[MCN] Science: Too many roads , too little wilderness

[Lance Olsen]

Science  16 Dec 2016:
Vol. 354, Issue 6318, pp. 1423-1427
DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf7166

A global map of roadless areas and their conservation status
Pierre L. Ibisch, Monika T. Hoffmann, Stefan Kreft, Guy Peer, 
Vassiliki Kati, Lisa Biber-Freudenberger, Dominick A. DellaSala, 
Mariana M. Vale, Peter R. Hobson, Nuria Selva

Too many roads
Roads have done much to help humanity spread across the planet and 
maintain global movement and trade. However, roads also damage wild 
areas and rapidly contribute to habitat degradation and species loss. 
Ibisch et al. cataloged the world's roads. Though most of the world 
is not covered by
roads, it is fragmented by them, with only 7% of land patches created 
by roads being greater than 100 km2. Furthermore, environmental 
protection of roadless areas is insufficient, which could lead to
further degradation of the world's remaining wildernesses.

Abstract
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/354/6318/1423

Roads fragment landscapes and trigger human colonization and 
degradation of ecosystems, to the
detriment of biodiversity and ecosystem functions. The planet's 
remaining large and ecologically
important tracts of roadless areas sustain key refugia for 
biodiversity and provide globally relevant
ecosystem services. Applying a 1-kilometer buffer to all roads, we 
present a global map of roadless
areas and an assessment of their status, quality, and extent of 
coverage by protected areas. About 80% of Earth  s terrestrial 
surface remains roadless, but this area is fragmented into ~600,000 
patches, more than half of which are <1 square kilometer and only 7% 
of which are larger than 100 square
  kilometers. Global protection of ecologically valuable roadless 
areas is inadequate. International
recognition and protection of roadless areas is urgently needed to 
halt their continued loss.
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"Most mountainous ecoprovinces exhibit strong year-of-fire 
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