The PADDLe project is a research project carried out as part of the ITTECOP (Infrastructures, territoires, transports, énergies, écosystèmes et paysages) program of the French Ministry of Ecological Transition and Territorial Cohesion and ADEME (Agence de l'environnement et de la maitrise de l'énergie), in France.

The PADDLe project ran from March 2021 to June 2024. It brought together 3 partners: INRAE, UGE and ECOFIRST.

It is now recognized that the green areas of linear transport infrastructures (LTI) are of interest for biodiversity conservation within the territories they cross. This potential is of paramount importance in the context of declining biodiversity and degradation of natural habitats. Today, however, exploiting this potential is not strictly speaking within the scope of ILT managers' technical skills. On the other hand, in the areas crossed, they have the opportunity to work with numerous local players with diverse skills in the management of natural and semi-natural environments. These skills and knowledge can be put to good use in maintaining ILT green areas in a way that is more conducive to biodiversity than current maintenance practices.

The establishment of management partnerships for the maintenance of ILT green areas, between infrastructure managers and local players such as associations, farmers, conservation or training organizations, can be a pragmatic and effective solution for implementing maintenance practices that are ecologically effective and meet socio-economic expectations.

However, partnerships are currently underdeveloped, and experiments often run up against problems of viability. The first objective of the PADDLe project was therefore to reflect on the conditions for establishing sustainable partnerships between potential stakeholders (ILT managers, right-of-way owners and local players likely to take on the maintenance of green areas for various purposes and with various means). The second objective was to transform the understanding of difficulties and potentialities into the formulation of proposals for the creation of effective, sustainable partnerships acceptable to all stakeholders. The four main types of ILT were considered: (auto)roads, railroads, waterways and power transmission lines.