The Ecological Impact of Transportation Infrastructure
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World Bank, Washington, DC
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There is a long-standing debate over
whether new roads unavoidably lead to environmental damage,
especially forest loss, but causal identification has been
elusive. Using multiple causal identification strategies,
this paper studies the construction of new rural roads to
over 100,000 villages and the upgrading of 10,000 kilometers
of national highways in India. The new rural roads had
precise zero effects on local deforestation. In contrast,
the highway upgrades caused substantial forest loss, which
appears to be driven by increased timber demand along the
transportation corridors. In terms of forests, last mile
connectivity had a negligible environmental cost, while
expansion of major corridors had important environmental impacts.
Palabras clave
TRANSPORT, INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT, ROAD CONSTRUCTION, ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT, RURAL ROADS, DEFORESTATION