Toll road could raise money for Amazon conservation

Toll road could raise money for Amazon conservation
mongabay.com
July 15, 2007

Southeastern Peru is arguably the most biodiverse place on the planet. A new highway project, already under construction, poses a great threat to this biological richness as well as indigenous groups that live in the region. While its too late to stop the road, called the Carretera Transoceanica or Interoceanic Highway, there are ways to reduce its impact on the forest ecosystem and its inhabitants.

A new proposal, backed by a group of well-respected researchers, argues that turning parts of the highway into a toll road could help pay for conservation efforts that will mitigate damage to the surrounding rainforest. Organizers are asking supports to sign a petition that will then be presented to the Peruvian president. A statement from the group appears below.

Highway up - A solution to unite economic development and conservation within the Andes-Amazon Region

A so-called Giant monkey frog from the threatened region in Peru. Photo by Rhett A. Butler

The Interoceanic Highway is currently under construction in South America. It is predicted to result in unprecedented destruction of the Amazon – the largest tropical forest in the world. In southern Peru the highway will slice through the Andes-Amazon region, critical habitat of the highly threatened Andean Bear, as well as jaguars, giant otters, and more than 1,200 other species of mammals and birds. Once the highway is complete, the wilderness these species inhabit today will be forever cut in two, separated by a growing corridor of deforestation along the highway.

Elevating critical portions of the Interoceanic Highway, turning it into a toll pay scenic road, will help the conservation of the Andes-Amazon region and at the same time will catalyze the long-term economic stability of local people through ecotourism. Limiting economic activities around the highway only to special exits can be a great opportunity for regional economic growth. Doing so will reduce habitat destruction by restricting uncontrolled development of land away from the specified exits. At the same time it will be possible to offer tourists a variety of needs at one stop, including hotels, restaurants and field guides ready to show tourists the unique regional fauna and flora that should be regarded with pride and protected accordingly.

Construction of the highway has already begun and will soon reach this critical area. Now, in 2007, we still have time to ACT, or we will never recover what we are about to lose! We can change the future! In less than a week we got more than 800 signatures supporting this idea. Please help us to spread this document and get more people engaged with this cause. We are planning a meeting with the Peruvian President to discuss this matter soon, so more signatures we have endorsing this proposal, more chance we have to succeed.

Interoceanic Highway Petition

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