Does planned road expansion conflict with the Heart of Borneo aspirations in Sabah, Malaysia?
Conference Contribution ResearchOnline@JCUAbstract
Roads expansion is occurring at an unprecedented rate across the planet. Globally, at least 25 million kilometers of new paved roads are anticipated by 2050 with the total length of paved roads in Asia alone expected to double over the next three years. Much of this road construction is projected to occur in tropical regions including those that currently sustain exceptional biodiversity and provide vital ecosystem services. In Malaysia, for instance, the road network expanded by 87% between 2002-2013 (~116,000 km) and a further 68% (an additional ~93,000 km) over the period 2010 to 2015. Under the Eleventh Malaysia Plan (2016-2020) this rapid expansion of road infrastructure is slated to continue including upgrades and extensions to the Pan-Borneo Highway and its feeder roads. If this highway development were to proceed as planned, much of the routes will crisscross currently forested areas of Sabah, potentially imperiling some of Malaysia’s most important wildlife habitats. Further, they will penetrate some of the last remote wilderness areas in Sabah including forests currently found within the Heart of Borneo area; an area slated for protection, production and sustainable land use under a trilateral agreement between Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam and Indonesia. Using spatial analyses we show that the Pan-Borneo highway upgrade in Sabah threatens multiple ecologically sensitive regions and conflicts with the conservation-based aspirations listed in the Heart of Borneo agreement.
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ATBC 2018: 55th Annual Meeting of of the Association of Tropical Biology Conservation: linking natural history and the conservation of tomorrow's tropical ecosystems
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30
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Kuching, Malaysia
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Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation
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Kuching, Malaysia
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