Africa's Greatest Environmental Challenge -- Ever

Loggers are bulldozing many new roads into the Congo Basin (photo by William Laurance).

Africa is becoming a global epicenter of environmental conflict.  A key reason: an unprecedented scheme to massively expand African roads, railroads, and energy infrastructure.

These projects are intended to promote large-scale development -- and their scale is breathtaking. 

If completed in their entirety, a total of 33 proposed and ongoing 'development corridors' will crisscross the African continent, spanning over 53,000 kilometers in length -- and opening up vast, sparsely populated areas to myriad new development pressures.

The 33 development corridors will penetrate into many remote and largely wild areas of Africa (from W. F. Laurance et al. (2015) Current Biology).

In a detailed study published this week, ALERT director Bill Laurance and colleagues rigorously evaluate this scheme.

The article is going viral, with global media coverage in the Washington Post, Science, The Independent, La Prensa, Mongabay, and scores of other venues. 

The best summary is this popular piece in The Conversation, but here are a few highlights:

People, food and mining

Africa’s population is exploding — expected nearly to quadruple this century.  With this, comes an urgent need to increase food production.

In addition, Africa is experiencing a frenzy of mining activity, with most of the investment coming from overseas.  China, for instance, is investing over $100 billion annually in African mining.

To feed its growing populace and move its minerals to shipping ports, Africa needs better roads and railroads.  Better roads make it easier for farmers to obtain fertilizer and new farming technologies, and cheaper to get their crops to markets with less spoilage.

Africa's 'development corridors'

But will the avalanche of new development corridors generate major social and economic benefits, or will they cause great environmental harm? 

For starters, there is no such thing as a free ride.  When located in areas with high environmental values, new roads or railroads can open a Pandora’s box of problems. 

A forest elephant shot in the back of the head by poachers (photo by Ralph Buij)

For instance, in the Congo Basin, forest elephants decline sharply, while signs of poachers increase, up to 50 kilometers from roads.  Roads can also promote invasions of illegal miners, colonists, loggers, and land speculators.

Even if well executed, Laurance and colleagues find, the proposed corridors would slice through over 400 protected areas and could easily degrade another 2,000 or so.  This bodes poorly for wildlife and biodiversity generally.

Looking ahead

The next decade will be crucial.  There is no question that Africa direly needs economic and social development. 

But unless advanced with great care, the development corridors could change Africa profoundly.  The economic and social benefits could be limited, dominated by foreign interests, and far from equitably distributed.

Zebras in the Serengeti -- where a major road project has been proposed (photo by William Laurance)

And in environmental terms, there is a very real risk that much of Africa could become environmentally impoverished -- a place whose iconic natural values and spectacular wildlife have been irretrievably lost.

For a two-minute video summary of this study, see here.