Informal Roads: The Impact of Unofficial Transportation Routes on Remote Arctic Communities

George Washington University, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

Transportation infrastructure plays a crucial role in economic development by enhancing connectivity between places, resulting in both positive and negative impacts on the local environment and communities. The impacts of roads are most evident in Arctic and Subarctic regions, which are characterized by increased economic activity, an extremely fragile environment, and Indigenous villages often dependent on subsistence activities. In many remote Arctic regions, formal roads are rare, and transportation infrastructure consists predominantly of trails and paths established by Indigenous people for subsistence purposes as well as temporary roads laid out for resource exploration. Although such informal roads are usually unchartered, the impacts of the development and implementation of these informal roads have yet to be significantly explored. This project is a detailed interdisciplinary analysis of the overall impact of informal transportation routes on the Arctic socioecological system. The expected project results will contribute to planning for sustainable development of Arctic and Subarctic regions, which are experiencing unprecedented anthropogenic and climate-induced changes. It will also generate scientific knowledge for complex assessment of the positive and negative impacts of development and tourism on other remote regions of the world. This goal will be addressed through the following project objectives: 1) Map and analyze the evolution of spatial extent and condition of formal and informal roads using a range of remote sensing products, archival work, and local knowledge; 2) Assess the importance and use of different types of roads for diverse population groups using field observations and in-depth interviews; 3) Provide an integrative assessment of the informal roads' impacts on socio-economic and environmental conditions of local communities; and 4) Work closely with local communities to develop plan for sustainable development and use of transportation infrastructure. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.