Road expansion and persistence in forests of the Congo Basin

authored by

Fritz Kleinschroth, Nadine Laporte, William F. Laurance, Scott J. Goetz, Jaboury Ghazoul

Abstract

Roads facilitate development in remote forest regions, often with detrimental consequences for ecosystems. In the Congo Basin, unpaved logging roads used by timber firms, as well as paved and unpaved public roads, have expanded greatly. Comparing old (before 2003) and new (2003–2018) road datasets derived from Landsat imagery, we show that the total length of road networks inside logging concessions in Central Africa has doubled since 2003, whereas the total length of roads outside concessions has increased by 40%. We estimate that 44% of roads in logging concessions were abandoned by 2018, as compared to just 12% of roads outside concessions. Annual deforestation rates between 2000 and 2017 near (within 1 km) roads increased markedly and were highest for old roads, lowest for abandoned roads and generally higher outside logging concessions. The impact of logging on deforestation is partially ameliorated by the nearly fourfold higher rate of road abandonment inside concessions, but the overall expansion of logging roads in the Congo Basin is of broad concern for forest ecosystems, carbon storage and wildlife vulnerable to hunting. Road decommissioning after logging could play a crucial role in reducing the negative impacts of timber extraction on forest ecosystems.

External Organisation(s)

ETH Zurich
Northern Arizona University
James Cook University Queensland
Utrecht University
University of Edinburgh

Type

Article

Journal

Nature Sustainability

Volume

2

Pages

628-634

No. of pages

7

ISSN

2398-9629

Publication date

01.07.2019

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Global and Planetary Change, Food Science, Geography, Planning and Development, Ecology, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment, Urban Studies, Nature and Landscape Conservation, Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-019-0310-6 (Access: Closed)