Roads Filter: Identifying High-Risk Road Development in the Amazon Basin

Over the past few decades, national and regional Amazonian governments have endorsed the rapid expansion of road construction. This attitude persists today and drives continued road integration plans within the region, for example, the Initiative for the Integration of South American Regional Infrastructure (Iniciativa para la Integración de la Infrestructura Regional Sudamericana: IIRSA). However, road development can bring high environmental costs and may accrue benefits to only a limited number of stakeholders. Within the region, roads have long been linked to deforestation; in the 1990’s 80% of all deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon occurred within 100 km of the five major road networks (Alves 2002). Deforestation leads to biodiversity loss, the displacement of indigenous and non-indigenous communities, the spread of disease, as well as global impacts such as increased greenhouse gas emissions and reduced carbon storage.