Development Corridors Will Slice, Dice & Frack Over Africa’s Protected Areas

A new study finds the rapid economic development in Africa may have serious social and environmental consequences.

Huge investment projects are speeding ahead to address the urgency to expand agricultural production to feed a population that is expected to nearly quadruple this century.

At the same time the continent is opening up to extensive mining, largely driven by foreign money.

No overall plan or strategy exists to coordinate the many players, both foreign and domestic.

“These gigantic proposals will create roads, pipelines, highways, railways and port facilities,” says William Laurance, director of the Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Science at James Cook University in Cairns, Australia.