Road networks in Latin America: Research efforts, mitigation and policy towards better governance

CLEVENGER, ANTHONY; GONZÁLEZ-GALLINA, ALBERTO; KINDEL, ANDREAS; ARÉVALO, ESMERALDA; PACHECO, CORAL; RICO, ADRIANA; PINTO, FERNANDO; VARELA, DIEGO; GRILO, CLARA; TEIXEIRA, FERNANDA; JARAMILLO FAYED, JUAN CARLOS; BRAVO, JUAN CARLOS; ARAYA, DANIELA; POMAREDA, ESTHER; LANGEN, TOM; POOT, CELSO

Einhoven

Congreso; IENE 2018 International Conference; 2018

IENE

Managing the environmental and social impacts of new infrastructure in Latin America will be a challenge, given the unprecedented scale of planned investments in the next decade Anticipated growth and ongoing highway investments have generated increasing interest in research and the formation of national road planning networks Our aim is to show the research efforts, different collaborative partnerships working towards road mitigation and better governance. We conducted a literature review (n=209 peer-review articles) on the ecological effects of roads in Latin America to identify research gaps and define future directions. Compared to developed countries, research in Latin America has been slow to address the ecological effects of roads and design science-based solutions. Of these 88% of studies were from South America, while only 12% were from Central America. Studies focused on mammals (36%), birds (12%), reptiles (9%) and amphibians (4%). More than half reported on mortality, while 27% habitat fragmentation. There was a gap in information on barrier effects and mitigation efficacy. National networks have been formed to leverage public policies for a more sustainable transportation structure. In Brazil, BIOINFRA consists of varying stakeholders with the aim of developing actions in areas of research, public policies, environmental education, training and communication. Mexico?s efforts consist of workshops between government agencies, academics and conservation NGOs. Wildlands Mexico and Anima Efferus are actively working with government to mitigate roads in critical landscapes. The World Bank and National Parks supported the first road ecology workshop in Argentina. RECOFSA in Colombia works with public and private road agencies at a national level to evaluate transportation impacts and create mitigation strategies. Vias Amigables con la Vida Silvestre (VAVS; Costa Rica) has organized multi-stakeholder workshops and training courses for agency and consultancy staff in Central America. Highway mitigation projects are growing exponentially with many case studies. Mexico?s Nuevo Xcan-Playa del Carmen Highway has 28 wildlife underpasses and 22 canopy bridges. Jaguars have been documented using the underpasses. Two Federal Highways are Mexico?s signature projects mitigating impacts for a range of wildlife. Bridge underpass/culvert retrofits make up the majority of mitigation in Colombia in addition to canopy crossings. Nine mitigation projects have been implemented in key protected areas and corridors in Argentina. These projects include the first wildlife overpass in Latin America and many underpasses and canopy crossings. Several key highways in Costa Rica have incorporated wildlife crossings by using research data collected by VAVS and Panthera. Planning and design processes and lessons learned from these model projects will be presented. Although Latin America has lagged behind developed countries in creating sustainable transportation networks in their regions, there has been high interest and political engagement in training, changing practices and policies, working with financial lending institutions. Many of these efforts are conducted at the national level and have not crossed borders and taken a transboundary approach. We conclude by identifying the future challenges and needs for improving national and transboundary planning, policies and frameworks for creating ecologically sustainable infrastructure networks in a rapidly changing Latin American landscape.