Keyword land fragmentation; integrated planning; sustainable land use; sustainable transport

Natural heritage, as defined by the UNESCO Convention Concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage, can constitute: natural features consisting of physical and biological formations or groups of such formations, which are of outstanding universal value from the aesthetic or scientific point of view; geological and physiographical formations and precisely delineated areas which constitute the habitat of threatened species of animals and plants of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation; and natural sites or precisely delineated natural areas of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science, conservation or natural beauty.

Transport has a considerable impact on natural heritage through air, water and noise pollution and extensive land use for its infrastructure (roads, railways, waterways and airports). Air pollution by transport constitutes a considerable threat to natural heritage, notably through acidification of susceptible soils and fresh waters, eutrophication of natural ecosystems and damage to vegetation by ground-level ozone.