WCS 3-Sentence Science

Understanding the Full Range of Infrastructure Impacts

January 16, 2020

CREDIT: JULIE LARSEN MAHER/WCS

Each year, Wildlife Conservation Society scientists publish more than 300 peer-reviewed studies and papers. “WCS 3-Sentence Science” is a regular tip-sheet — in bite sized helpings — of some of this published work.

Here we present work by WCS’s Justina Ray and James Watson on understanding growth-inducing infrastucture impacts on the environment:

1. Growth-inducing infrastructure, such as electrical transmission lines, and roads open intact areas, induce or intensify industrial development, and accelerate carbon emissions.
2. Yet decision makers often ignore the secondary, growth‐induced effects and full range of impacts, even though they can outweigh the impacts of the initial development.
3. In this study, researchers identify the characteristics of growth‐inducing infrastructure and provide an overview of methods and policy that can facilitate a deliberate assessment of these keystone decisions.

Study and Journal: “Growth‐inducing infrastructure represents transformative yet ignored keystone environmental decisions” from Conservation Letters
WCS Co-Author(s): Justina Ray, President, WCS Canada; James Watson , Director, WCS Science and Research Initiative

For more information, contact: Stephen Sautner, 718–220–3682, ssautner@wcs.org.