New roads long enough to girdle the Earth 600 times are expected to be built by 2050, and better planning is needed to protect the environment while also raising food production, a study said on Wednesday.
The study, in the journal Nature, said that roads can aid farmers, especially in developing nations, where food production is held back by a lack of access to markets or to fertilizers and other technologies.
But too often, new roads slice through remaining wildernesses in the Amazon, New Guinea, Siberia or the Congo Basin, which are home to valuable species of animals and plants and help to slow climate change by storing greenhouse gases.