TY - JOUR
T1 - Roads through national parks
T2 - A successful case study
AU - Caro, Tim
PY - 2015/12
Y1 - 2015/12
N2 - Roads through protected areas are generally believed to have many adverse environmental effects but there are few examples of road building being halted for environmental reasons. In Katavi National Park, western Tanzania, plans to upgrade a murram road connecting regional capitals have been stopped in favour of retaining the sanctity of the protected area. Despite empirical evidence suggesting upgrading would damage trees, increase traffic, adversely affect large mammals, and result in more litter, the decision not to upgrade was likely made for general environmental and sociopolitical reasons rather than on consideration of ecological data per se. This suggests that conservation scientists, while remaining independent, need to work with politicians to achieve environmentally friendly outcomes regarding tropical highways.
AB - Roads through protected areas are generally believed to have many adverse environmental effects but there are few examples of road building being halted for environmental reasons. In Katavi National Park, western Tanzania, plans to upgrade a murram road connecting regional capitals have been stopped in favour of retaining the sanctity of the protected area. Despite empirical evidence suggesting upgrading would damage trees, increase traffic, adversely affect large mammals, and result in more litter, the decision not to upgrade was likely made for general environmental and sociopolitical reasons rather than on consideration of ecological data per se. This suggests that conservation scientists, while remaining independent, need to work with politicians to achieve environmentally friendly outcomes regarding tropical highways.
KW - Katavi
KW - Protected areas
KW - Roads
KW - Tanzania
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84949802909&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/194008291500800411
DO - 10.1177/194008291500800411
M3 - Article (Academic Journal)
AN - SCOPUS:84949802909
VL - 8
SP - 1009
EP - 1016
JO - Tropical Conservation Science
JF - Tropical Conservation Science
SN - 1940-0829
IS - 4
ER -