Neighbors. The Environment Matters

Autostrada Wielkopolska S.A. is publishing the first episode of its environmental podcast, which is the premiere airing of a series “Neighbors. The Environment Matters.” The talks the series will portray will touch on various aspects of the relationship between humans and natural environment. The pilot episode is titled “Responsible Neighborhood.”

What exactly is responsibility towards the environment, are we able to reconcile key investments with a responsible approach to nature – these are the questions the guests of the premiere podcast of Autostrada Wielkopolska ponder on: Sebastian Joachimiak, member of the Management Board of Autostrada Wielkopolska S.A., Prof. Dr. hab. Piotr Tryjanowski, director of the Institute of Zoology at the Poznań University of Life Sciences, and Marzena Białowolska-Barnyk, founder of the Wild Animals Foundation.

Humans have a huge impact on the environment. We transform natural ecosystems and adapt them to our ever-growing needs. It was our intention, in the conversation inaugurating the environmental podcasts, to ponder, together with the invited experts, what can be done to reconcile the needs of humans with those of our wildlife neighbors. We look at the issue of responsible neighborhoods from three points of view: a responsible investor, a biologist, and the founder of a wildlife rescue foundation. We also have an opportunity to communicate what we are actually doing in this area as the motorway manager, as such efforts are not always visible from the outside, explains Sebastian Joachimiak, Member of the Management Board of Autostrada Wielkopolska S.A.

The podcast series “Neighbors. The Environment Matters” is the next phase of the environmental campaign by Autostrada Wielkopolska S.A. this year. The campaign includes educational activities familiarizing recipients with the profiles of interesting animals living in the vicinity of the concession section of the A2 Motorway, information on environmental monitoring performed in the Świecko – Konin section and the company’s cooperation in this regard with scientists, ecologists and nature lovers. The choice of a podcast as a form of communication with the audience is not accidental – the conversations are ideal to listen to while driving on the motorway.

Many of the pro-environmental solutions that have been applied in the concession section of the A2 Motorway are the result of current regulations or contractual obligations. However, we have done much more than the required minimum in this regard. This is exactly because of our sense of responsibility to the environment. The motorway, which is, after all, more than a road strip, runs through natural wildlife habitats. Therefore, our role is to create such an infrastructure and such an environment that animals will quickly learn to read well, adapting to the changes and learning to use the new bridges built for them. As shown by the results of the ongoing monitoring, we have successfully achieved this goal”, adds Sebastian Joachimiak.

Autostrada Wielkopolska S.A Podcast
Series: Neighbors. The Environment Matters
Episode I: Responsible Neighborhood

Link to YouTube channel

Guests of the podcast “Responsible Neighborhood”

Sebastian Joachimiak – Member of the Management Board, Chief Operating Officer of Autostrada Wielkopolska S.A. He has more than 20 years of experience in managing infrastructure projects in Poland and the Nordic/CEE region. Graduated from the Aalto University of Technology in Helsinki and the WSB non-public university in Poznan. Responsible for overseeing the implementation of the Concession Agreements and Operator Contracts during the period of motorway operation, including, but not limited to, rehabilitation, heavy maintenance and upgrades, improvements and investments. Has been with the board of AWSA / AWSA II since 2018.

Prof. Dr. hab. Piotr Tryjanowski of the Poznań University of Life Sciences, – director of the Institute of Zoology of the Poznań University of Life Sciences, ornithologist. He is interested in natural disciplines related to ecology, evolution, behaviorism and birds. He conducted, among others, research work on birds of agricultural surroundings. He is currently studying issues related to: behavioral ecology, synchronization of environmental phenomena, population ecology, effects of climatic factors on living organisms, and environmental selectivity. In 2003, he went to Cambridge, UK, on a scholarship from the Foundation for Polish Science, where he began working with an international team on climate change that in 2007 was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for its report on climate change. In the same year, he was awarded the title of Professor of Biological Sciences. In 2022, he was inducted to Academia Europaea. He is the author of several hundred international scientific publications and several books.

The Marzena Białowolska Wildlife Foundation was established in 2020 and operates from its headquarters near Szczecin. The founder, Marzena Białowolska-Barnyk, who is also a veterinary technician by education, inherited her love of nature from her father – a forester, with whom she learned about the forest and nature from an early age. It was with him that she rescued and cared for her first “patients”: deer found in snares, injured hares and foxes. Even before establishing her own foundation, Marzena Białowolska-Barnyk also supported other foundations and centers – she still works with quite a few of them today. Currently, for more than three years, she has been operating under its own foundation banner, helping wild animals – sick and weak, after accidents, abandoned by their parents, harmed by man. Mostly small animals, including squirrels, hedgehogs, hares and birds, come under the care of Marzena Białowolska-Barnyk’s foundation. The main goal is to provide medical assistance, to feed and, if possible, to bring such animal back to its natural environment. The foundation’s mission also includes nature education for children and adults.
The Wildlife Foundation’s upcoming plans include the creation of an asylum for squirrels – building a specialized aviary with space for these animals that won’t be able to return to their natural habitat. This initiative has received financial support of Autostrada Wielkopolska S.A.

AUTOSTRADA WIELKOPOLSKA S.A. – ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION in numbers

Autostrada Wielkopolska: section ŚWIECKO – Nowy Tomyśl (106 km)
The size of the project and capital expenditures make Autostrada Wielkopolska II S.A. the largest road infrastructure-related environmental project in Europe. The construction of that vital section of the motorway has been deemed exemplary not only in Poland but also abroad. In the opinion of the major lender to the motorway to Świecko project, i.e. the European Investment Bank, the site has been built in an commendable way, in line with the most demanding environmental standards.

Autostrada Wielkopolska: section NOWY TOMYŚL – KONIN (149 km)

Approximately 10% of the construction cost has been allocated for environmental protection in the section of Autostrada Wielkopolska from Nowy Tomyśl to Konin, including, without limitation:

• 8 big and medium game bridges,
• 11 culverts for small animals,
• 111 thousand m2 of noise barriers,
• fencing in more than 315 km.

Autostrada Wielkopolska: section ŚWIECKO -NOWY TOMYŚL (106 km)

Approximately 25% of the construction cost, i.e. PLN 1.3 billion has been allocated for environmental protection in the section of Autostrada Wielkopolska from Świecko to Nowy Tomyśl, including, without limitation:

• 37 big and medium game bridges,
• 111 culverts for small animals and amphibians,
• 53 thousand m2 of noise barriers,
• bat protecting gantries,
• 232 kilometers of fencing.

One animal bridge in the section Świecko – Nowy Tomyśl cost about PLN 20 million, which is tantamount to an annual budget of a medium-sized community.
80 % of the Autostrada Wielkopolska motorway stretch from Nowy Tomyśl to the German border runs through forest land, including the Natura 2000 protected areas.