Unfortunately, much road expansion is chaotic or poorly planned, and the rate of expansion is so great that it often overwhelms the capacity of environmental planners and managers. Here we present a global scheme for prioritizing road building. This large-scale zoning plan seeks to limit the environmental costs of road expansion while maximizing its benefits for human development, by helping to increase agricultural production, which is an urgent priority given that global food demand could double by mid-century.
Our analysis identifies areas with high environmental values where future road building should be avoided if possible, areas where strategic road improvements could promote agricultural development with relatively modest environmental costs, and ‘conflict areas’ where road building, could have sizeable benefits for agriculture but with serious environmental damage.
Our Global Road Maps provide a template for proactively zoning and prioritizing roads during the most explosive era of road expansion in human history
A Global Strategy For Road Building
Unfortunately, much road expansion is chaotic or poorly planned, and the rate of expansion is so great that it often overwhelms the capacity of environmental planners and managers. Here we present a global scheme for prioritizing road building. This large-scale zoning plan seeks to limit the environmental costs of road expansion while maximizing its benefits for human development, by helping to increase agricultural production, which is an urgent priority given that global food demand could double by mid-century.
Our analysis identifies areas with high environmental values where future road building should be avoided if possible, areas where strategic road improvements could promote agricultural development with relatively modest environmental costs, and ‘conflict areas’ where road building, could have sizeable benefits for agriculture but with serious environmental damage.
Our Global Road Maps provide a template for proactively zoning and prioritizing roads during the most explosive era of road expansion in human history
Below are the high definition maps from our paper published in Nature. William Laurance et al. (2014) A global strategy for road building. Nature
Road Zoning Maps
Environmental Values
Road Benefits