Artificial and lined canals act as severe infrastructural barriers and death traps for wildlife (including ungulates, medium-sized mammals, and non-target fauna). The Living Lab addresses the urgent need to integrate effective mitigation structures—such as wildlife escape ramps, sloped exits, and safe crossing points—into ongoing and planned canal lining, modernization, and maintenance works. Through a collaborative co-design approach involving reclamation consortia (Consorzi di bonifica), regional authorities, research bodies, farmers, local stakeholders, NGOs and organisations dedicated to the protection of animals and nature, the Living Lab tackles:
– Critical structural barriers that fragment ecological corridors and cause direct wildlife mortality.
– The lack of standardized engineering guidelines and technical criteria for wildlife-friendly canal retrofitting.
A wide range of stakeholders are actively involved in and benefit from the innovative solutions co-designed within the Living Lab:
The involvement of each stakeholder group aligns with their specific operational domain. As the executing bodies for infrastructure works and maintenance, the reclamation consortia leverage their engineering capacity to design and install effective mitigation structures (e.g., wildlife escape ramps). These interventions integrate the scientific input provided by research institutes and public agencies, which are grounded in the real-world needs and feedback from farmers, hunters, anglers, and civil society groups.”
Engaging local students through a learning-by-doing approach, involving them in wildlife monitoring, assessment of the effects of mitigation structures on animal survival, movement and behaviour, evaluation of technical solutions, and the design of potential mitigation and compensation measures.
A shared collaborative initiative to identify solutions for improving connectivity, reducing wildlife mortality and distress from drowning, and preserving biodiversity.
Identify priority intervention areas based on technical and scientific evidence combined with local stakeholder knowledge.
Design and test innovative wildlife escape and exit systems (e.g., escape ramps and slopes) from canals.
Design and test exclusion and prevention systems to deter wildlife entry into canals, including natural and artificial fencing.
Identify critical movement and crossing corridors to improve bridges, overpasses, and related crossing infrastructure.
Identify ecological compensation areas, restoring agricultural parcels into wetlands to benefit amphibians, reptiles, and invertebrates.
Design and test innovative monitoring protocols to evaluate wildlife presence within, near, and at crossing and escape structures, in order to assess their effectiveness.
