An assessment on the effects of road constructions on ecological biodiversity and livelihood in Bo City, Southern Sierra Leone

Abstract

Ecological effects on roads construction include physical disturbance, habitats loss, extinction of populations of species near road edges, mortality of wildlife that are using roads edges as habitat, and the scattering of wildlife (including invasive species and alien species) along road network. In other words, roads construction contributes essentially to the socio-economic and cultural development of rural communities. Improved road infrastructure facilitates rural population to find work in and beyond their respective communities. Similarly, the city of Bo has been experiencing 21st Century massive asphalt roads construction. This research is to assess the effects of road construction on ecological biodiversity on the livelihood of the people in Bo City. Biodiversity is increasingly threatened by rapid infrastructure expansion and its associated ecological effects. Infrastructure such as roads, alter ecological conditions by cutting through habitats and consequently reducing populations of many wildlife species. As a result local species in abundance decline in the nearness of infrastructure and increase with distance from the infrastructure until leveling off at a certain threshold distance. This decrease in population density varies by taxonomic group, with mammals being affected over long distance than birds (Benitez, Lopez, et al 2010.