Roads, Development, and Conservation in the Congo Basin
Abstract
Abstract: Road density is closely linked to market accessibility, economic growth, natural resource exploitation, habitat fragmentation, deforestation, and the disappearance of wildlands and wildlife. Research in the Republic of Congo shows that roads established and maintained by logging concessions intensify bushmeat hunting by providing hunters greater access to relatively unexploited populations of forest wildlife and by lowering hunters' costs to transport bushmeat to market. Reconciling the contrary effects of roads on economic development and biodiversity conservation is one of the key challenges to wildlife managers in all nations. As the Democratic Republic of Congo prepares to reconstruct its almost completely collapsed road system, the government, donors, and conservation organizations have a unique opportunity to strategically prioritize investment in segments of the network that would maximize local and national economic benefits while minimizing adverse effects on forest wildlife.
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The presence of loggers often increases hunting pressure because of the construction of roads.
“As the presence of loggers often increases hunting pressure because of the construction of roads (Wilkie et al. 2000), it is important to begin to decouple the effects of hunting and logging.”
From Company–Community Logging Contracts in Amazonian Settlements: Impacts on Livelihoods and NTFP Harvests (2009) · cites this paper as Wilkie et al. 2000
Cites
Tropical Deforestation and Habitat Fragmentation in the Amazon: Satellite Data from 1978 to 1988
Skole, D., & Tucker, C. (1993) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.260.5116.1905 · Cited by 1,590 · see citing works
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Impacts of roads and linear clearings on tropical forests
Laurance, W. F., Goosem, M., & Laurance, S. G. W. (2009) · Trends in Ecology & Evolution · doi:10.1016/j.tree.2009.06.009 · Cited by 1,243 · see citing works
Fragmentation of Asia's remaining wildlands: implications for Asian elephant conservation
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Environmental synergisms and extinctions of tropical species
LAURANCE, W. F., & USECHE, D. C. (2009) · Conservation Biology · doi:10.1111/j.1523-1739.2009.01336.x · Cited by 178 · see citing works
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Single-species conservation in a multiple-use landscape: current protection of the tiger range
Forrest, J. L., Bomhard, B., Budiman, A., Coad, L., Cox, N., Dinerstein, E., Hammer, D., Huang, C., Huy, K., Kraft, R., et al. (2011) · Animal Conservation · doi:10.1111/j.1469-1795.2010.00428.x · Cited by 17 · see citing works
- Authors
- Wilkie, D., Shaw, E., Rotberg, F., Morelli, G., & Auzel, P.
- Affiliations
- Boston College (US)
- Tufts University (US)
- Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech (BE)
- Venue
- Conservation Biology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2000-12-18
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 1614-1622
- ISSN
- 0888-8892 (ISSN-L)
- 1523-1739
- OpenAlex
- W2063792035
- Cited by
- 413
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 32 · 2022: 20 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 20 · 2017: 21 · 2016: 25 · 2015: 21 · 2014: 18 · 2013: 22 · 2012: 16
- FWCI
- 9.27
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Conservation Biology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation
- United States Agency for International Development
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Wildlife-Road Interactions and Conservation
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
- Keywords
- road density, logging concessions, bushmeat hunting, market access, habitat fragmentation, deforestation, wildlife conservation, economic development, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, forest fauna, transportation costs
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