In August , the Bolivian governance downgraded legal protections for the res publica ’s most iconic national park , paving the way for a raw highway to cut straight through a select biodiversity hot spot . Now , research published inCurrent Biologyconfirms the frail ecosystem will be greatly harm by the planned development .
The orbit " represent one of the mostbiodiverse regionsnot only in Bolivia , but on Earth , " said author Alvaro Fernandez - Llamazares of the University of Helsinki to IFLScience . " We are super distressed about this deforestation . "
The proposed road will bisect through the park , divide it in two and stripping it of protections win in2011 . It is part of a about 306 - km ( 190 - sea mile ) trans - Amazonian main road initiative through South America .
Using satellite imagination , his squad obtain that The Isiboro - Secure National Park and Indigenous Territory ( TIPNIS ) has lost more than 46,000 hectares of mostly old - growth forest between 2000 and 2014 .
The Bolivian government says the road will bring food surety to one of South America’spoorest countries , but researchers report that almost 58 percentof disforestation is find within 5 kilometer ( 3 miles ) of existing road . newfangled construction also encourages further extractive industries in the region , such as oil color production , quality harvesting , and coca cultivation .
A 2011 study by theBolivian Institute for Strategic Researchfound that the route would in all probability advance disforestation because it increases access to landed estate used for illegal logging and Imogene Coca polish . By 2026 , an figure 64 per centum of the green could be lost due to deforestation if the road is built , as oppose to 43 per centum without the building .
At almost 10,400 - square - kilometers ( 4,000 - substantial - stat mi ) , the home parkland is about the size of Jamaica and family to 3,000 metal money of plants and 11 endanger fauna , including emblematic mintage like the Panthera onca , marsh cervid , and giant otter .
" One of the reason why TIPNIS is so important is because of its strategic position converged between the Andes and the Amazon , " say Fernandez - Llamazares . " It has a huge topographical and geographical variety and complexness . "
Also threatened are four dwindlingindigenous cultures , including a clan believed to be living in voluntary isolation . Protesters madeheadlinesin August , after the new practice of law threaten the home of almost 14,000 indigenous people and one of the most unique ecological area in the Amazon .
TIPNIS is just one illustration of a much bighearted trouble .
" We definitely see there is a global pattern [ of disforestation ] , " said Fernandez - Llamazares . " woefully , there are many sheath that are very similar or that resemble each other . What ’s concern is that these very seeable examples have a risk of setting case in point in the area . "
Using a technique calledprotected area downgrading , downsize and degazettement(PADDD ) , researchers are able to analyze decrement in legal protections , downsize of protected areas , and estimate the operational deprivation of home park and nature reserves globally . Current estimates evoke that about 500,000 kilometers ( 311,000 miles ) of protect state in more than 55 rural area are negatively impacted by PADDD .
Fernandez - Llamazares allege that route are not the only means of transportation and that substitute itinerary should be proposed and tested for viability .
" route should be built in places that are not of such high biodiversity economic value , " said Fernandez Llamazares .
He also notice that areas of high conservation should be celebrate as road - free as possible .
