086 - Wildlife-friendly linear infrastructure
086 - Wildlife-friendly linear infrastructure
ALARMED by proliferation of linear infrastructure – roads, railways, canals, power lines, fences and pipelines – into some of the most biodiverse, intact, undisturbed, and important ecosystems in the world, including protected areas, other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs) and other natural areas;
AWARE that linear infrastructure harms wildlife, especially through mortality and barriers to movement and ecological connectivity, driving habitat and biodiversity loss by opening remote areas to human exploitation;
FURTHER AWARE that the most effective conservation measure to limit impacts of linear infrastructure on the environment is avoidance of new or expanded development, especially in areas of importance for biodiversity, ecological connectivity, and ecosystem integrity;
CONCERNED that financial investment in linear infrastructure can saddle developing economies with lasting environmental degradation and long-term debt;
RECALLING adoption of more than ten IUCN Resolutions since 1996 addressing impacts of infrastructure on species and ecosystems, including Resolution 6.102 Protected areas and other areas important for biodiversity in relation to environmentally damaging industrial activities and infrastructure development (Hawai‘i, 2016);
NOTING that the 2017 International Forum on Sustainable Infrastructure resulted in the ‘Hanoi Principles’ for planning, designing and financing ecologically sound linear infrastructure;
RECOGNISING the World Commission on Protected Areas’s (WCPA’s) preparation of guidance for connectivity conservation impacted by linear transportation infrastructure;
CONVINCED that the impacts of linear infrastructure on the environment are sufficiently well-known to be addressed through the use of the mitigation hierarchy (avoid, minimise, restore, compensate); and
FURTHER CONVINCED that increased knowledge, expanded expertise, and strengthened partnerships are necessary to deliver existing and new frameworks, including the post-2020 global biodiversity framework, to integrate science, policy and best practices that avoid and mitigate adverse impacts of linear infrastructure;
1. CALLS ON the Director General and Members to emphasise in the IUCN Programme 2021–2024 provision of scientific, technical and policy approaches to avoid impacts of linear infrastructure on the environment, and to mitigate impacts when necessary;
2. REQUESTS Members, all components of the Union, governments and agencies, intergovernmental organisations, non-governmental organisations, local communities, indigenous peoples, and financial institutions, to increase collaboration to implement existing guidance, guidelines and standards, including the 2017 ‘Hanoi Principles’ adopted by the International Forum on Sustainable Infrastructure, for more effective new and existing linear infrastructure avoidance and mitigation, based on specific targets and indicators, and to develop:
a. scientifically rigorous research, data collection, analysis, evaluation and reporting protocols;
b. methodologies for accurate quantification of adverse impacts at appropriate spatial and temporal scales;
c. evidence-based spatial plans, where possible, incorporating the needs of wildlife and ecological connectivity;
d. nature-based solutions and mitigation measures for incorporation into short-term and long-term strategies; and
e. rigorous monitoring and evaluation to determine the effectiveness of measures;
3. INVITES all relevant actors to consider of high importance the need to reduce wildlife mortality, maintain ecological connectivity, and to provide all other necessary protections for biodiversity, including exceeding compliance with existing laws and policies, when developing new, and addressing existing, linear infrastructure impacting areas of importance for biodiversity, ecological connectivity, and ecosystem integrity, including protected areas, OECMs, Key Biodiversity Areas, World Heritage sites, and other natural areas; and
4. FURTHER INVITES all relevant actors to develop, promote, and sustain a diverse coalition that mainstreams wildlife-friendly linear infrastructure in science, policy, and practice.
