Environmental Challenges and Impacts
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SPRINGER BRIEFS IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE Robert E. Beazley James P. Lassoie Himalayan Mobilities An Exploration of the Impacts of Expanding Rural Road Networks on Social and Ecological Systems in the Nepalese Himalaya 123 SpringerBriefs in Environmental Science SpringerBriefs in Environmental Science present concise summaries of cutting-edge research and practical applications across a wide spectrum of environmental fields, with fast turnaround time to publication. Featuring compact volumes of 50 to 125 pages, the series covers a range of content from professional to academic. Monographs of new material are considered for the SpringerBriefs in Environmental Science series. 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Lassoie Cornell University Cornell University Ithaca, NY, USA Ithaca, NY, USA ISSN 2191-5547 ISSN 2191-5555 (electronic) SpringerBriefs in Environmental Science ISBN 978-3-319-55755-7 ISBN 978-3-319-55757-1 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-55757-1 Library of Congress Control Number: 2017936947 © The Author(s) 2017 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. 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Printed on acid-free paper This Springer imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland Preface Roads are widely recognized by governments, aid institutions, and development planners as essential for economic development and poverty reduction in develop- ing countries (e.g., see Van de Walle 2008; WB 2006; Howe and Richards 1984). Roads are the essential building blocks of development. Without roads, there can be no hydro project infrastructure such as dams and no electricity, no telephone towers, and limited access to advanced life support and health care institutions, quality edu- cation, communication networks, and a host of other critical social and economic services. Roads are essential for connecting local producers to markets, reducing transportation costs, and helping reduce the price of goods in formerly remote areas. However, roads also can have negative influences that are far ranging, often caus- ing unintended and unanticipated impacts on environmental, socioeconomic, and sociocultural spheres. Road construction can cause landslides, debris flows, and other forms of mass wasting as well as the air, water, light, and noise pollution asso- ciated with the vehicles that use them (e.g., see Evink 2002; Forman et al. 2002; Oxley et al. 1947). Land value and land use change can have differential socioeco- nomic impacts on local people both in the vicinity of the road and at varying scales away from the road (e.g., see Blaikie et al. 2002; Van de Walle 2008; WB 2006). In addition the increase in access to an area that a road brings can have substantial impacts on cultural traditions and practices (e.g., see Beazley 2013; Price 1989; Cruikshank 1985). In Nepal, where there were virtually no roads until the 1950s, it is safe to say that every isolated community in the mountains wants a road (NTNC 2008). Roads are the number one infrastructure development project prioritized by Village Development Committees (VDCs) (UNDP 2011). Nepal has made substantial prog- ress in expanding its road network including connecting 73 of its 75 district head- quarters by road in recent years. However, there are still vast areas in the mountains with no road access. In Nepal, 23% of the population (~6 million people) live more than 4 h walk to the nearest road, 60% live more than 2 h away, and another 23% live greater than 4 days away. Some villages are as far as a 13-days walk from the nearest road. Children often walk 2–3 h to go to school and it is not unusual for a pregnant woman to walk 2 days to a health clinic (SDC 2008). v vi Preface There is no denying the fact that such isolated areas need roads. Roads are life- savers for Nepalis because they ease the burden of carrying goods by human porters, increase the opportunities to find work and education outside the local area, and reduce the time it takes to get health care. Road construction also provides direct employment through the nongovernmental organization (NGO) sponsored Green Roads Program and the World Health Organization’s Food for Work Program that pays locals in cash or food to build roads with manual labor. For example, the Swiss Agency for Cooperation and Development (SDC) is one of many NGOs in Nepal involved with rural road construction, and in collaboration with the Government of Nepal it employs more than 4000 Nepalis in their rural road construction program (SDC 2008). At the same time there needs to be a recognition that the way in which these roads are planned and built, whether they are Green Roads,1 local roads, or central government roads, has a huge impact on the communities and the environ- ment which they traverse. In the past road projects were often conceived of as con- necting two locations with little consideration of what lay in between them, specifically what effects the road alignment might have not only on the immediate areas impacted but also on communities at varying distances away. There will always be both positive and negative impacts from road building, but with better understanding of how roads impact complex socio-ecological (i.e., coupled social and ecological) systems the chances of mitigating the negative impacts and enhanc- ing the positive impacts are much greater. Our orientation is geared toward providing a better understanding of the coupled social and ecological system of mobility and how that functions within the realm of road construction and mobility in the Nepalese Himalayas by reviewing informa- tion about road impacts and integrating it with our own research on the Kali Ghandaki and Marsyangdi Highways and the Annapurna Circuit Trail in Nepal (Beazley 2013), and the senior author’s most recent research (2014–15) along the Trans Himalayan Highway (Rasuwa District). This book is organized under four general thematic categories. In Part I, Roads and Transportation, we summarize and update information about the history, distribution, functions, and impacts of road development, both globally and at Nepal’s national level (Chap. 1). Then in Part II, Mobility, we examine what is now termed the Mobilities Turn as a basis for under- standing the current academic context within which rural roads form a significant mobilities constituent (Chap. 2). This is followed by Part III, Challenges and Impacts of Building Roads in the Himalayas, where we provide an in-depth assess- ment, using numerous case studies including our own empirical research (Beazley 2013), of the positive and negative impacts of roads on the environmental (Chap. 3), socioeconomic (Chap. 4), and sociocultural (Chap. 5) spheres, and how they are interrelated and influence each other. Finally in Part IV, The Way Forward, we syn- thesize these findings by considering the future of Himalayan Mobilities in Nepal through the lens of recent events in Nepal including: (1) the 2015 earthquakes 1 Decentralized local participatory environmentally friendly construction methods using simple technology that maximizes local resources, builds local capacity, and often provides employment for neighboring communities (Mulmi 2009). Preface vii (April–May); (2) the promulgation of the new Nepali constitution (September 2015); (3) the reaction to the constitution, which led to a 4-month blockade of the southern border (September 2015–January 2016) cutting off petroleum shipments from Nepal’s only supplier, India, and Nepal’s attempts to open new avenues for the purchase and transport of petroleum from China; and (4) the frequently changing governmental structure (Chap. 6). Through this analysis we hope to provide a useful platform for policy makers and planners for understanding the coupled social and ecological system of mobilities and how to enhance Himalayan Mobilities in the future. References Beazley, R. E. (2013). Impacts of expanding rural road networks on communities in the Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal.