Centre for Functional Biodiversity, School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Private Bag X01, Scottsville, Pietermaritzburg, 3209, South Africa; The Endangered Wildlife Trust, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Centre for Functional Biodiversity, School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Private Bag X01, Scottsville, Pietermaritzburg, 3209, South Africa.
J Environ Manage. 2024 Dec;371:123062. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.123062. Epub 2024 Oct 30.
Launching green transport infrastructure is important for sustainable development frameworks and fosters sustainable land-use practices. Policy provisions promoting integrated sustainability in road infrastructure planning are critical and should incorporate biodiversity needs. We synthesised key existing South African policies for road infrastructure to assess their implementation and effectiveness in mainstreaming ecological connectivity in their framework of green transport planning. We have developed an analytical framework for advancing the sustainability of transport infrastructure and used it to review the policies. Furthermore, we used the Driving Forces-Pressures-State-Impacts-Responses (DPSIR) framework to examine and provide information on the drivers and pressures of transport expansion and poor mainstreaming of ecological connectivity in transportation planning in South Africa. Our results showed that the reviewed policies articulated sustainability elements for enhancing social and economic justice in the transportation sector. They had standards for developing road infrastructure that is climate change-resilient with reduced emissions but had no provisions for mainstreaming ecological connectivity for restoring key ecosystems and threatened species. The policies lacked clear sustainability standards and integration. The DPSIR analysis identified a lack of policy interventions promoting ecological connectivity among the pressures that accelerate transport-related biodiversity impacts. Furthermore, it provided planning responses for improving sustainable land-use planning for road development projects. We propose the integration and inclusion of biodiversity needs in transportation policy frameworks for promoting green transport infrastructure in South Africa. A comprehensive national ecological connectivity conservation strategy must be developed for linear infrastructure fragmented landscapes to promote integrated land use planning and ecological connectivity for wildlife.
推出绿色交通基础设施对可持续发展框架很重要，并促进可持续的土地利用实践。促进道路基础设施综合可持续性的政策规定至关重要，应纳入生物多样性需求。我们综合了南非现有的道路基础设施关键政策，以评估其在绿色交通规划框架中纳入生态连通性的实施情况和效果。我们制定了一个推进交通基础设施可持续性的分析框架，并利用它来审查这些政策。此外，我们使用驱动力-压力-状态-影响-响应（DPSIR）框架来审查和提供有关南非交通扩张和生态连通性在交通规划中主流化较差的驱动力和压力的信息。我们的研究结果表明，所审查的政策阐述了在交通运输部门增强社会和经济正义的可持续性要素。这些政策为发展具有气候适应能力且减排的道路基础设施制定了标准，但没有为恢复关键生态系统和受威胁物种的生态连通性提供主流化的规定。这些政策缺乏明确的可持续性标准和综合规定。DPSIR 分析确定了缺乏政策干预措施，这些措施在加速与交通相关的生物多样性影响的压力中促进生态连通性。此外，它还为改善道路发展项目的可持续土地利用规划提供了规划对策。我们建议在交通政策框架中纳入和包含生物多样性需求，以促进南非的绿色交通基础设施。必须制定一项全面的国家生态连通性保护战略，以保护线性基础设施破碎的景观，促进野生动物的综合土地利用规划和生态连通性。
