A highway to hell : a proposed , inessential , 6-lane highway ( NH 173 ) that threatens the forest and wildlife corridors of the Western Ghats , India

A globally, extensive road network combined with increasing vehicular traffic poses a significant threat to local wildlife, environment, economy, and socio-politics. India, with nearly 5.9 million kilometers of road, has the second-highest road network in the world; and has plans to exponentially increase its national highways. In this study, we use a combination of collation of official documents, literature review, and GIS mapping to outline the possible environmental and socio-economic impacts caused by a proposed 6-lane national highway (NH 173). This highway is set to cut through the low elevation evergreen forests of the central Western Ghats between Mudigere and Nelliyadi towns of Chikkamagaluru and Dakshina Kannada districts, of Karnataka State, respectively. We further outline the insignificance of the project and recommend workable alternatives that could be considered in the wider public’s interest.


INTRODUCTION
India has the second-highest road network in the world with nearly 5.9 million kilometers of road (MRTH 2019). Between the years 2018 and 2019, with 10,855km added to the existing highway network, India had a 10% increase in national highways compared to the previous year (MRTH 2019). Even with increased fuel economy standards, technological advancements, and continued roadway constructions, India's vehicular traffic is expected to grow significantly beyond the year 2050 (Dulac 2013). Globally, such extensive road network combined with increasing vehicular traffic has been identified as a significant threat to local wildlife, environment, economy, socio-politics, and indigenous culture & traditions (Goosem et al. 2010;Alamgir et al. 2017).
One such road is the proposed 6-lane national highway (NH-173) between Mudigere and Nelliyadi towns of Chikkamagaluru and Dakshina Kannada districts, of Karnataka State, respectively (hereafter Shishila Byrapura (SB) highway) to connect the coastal town of Bantwal with Chitradurga in southern India, through an entirely new alignment (NHAI 2018) (Fig.  1). The entire project of 233km has been split into four workable packages, each under 100km (NHAI 2018). Among them is the 68.9km stretch between Mudigere and Nelliyadi, with no existing highway in the alignment. With a budget of 25 billion INR (330 million USD at 1 USD = 75.698 INR), the project is set to connect this stretch, currently without any motorable road between Byrapura Village near Mudigere and Shishila Village near Nelliyadi; where the mean elevation changes nearly 800m, within just 21.9km (Image 1). SB highway is set to cut across contiguous forest patches of central Western Ghats -a biodiversity hotspot and a UNESCO world heritage site (Myers et al. 2000; WHC 2012) (Appendix 1). Here we outline the inevitable socio-economic and environmental disaster expected to be caused by the project, its insignificance, and the recommendation of workable alternatives.

Environmental and socio-economic impacts
The highway is set to fragment a contiguous stretch of forest, protected under seven reserve forests (RFs), which connects Bhadra Tiger Reserve, Kudremukha National Park, and Pushpagiri Wildlife Sanctuary (Appendix 1). Building a 30m wide highway with crash barriers and other road safety features as proposed under the project could act as blockades for the movement and seasonal migration of wildlife (Raman 2011;Alamgir et al. 2017). These areas hold one of the highest populations of Asiatic Elephants and also has been identified as an important Tiger corridor (Appendix 2; Elephant Task Force 2012; Qureshi et al. 2014;Project Elephant Division 2017). Along with these charismatic and threatened mega-fauna, these RFs are home to five species of birds, nine species of reptiles, and 23 species of mammals (Appendix 4), listed under schedule I and II of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972, giving them the highest protection under Indian law (WII-ENVIS 2014; IUCN 2019). In addition, this landscape hosts an array of globally threatened and endemic species of flora and fauna (Myers et al. 2000;UNESCO WHC 2012). The proposed highway, with high speeding vehicles, would disrupt wildlife movement, especially of Asiatic Elephants, potentially worsening the existing acute human-elephant interactions in the region (Fig. 2, Appendix 5); this threatens the safety of both the local community and wildlife (Puyravaud et al. 2019). Opening up this relatively undisturbed patch of forest with no current access would inevitably lead to an increase in wildlife mortality through collision with speeding vehicles (Baskaran & Boominathan 2010; Raman 2011) and could provide access to poachers and smugglers to indulge in the illegal trade of wildlife and deforestation (Wilkie et al. 2000;Hughes 2018). The construction of a highway has also been linked to the spreading of invasive species such as Lantana camara and Eupatorium Chromolaena odorata and cause forest fires due to an increase in fuel loads from invasive alien species (Goosem et al. 2010;Raman 2011). At the same time, roads and highways lead to a change in animal behaviour where a few species will be attracted to the roads for scrap food from travelers while others would avoid regular movement, affecting their genetic diversity (Trombulak & Frissell 2000;Holderegger & Di Giulio 2010).
The area between Mudigere and Nelliyadi that is proposed for the construction of the SB highway lies on the high and moderate landslide susceptibility areas (Gupta & Basu 2017) (Appendix 3). The highway is also planned to pass along the Kapila River, one of the main feeders for the Nethravathi River system -a major river that provides water to millions of people and agrarian systems. Road construction, particularly in steep landscapes are associated with increased frequency of landslides and soil erosion (Goosem et al. 2010), resulting in heavy pulses of sediment into streams (Beevers et al. 2012). Thus, construction of the SB highway would worsen the landslide susceptibility, also damaging the water catchment of the Nethravathi J TT River system (Gupta & Basu 2017). The problem would escalate during the monsoon period, causing irreversible damage to wildlife, the local community, and economy as seen during the monsoon of 2018 and 2019 at various parts of the Western Ghats (Ghosh 2018;Mrunmayee & Girish 2019). Moreover, a 4-year long process of constructing a 70km highway through the forested landscape using earthmovers and blasting machinery, by itself, may permanently damage the area and disrupt wildlife movement. No amount of economic benefits, compensatory afforestation, or financial allowance can outweigh or equal the exceptional value of these oldgrowth natural forests (Watson et al. 2018).

Insignificance of the project and recommended alternatives
SB highway has been proposed for construction without due consideration of environmental and socioeconomic factors, stating that habitat fragmentation is unavoidable; however, the proposed alignment of the highway is parallel to two existing highways (Fig. 1); and most other roads between Bantwal and Chitradurga, are being widened and upgraded to national highways. Furthermore, the alternative highway alignments that we propose are existing roads that are already being upgraded and almost trace the proposed highway. By tracing our proposed alignment, Nelliyadi -Sakaleshpura -Belur -Chikkamagaluru -Chitradurga (Fig. 3

CONCLUSION
Under the current global biodiversity crisis and climate emergency, protection of natural forests and landscape is crucial now, more than ever before (Watson et al. 2018;Lewis et al. 2019). Increasing evidence also shows that inviolate spaces help in wildlife conservation and reduce human-wildlife conflict (Goswami et al. 2014;Srivathsa et al. 2014). It is evident that the construction of the proposed SB highway would lead to (a) habitat destruction and fragmentation (Appendix 1), (b) threaten the survival of 37 species of schedule I and II animals potentially found in the region (Appendix 4), (c) worsen the existing acute human-elephant interactions in the region (Fig. 2), and (d) cause an array of environmental and socio-economic disasters. We see no requirement for a parallel and a completely new 6-lane highway between Mudigere and Nelliyadi through the old-growth and sensitive forests, under a proposed new alignment. This is because, there are suitable alternatives with significantly lower impacts (Fig. 3, Appendix 6), which we strongly urge the Government of India to re-examine. Considering all the potential environmental and socioeconomic impacts from the proposed SB highway, we request the concerned authorities to take necessary actions to consider alternative options.

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