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Light at the end of the tunnel: Innovative opportunities for saving tropical biodiversity

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Abstract

The expansion of roads into wilderness areas and biodiversity hotspots in the Global South seems inevitable and is predicted to bring about significant biodiversity loss. Even so, existing widespread strategies aiming to mitigate the direct and indirect impacts of roads on the environment have been of limited effectiveness. These tactics, including construction of fencing, wildlife crossings on paved roads, and establishment of protected areas along the roads, are unlikely to be sufficient for protecting diverse species assemblages from roadkill, habitat fragmentation, and anthropogenic activity in tropics. This indicates the need for integration of more ambitious approaches into the conservation toolkit, such as the constructing tunnels, covered ways, and elevated roads. Although these tools could significantly support conservation efforts to save tropical biodiversity, to date, they are rarely considered. Here, we discuss factors which determine the need for application of these approaches in the Global South. We highlight the often-overlooked long-term benefits associated with the application of the proposed tools. We also discuss the potential challenges and risks, and the ways to minimise them. Hopefully this article will encourage practitioners to integrate these strategies into conservation toolkits and allow policy-makers and investors to make informed decisions on sustainable road infrastructure development in the Global South.

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Acknowledgements

We want to express our gratefulness to Dr. Sarah Greenwood from Stirling University, Dr. Ellie Devenish-Nelson from Edinburgh University, and Professor Rodney Stevens from Gothenburg University for providing us with valuable advice that helped us in the process of the article development.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Turiba University, 68 Graudu Street, Riga, 1030, Latvia

    Denis Vasiliev

  2. Pomona College, 333 N College Way, Claremont, CA, 91711, USA

    Richard Hazlett

  3. University of Oxford, Mansfield Road, Oxford, OX1 3SZ, UK

    Katie Lois Hutchinson

  4. University of Gothenburg, Universitetsplatsen 1, 405 30, Göteborg, Sweden

    Lennart Bornmalm

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  1. Denis Vasiliev
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Correspondence to Denis Vasiliev.

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Vasiliev, D., Hazlett, R., Hutchinson, K.L. et al. Light at the end of the tunnel: Innovative opportunities for saving tropical biodiversity. Ambio 53, 702–717 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-023-01970-w

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