Minimizing Ecological Damage from Road Improvement in Tropical Forests

Dasgupta, Susmita ; Wheeler, David

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: roads;    tropical forests;    forest clearing;    road improvement;    biodiversity;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-7826
RP-ID  :  WPS7826

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

A spatial econometric model is used tolink road upgrading to forest clearing and biodiversity lossin the moist tropical forests of Bolivia, Cameroon, andMyanmar. Using 250-meter cells, the model estimates therelationship between the rate of forest clearing in a celland its distance to the urban market, with explicitattention given to road quality and simultaneity, terrainelevation and slope, the agricultural opportunity value ofthe land, and its legal protection status. Forest clearingis found to be most responsive to the distance to thenearest urban market, especially with secondary roads withlower typical speeds. Using the estimated forest-clearingresponse elasticities and a composite biodiversityindicator, an index of expected biodiversity loss fromupgrading secondary roads to primary status is computed ineach cell. The results identify areas in the three countrieswhere high expected biodiversity losses may warrantadditional protection as road upgrading continues. Inaddition, the results provide ecological risk ratings forindividual road corridors that can inform environmentallysensitive infrastructure investment programs.