOs and researchers for joint planning and rapid knowledge exchange;
• run quarterly webinars and rotating Living Labs to share data, fix runoff hot spots and evaluate micromobility;
• keep an open dashboard / code repository so any town can upload data and benchmark instantly;
• mentor at least one follower region per partner, doubling coverage;
Regular meetings, shared tools and peer mentoring will keep the network active and able to improve water quality and smart green mobility across the Baltic Sea Region long after project end.
Bringing the Programme closer to the citizens
• Blue & Green Corridors brings Interreg closer to citizens by turning them from passive beneficiaries into co-designers of local blue-green corridors.
• • Citizen-science kits and a mobile app let volunteers sample water, air and biodiversity; a live dashboard shows their data beside professional readings, making EU cooperation visible on every phone.
• • Micro-mobility try-outs—free test days of e-bikes, cargo bikes and on-demand e-boats—let residents feel low-carbon travel delivered by the Programme.
• • Pop-up “river clinics” at village fairs explain results, gather stories and invite ideas for future funding.
• • A Baltic schools challenge links classrooms to compare findings and vote for the best nature-based fix, rooting the Programme in the next generation.
• These hands-on formats turn abstract BSR aims into personal action and pride, proving that European teamwork improves daily life along every stream and landing stage.
Additionally, the project:
• Enhances regional resilience to climate change,
• Fosters transnational partnerships (e.g. cooperation among cities, municipalities, organisations, and mobility operators),
• Promotes knowledge transfer and capacity building within local communities.
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