The Story of the Inter-Oceanic Highway, By Jason Scullion

8/10/2019 The Story of the Inter-Oceanic Highway, By Jason Scullion

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THE INTER-OCEANICHIGHWAY

A Presentation by Jason Scullion


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Introduction of Todays Lecture

The story of the Inter-OceanicHighway is complex,constantly changing, and often

controversial

My goal today is to provide anobjective overview of the main

issues, but also avoidabstraction

We are talking about real

people, places, and importantissues of conservation and


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. From: Perz et al (2010)

PuertoMaldonado


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Outline of Presentation

1. The rationale for constructing the highway

2. The regional context of infrastructure development

(IIRSA) in South America3. Background on the highways construction

4. Main concerns about the highway improvement

project

5. The proposed highway mitigation initiative

6. Science on the costs and benefits of roads

7. Evidence to date on the socio-environmental

impacts of the Inter-Oceanic Highway


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Rationale for Building the

Highway

Economic Benefits forIndividuals and the Country

Economic growth

New business opportunities

Social Benefits

Reduced travel times and

improved public safety Integration and social

development of the country

Net national benefits


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The Regional Development Context &

IIRSA

As stated by Perus former minister of transportation andcommunications Veronica Zavala, This [highway] is amulti-country effort to create an infrastructure that will bethe backbone of economic integration for the region

This multi-country effortis known as, the Initiative forIntegration of Regional Infrastructure in South America(IIRSA)

IIRSA is focused on investments in three sectors:

Transportation

Telecommunications

Energy


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The Regional Development Context &

IIRSA

IIRSA funding by sector

IIRSA funding for transportati

Existing major highways & proposed highway

projectsFigures from Conservation International (2007)


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The Highway and its

Construction

Map Highlighting Location of Inter-Oceanic Construction Projects, Peru-Brazil


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The Highway and its

Construction

Precedent:First intercontinental highway in SouthAmerica due to hazards and cost of constructing ahighway over the Andes.

Financing:$1.4 billion, which was loaned to Perufrom el Banco Nacional de Desarrollo de Brasil(BNDES) y la Corporacin Andina de Fomento

(CAF)

Project:Converted previous 30-year old road intomodern highway by upgrading 1,000 km of old

highway in Peru, as well as improving 1,500hi hwa km in Brazil


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The Highway and its

Construction

The portion of highway betweenAssis, Brasil and PuertoMaldonado, roughly 600 km, was

unpaved before project

More than 22 major bridges wereconstructed, including, el Puente

Presidente Guillermo Billinghurst,which spans the Madre de DiosRiver

Paving in Peru started in 2005 andthe project is nearly complete


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Social & Environmental Concerns aboutProject

The single biggestconcern was that theimprovement of the

highway would result inmassive deforestation

Scientists predictedsevere environmental andsocial impacts from theroad

Some residents feared

increased crime and theloss of a rural lifest le


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The CAF loan included $10million (USD) for constructionmitigation activities

The mitigation initiative is called:"Programa para la GestinAmbiental y Social de losImpactos Indirectos del CorredorVial Interocenico Sur

The Initiative proposes a pro-local development movement,which will help to boostecosystem conservation and

strengthen local governance andmanagement

Proposed Project Mitigation


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Proposed Project Mitigation

The Interocenico Sur mitigation Initiative isbased on the execution of 14 projects groupedin 4 programs: Tourism and handicrafts

Eco-businesses Biodiversity

Governance and local capacity-building

Some say the mitigation initiative is notenough: Diversas organizaciones de la Sociedad Civil han

sealado que el programa es insuficiente pararesponder a los retos de maximizar los beneficios y

minimizar los perjuicios de la Interocenica a favorde las regiones del rea de influencia.(Bank


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Science of Road Impacts

(Introduction)

Roads do not cause social orenvironmental changes, people do.Roads facilitate and catalyze humanbehavior and actions

People respond to underlying forces,such as economic incentives,population pressure, culture, and

institutions. Roads affect those forces

In general, new or newly paved roadsbring numerous, rapid, and complexchanges to societies and localenvironments


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(Social)

New roads or road paving have been shown to:

Improve economic growth and development

Reduce transportation costs and increase access to

resources

Reduce poverty

Improve access to markets and services

Reduce isolation of rural communities

Increase or decrease local population size

Increase social conflict

Drive rapid cultural changes


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(Environmental)

New roads or road paving have been shown to:

Increase forest loss, isolation, and fragmentation

Increase edge effects,particularly in tropical forests

Increase mortality of animals through car collisions and

increased hunting pressure

Create Pandoras Box Effect,where roads enable the

invasion of hunters, miners, loggers, land speculators,

and colonists

Increase the invasion of exotic species

Degrade rivers and streams


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Evidence of the Social Impacts from

the New Inter-Oceanic Highway

Interviews with residents in Puerto Maldonado show that

perceived or real impacts, include:

There are more tourists from abroad and from Peru

Before the highway, a lot of people did not have work, there was a lot

of poverty, there were less people, and there we only a lot of small

jobs, people were more worried.Things are better now

For my business things are much better there are more investors,

the economy is better

The products of Puerto Maldonado can be moved easier

People are not used to the ability to drive fast so there are more

accidents


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of the New Inter-Oceanic

Highway Interviews with residents living along highway in MdD were

asked asked about perceived changes in last five years,these changes include:

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

Accesso Transporte Servicios deSalud

ServiciosEducativos

Negocios

Mejor

Peor

Grafics de datos del Proyecto de MAP (2010). Muestra = ~312personas. Encuestas con personas viviendo cerca de la caraterra en el


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of the New Inter-Oceanic

Highway

Interviews with residents living along highway in MdD wereasked asked about perceived changes in last five years,these changes include:

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Crimen Violencia Drogas

Creci

Dismuny

Grafics de datos del Proyecto de MAP (2010). Muestra = ~312

personas. Encuestas con personas viviendo cerca de la caraterra enel ao 2008


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Impacts of the New Inter-Oceanic

HighwayThe MAP (2010) study found that the amount of deforestationin MdD from 1986 to 2005 is correlated with the distance fromhighways

Figure shows the relationship between the distance to the nearest

highway and the amount of deforestation in MdD. Southworth et al


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Highway Madre de Dios saw

especially rapiddeforestation due tonational economic growth,

the onset of road pavingitself, & the rise of goldprices

In Madre de Dios, the

land area cleared during1986-1991 was less than0.1% and during 2000-2005 it was 1.1%

Quotes and modified map from Southworth et al


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Highway

Delagado (2008) modeledfuture impacts of the highwayand found:

Peruvian deforestation rateswill be exacerbated and, despitecommon belief, the Inter-

Oceanic highway is not going tobe the main culprit, but thesecondary road network andpopulation centers, that thehighway will encourage.


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Final Thoughts

Socio-environmental impacts ofthe Inter-Oceanic Highway havebeen documented, but requirefurther study

More than 90% of MdD remainsforested and the region has notyet experienced massive forestloss like Brazil or other tropical

regions

Current activities by ACA andmany other individuals and groupsin MdD have the potential to avoid

Brazils deforestation experiencei e the future of MdD de ends

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The Story of the Inter-Oceanic Highway, By Jason Scullion