PINO description for AlpPlan website

In June of 2026, the new call for the Interreg Alpine Space projects announced support for the project “PINO – Planning Instruments for Nature-based Solutions” for the next three years (until 05/2029) with consideration of Alpine mountain-lowland transition zones, where diverse urban, agricultural and natural systems meet, face increasing urbanization, infrastructural development, habitat fragmentation, and biodiversity loss. Despite available planning strategies promoting nature-based solutions and ecological connectivity, spatial planning authorities in these regions still lack effective instruments and targeted approaches for implementation.  

PINO addresses this gap by co-designing and testing biodiversity-oriented spatial planning tools that embed multifunctional green-blue infrastructure in land-use decisions and improve ecological connectivity. It supports biodiversity-oriented spatial planning capacity of regional and local planning authorities, providing guidance on how to effectively incorporate them in multi-level and multi-criteria decision making. Through its activities in the six pilot areas, the project addresses both regional and local planning departments in mountain-lowland transition zones and Alpine governance networks via co-design, pilot testing, peer learning and policy uptake, ensuring transferable usability and institutional anchoring.  

Hereby, AlpPlan will observe the project results and will connect with the project consortium within AlpPlan’s Young Planners and Researchers Forum in Berchtesgaden in 2027. Further information regarding the Forum will follow soon!