Minimizing Ecological Damage from Road Improvement in Tropical Forests
A spatial econometric model is used to link road upgrading to forest clearing and biodiversity loss in the moist tropical forests of Bolivia, Cameroon, and Myanmar. Using 250-meter cells, the model estimates the relationship between the rate of for...
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2016
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2016/09/26796510/minimizing-ecological-damage-road-improvement-tropical-forests http://hdl.handle.net/10986/25123 |
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okr-10986-251232021-04-23T14:04:29Z Minimizing Ecological Damage from Road Improvement in Tropical Forests Dasgupta, Susmita Wheeler, David roads tropical forests forest clearing road improvement biodiversity ecological risk infrastructure investment environmental standards A spatial econometric model is used to link road upgrading to forest clearing and biodiversity loss in the moist tropical forests of Bolivia, Cameroon, and Myanmar. Using 250-meter cells, the model estimates the relationship between the rate of forest clearing in a cell and its distance to the urban market, with explicit attention given to road quality and simultaneity, terrain elevation and slope, the agricultural opportunity value of the land, and its legal protection status. Forest clearing is found to be most responsive to the distance to the nearest urban market, especially with secondary roads with lower typical speeds. Using the estimated forest-clearing response elasticities and a composite biodiversity indicator, an index of expected biodiversity loss from upgrading secondary roads to primary status is computed in each cell. The results identify areas in the three countries where high expected biodiversity losses may warrant additional protection as road upgrading continues. In addition, the results provide ecological risk ratings for individual road corridors that can inform environmentally sensitive infrastructure investment programs. 2016-10-06T21:46:04Z 2016-10-06T21:46:04Z 2016-09 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2016/09/26796510/minimizing-ecological-damage-road-improvement-tropical-forests http://hdl.handle.net/10986/25123 English en_US Policy Research Working Paper;No. 7826 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Africa East Asia and Pacific Latin America & Caribbean |
| repository_type |
Digital Repository |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
| building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English en_US |
| topic |
roads tropical forests forest clearing road improvement biodiversity ecological risk infrastructure investment environmental standards |
| spellingShingle |
roads tropical forests forest clearing road improvement biodiversity ecological risk infrastructure investment environmental standards Dasgupta, Susmita Wheeler, David Minimizing Ecological Damage from Road Improvement in Tropical Forests |
| geographic_facet |
Africa East Asia and Pacific Latin America & Caribbean |
| relation |
Policy Research Working Paper;No. 7826 |
| description |
A spatial econometric model is used to
link road upgrading to forest clearing and biodiversity loss
in the moist tropical forests of Bolivia, Cameroon, and
Myanmar. Using 250-meter cells, the model estimates the
relationship between the rate of forest clearing in a cell
and its distance to the urban market, with explicit
attention given to road quality and simultaneity, terrain
elevation and slope, the agricultural opportunity value of
the land, and its legal protection status. Forest clearing
is found to be most responsive to the distance to the
nearest urban market, especially with secondary roads with
lower typical speeds. Using the estimated forest-clearing
response elasticities and a composite biodiversity
indicator, an index of expected biodiversity loss from
upgrading secondary roads to primary status is computed in
each cell. The results identify areas in the three countries
where high expected biodiversity losses may warrant
additional protection as road upgrading continues. In
addition, the results provide ecological risk ratings for
individual road corridors that can inform environmentally
sensitive infrastructure investment programs. |
| format |
Working Paper |
| author |
Dasgupta, Susmita Wheeler, David |
| author_facet |
Dasgupta, Susmita Wheeler, David |
| author_sort |
Dasgupta, Susmita |
| title |
Minimizing Ecological Damage from Road Improvement in Tropical Forests |
| title_short |
Minimizing Ecological Damage from Road Improvement in Tropical Forests |
| title_full |
Minimizing Ecological Damage from Road Improvement in Tropical Forests |
| title_fullStr |
Minimizing Ecological Damage from Road Improvement in Tropical Forests |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Minimizing Ecological Damage from Road Improvement in Tropical Forests |
| title_sort |
minimizing ecological damage from road improvement in tropical forests |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2016 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2016/09/26796510/minimizing-ecological-damage-road-improvement-tropical-forests http://hdl.handle.net/10986/25123 |
| _version_ |
1764458612603748352 |