Ecosystem Services (ES) are the benefits that people obtain from the natural environment. These include provisioning services such as the production of food and raw materials; regulating services such as carbon sequestration and crop pollination; and cultural services such as health and recreational benefits. These services maintain the appropriate conditions for human well-being and quality of life. Roads can be directly or indirectly related with most ES, causing both positive and negative effects on their access and provision. Namely, roads can result in: (1) direct loss of ES provision because road creation and widening replaces and encroaches upon other habitats, not only in wilderness and pristine areas but also in rural and even peri-urban areas; (2) direct provision of ES because road-associated areas, such as road verges, support habitats that provide their own benefits to road users and local people, for example improved aesthetics, as well as to people further afield (e.g., carbon sequestration and storage); (3) indirect provision of ES because roads provide people with access to ES elsewhere in the landscape, for example to natural areas for recreation; and (4) indirect loss of ES because such access may facilitate activities that degrade surrounding habitats and associated ES, for example unsustainable timber extraction and hunting in tropical forests. In this chapter, we first summarize how roads can affect ES. We then provide our perspective on how ES should be integrated into future planning and management of roads and other transportation infrastructure.

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Roads and Ecosystem Services

  • Benjamin Phillips,
  • Cristina Branquinho,
  • Fernando Ascensão

摘要

Ecosystem Services (ES) are the benefits that people obtain from the natural environment. These include provisioning services such as the production of food and raw materials; regulating services such as carbon sequestration and crop pollination; and cultural services such as health and recreational benefits. These services maintain the appropriate conditions for human well-being and quality of life. Roads can be directly or indirectly related with most ES, causing both positive and negative effects on their access and provision. Namely, roads can result in: (1) direct loss of ES provision because road creation and widening replaces and encroaches upon other habitats, not only in wilderness and pristine areas but also in rural and even peri-urban areas; (2) direct provision of ES because road-associated areas, such as road verges, support habitats that provide their own benefits to road users and local people, for example improved aesthetics, as well as to people further afield (e.g., carbon sequestration and storage); (3) indirect provision of ES because roads provide people with access to ES elsewhere in the landscape, for example to natural areas for recreation; and (4) indirect loss of ES because such access may facilitate activities that degrade surrounding habitats and associated ES, for example unsustainable timber extraction and hunting in tropical forests. In this chapter, we first summarize how roads can affect ES. We then provide our perspective on how ES should be integrated into future planning and management of roads and other transportation infrastructure.