Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

The dilemma of mountain roads

Nature Geoscience volume 5, pages 437–438 (2012)Cite this article

Subjects

Mountain roads and trails are proliferating throughout developing southeast Asia. The long-term consequences of associated landslides and surface erosion on downstream aquatic environments could be severe, but are largely unrecognized.

The rapid expansion of mountain road and trail systems in rural southeast Asia is a mixed blessing. Growing transportation networks support agricultural development as well as local travel, trade and tourism. But they also create problems associated with sediment production and landslide hazards. Organizations such as the Asian Development Bank, the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations and the World Bank support aggressive programmes of rural road expansion in the hilly terrains of southeast Asia. They justify these efforts by socioeconomic benefits and a perceived interrelationship between mountain road networks and sustainable livelihoods of rural residents1,2,3. However, increases in road density are also directly linked to drastic transformation, or even elimination, of traditional shifting cultivation methods (as practiced in rural uplands)4, and have been implicated in deforestation and land exploitation in remote regions5,6.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Extensive surface erosion and small-scale landslides in a system of logging roads and skid trails in the Bukit Tarek catchment, Peninsular Malaysia.

© ROY C. SIDLE

Figure 2

© ROY C. SIDLE

References

  1. Van de Walle, D. World Dev. 30, 575–589 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Balisacan, A. M. in Policy Issues and Investment Options to Avert Hunger and Food Insecurity in Asia 11–31 (Food and Agriculture Org. of the UN, 2005).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Hettige, H. When do rural roads benefit the poor and how? (Asian Development Bank, 2006).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Cramp, R. A. et al. Human Ecol. 37, 323–346 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Liu, D. S., Iverson, L. R. & Brown, S. Forest Ecol. Manag. 57, 1–16 (1993).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Miyamoto, M. Forest Policy Econ. 9, 1–12 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Sidle, R. C. & Ochiai, H. Landslides: Processes, Prediction and Land Use Water Resources Monogr. 18 (Am. Geophys. Union, 2006).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  8. Sidle R. C. et al. Forest Ecol. Manag. 224, 199–225 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Sidle, R. C., Furuichi, T. & Kono, Y. Nat. Hazards 57, 313–326 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Sidle, R. C., Sasaki, S., Otsuki, M., Noguchi, S. & Abdul Rahim, N. Hydrol. Process. 18, 703–720 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Negishi, J. N., Sidle, R. C., Ziegler, A. D., Noguchi, S. & Abdul Rahim, N. Earth Surf. Proc. Land. 33, 1174–1191 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ecosystems Research Division, Roy C. Sidle is at the US Environmental Protection Agency, 960 College Station Road, Athens, Georgia 30605, USA,

    Roy C. Sidle

  2. Department of Geography, Alan D. Ziegler is at the National University of Singapore, 21 Lower Kent Ridge Road, 119077, Singapore,

    Alan D. Ziegler

Authors
  1. Roy C. Sidle
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Alan D. Ziegler
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Roy C. Sidle or Alan D. Ziegler.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Sidle, R., Ziegler, A. The dilemma of mountain roads. Nature Geosci 5, 437–438 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1512

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1512

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing