Smart Infrastracture

Public works supporting the way of life for millions of people in Asian countries — roads, hydroelectric dams, mining operations, and others — have contributed to the loss of the region’s biodiversity and particularly have impacted the natural habitats of the Asian Tiger. The need for planning and design guidance has become obvious. The Smart Infrastructure (SI) Team of the Global Tiger Initiative (GTI) is a response to the shift in thinking toward fuller consideration of ecosystem sensitivity and Tiger ranges and populations in infrastructure planning.

The impact of infrastructure on biodiversity is multilayered, from the obvious to the subtle. Some impacts are immediate and easily observed, as in the habitat destroyed by a rural highway footprint. Among other impacts, roads can cause habitat fragmentation by erecting barriers to animal movement and can degrade habitat through runoff carrying automotive chemicals. Nearby air quality can suffer as well. Construction in long utility corridors turns over and compacts ample ground into which invasive species can spread. Many of these impacts can be avoided or mitigated if the right policies are in place.

The SI team is working to develop mechanisms at the policy level for safeguarding key Tiger habitats from development through planning ‘smart, green’ infrastructure and sensitive industrial development. Included is the development of policy instruments and options for mainstreaming biodiversity conservation into roads, hydroelectric projects and mining operations with strong sensitivity toward Tiger populations and habitats.

SI recognizes that it is important for The World Bank to have specific “tiger-friendly” policies for its infrastructure projects.
In the Tiger Range Countries, SI will suggest areas of policy improvement.

The Smart Infrastructure team is pioneering approaches that go beyond “ring fencing” and safeguards with attempts to mainstream best practice and measurable goods into country policies and decision-making systems. Certain realities of infrastructure construction often create difficult trade-offs with biodiversity conservation. The SI team is looking into the potential for designing infrastructure that actually promotes regional biodiversity and Tiger conservation, rather than solely trying to avoid and mitigate ecological impacts.