Why Keep Areas Road‐Free? The Importance of Roadless Areas

Assessing large-scale wildlife responses to human infrastructure development

“…Areas characterized by a low imprint of infrastructure may clearly be priority sites for protecting roadless areas (17,34). However, some places still hosting important biodiversity are no longer in remote areas, suggesting that extinction debts are likely.…”

“…The burgeoning availability of detailed geospatial layers of infrastructure contrasts with the lack of quantification of their effects, which still relies on expert knowledge and is mostly based on single species or local studies (14). As a result, mapping of the area of influence of infrastructure ranges from a few hundred meters (15) up to 50 km (10,11,16,17).…”

Importance of Roadless Areas for the European Conservation Network

“…Nevertheless, there are cases of PAs where roads already existed and are retained to support local communities and tourism (Eagles et al, 2002). Although road development projects within the boundaries of PAs are usually limited, road removal is also an option to be seriously considered in cases of unneeded and ecologically damaging roads (Eagles et al, 2002;Selva et al, 2015). Road reclamation has an environmental impact as well; however, when combined with restoration treatments, it brings significant long-term benefits like a reduction in chronic erosion (Switalski et al, 2004).…”

“…RAs also serve as barriers against invasive species (Strittholt and Dellasala, 2001;Selva et al, 2011), preserve the natural and semi-natural habitats of many species, and their genetic resources (Loomis and Richardson, 2000). Additionally, RAs help to stabilize the climate through carbon sequestration and nutrient cycling in forested areas (Loomis and Richardson, 2000;Selva et al, 2011Selva et al, , 2015 and provide multiple ecosystem services (e.g., provision of high quality water and air, erosion control, and recreational experiences; DellaSala et al, 2011). RAs sustain potential habitat suitable for a number of species and landscape-level connectivity between natural habitats, safeguarding native biodiversity (Crist et al, 2005;van der Ree et al, 2015;D'Amico et al, 2016;Torres et al, 2016).…”

Protect remaining roadless areas: The IENE 2014 declaration

“…Such areas need to remain (or become again) roadless to provide sufficient undisturbed space for nature conservation (DeVelice andMartin 2001, Crist et al 2005). Even within Europe, where only small and few roadless areas reside (Selva et al 2011(Selva et al , 2015, this need is increasingly recognised.…”