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

交通基础设施通过加强地方之间的联系，在经济发展中发挥着至关重要的作用，对当地环境和社区产生了积极和消极的影响。道路的影响在北极和亚北极地区最为明显，这些地区的特点是经济活动增加，环境极其脆弱，土著村庄往往依赖于生存活动。在许多偏远的北极地区，正规的道路很少，交通基础设施主要由土著居民为维持生计而建立的小径和小路以及为资源勘探而铺设的临时道路组成。虽然这类非正规道路通常是未经批准的，但开发和实施这些非正规道路的影响尚未得到大量探索。该项目是对非正式交通路线对北极社会生态系统整体影响的详细跨学科分析。预期的项目成果将有助于规划北极和亚北极地区的可持续发展，这些地区正在经历前所未有的人为和气候变化。它还将产生科学知识，以便复杂地评估发展和旅游业对世界其他偏远地区的积极和消极影响。这一目标将通过以下项目目标来实现：1)利用一系列遥感产品、档案工作和当地知识，绘制和分析正式和非正式道路的空间范围和状况的演变；2)通过实地观察和深度访谈，评估不同类型道路对不同人口群体的重要性和使用情况；3)对非正规道路对当地社区社会经济和环境条件的影响进行综合评估；4)与当地社区密切合作，制定可持续发展和使用交通基础设施的计划。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.