Some conservationists see the new highway as an opportunity to ramp up protection efforts in the vulnerable Chaco region and create more robust regulations. “The Bioceanic Corridor is a potential threat — but everything will depend on how we face it,” Brown said. “It will generate more visibility for a territory that is quite invisible, and I believe that we have the opportunity to use that visibility as a greater commitment to protect the environment. Economic interest can also generate biodiversity conservation in a proper planning framework.”
Others are concerned the construction of the highway could trigger further commercial activity in the region, causing more damage to the environment and the communities that reside there. According to biologist Matías Mastrángelo, the construction of any road that reduces the costs of transportation from farms to ports, including the Bioceanic Corridor, will increase agricultural expansion and deforestation. “We have seen that farmers in the agricultural frontiers of the Chaco, Cerrado, Amazon, etc, reinvest their surplus profits in expanding cultivated areas through mechanical forest clearing and fire,” Mastrángelo told Mongabay by email.
Any agricultural expansion will “amplify the impacts that the region has been already experiencing for the last three decades,” he added, including the loss of biodiversity and the subsequent ecosystem services such as pollination, pest regulation and prevention of extreme events such as floods and droughts. “All of these will have a stronger negative impact on the most vulnerable social groups, such as small-scale peasant farmers and Indigenous people,” he said.
The Ayoreo communities and isolated subgroups such as Ayoreo-Totobiegosode in the Chaco region, for example, have already lost huge swaths of their land to cattle ranches, many of which were taken by national and foreign ranching companies, according to Survival International, an NGO that champions Indigenous rights. The new highway could worsen these issues. “The greatest current threat to the Ayoreo-Totobiegosode is deforestation,” according to a Survival International statement.
Experts say that to mitigate such risks, foreign importers need to be stricter about refusing to purchase goods from deforested areas. Also, South American governments must implement more effectively existing environmental protections and land-use planning laws. “Such effective implementation requires more political will and institutional capacity to sanction unsustainable practices and reward sustainable ones, such as ecotourism and sustainable forestry,” Mastrángelo said.
Another concern is an increase in collisions that will affect people and wildlife along the entire highway, especially from the higher volume of freight transport. “With the increase of trucks, it increases the number of animals killed,” Arnaud Desbiez, the president of Brazil-based NGO Wild Animal Conservation Institute, told Mongabay by phone. “But this is not just about wildlife conservation, this is a security issue. People die on our roads. More people will die due to this.”
Studies conducted in Mato Grosso do Sul, where the Bioceanic Corridor will pass through, estimated that more than 40 giant anteaters die for every 100 km of paved road. “Little by little, [roads] can cause extinctions when roadkill is added to other problems such as habitat loss, fires and conflict with domestic dogs,” Desbiez said.
The lesser-known Gran Chaco is one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet. A patchwork of dry forests, savannas, and wetlands, it’s home to thousands of species of plants and animals, including endangered species. Image © Hernan Perez Aguirre/Greenpeace.
Paraguay has promised to add 14 wildlife crossings to the road — but experts say it’s not enough. “Our data with giant anteaters show that only 1% of the animal crossings are done using wildlife underpasses, and that’s because [giant anteaters] use them very opportunistically,” Desbiez said.
Combining fences to guide animals toward the underpasses and data that pinpoint the areas of the highest probability of collisions is the most effective way to implement mitigation measures. “What we’re hoping for now is more political will and funding because it’s expensive. But we need wildlife vehicle collisions to be part of any infrastructure initiative,” Desbiez said. “What we’re advocating is roads that are safe for all, for people and for wildlife.”
Banner image: Experts warn that without the necessary mitigation steps, the new highway will increase the number of vehicle collisions, impacting the lives of both people and wildlife. Image © Alejandro Espeche/Greenpeace.
Citation:
Ascensão, F., & Desbiez, A. L. (2022). Assessing the impact of roadkill on the persistence of wildlife populations: A case study on the giant anteater. Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation, 20(3), 272-278. doi:10.1016/j.pecon.2022.05.001
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Animals, Biodiversity, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Forest Destruction, Forests, Infrastructure, Roads, Wildilfe, Wildlife
Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Latin America, Paraguay, South America
Source link : https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/a-mega-highway-threatens-south-americas-vulnerable-gran-chaco/
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Publish date : 2023-06-08 03:00:00
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