Space4Giants | Safeguarding Space for Giants: building sustainable infrastructure for the benefit of nature and people

Summary
The growth of transportation infrastructure since the turn of the century has been phenomenal and is expected to expand significantly by 2050, especially in Africa and Asia, under the Chinese global Belt and Road Initiative. Despite positives, this growth presents potential adverse outcomes for nature and people, especially in biodiversity-rich nations, such as Kenya. It is expected that the impacts will affect large and charismatic terrestrial giants such as elephants that depend on high mobility and open spaces for climatic and anthropogenic impact adaptation. In Kenya, large and numerous infrastructure projects and rapidly changing land-use systems are found within biodiversity-rich and fragile ecosystems such as the Amboseli-Tsavo Conservation Area in the south-eastern part of the country, hosting Kenya’s largest elephant population. Elephants are important flagship species that significantly influence conservation efforts in many parts of Africa. Understanding the consequences of transportation infrastructure is important for their management and conservation, and securing their spaces and livelihoods depending on the resources in these spaces. The Space4Giants project will assess the impacts and interactions between changing human population, environments, infrastructure, and development at a landscape scale in the recent past and the near future. The findings of this study will support the development of tools and capacity that will provide insight into the socio-ecological-environmental impacts of linear infrastructure in Kenya that will be used to mitigate the impacts nationally with the potential to be applied across the Global South.
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More information & hyperlinks
Web resources: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101029280
Start date: 04-01-2022
End date: 03-01-2024
Total budget - Public funding: 224 933,76 Euro - 224 933,00 Euro
Cordis data

Original description

The growth of transportation infrastructure since the turn of the century has been phenomenal and is expected to expand significantly by 2050, especially in Africa and Asia, under the Chinese global Belt and Road Initiative. Despite positives, this growth presents potential adverse outcomes for nature and people, especially in biodiversity-rich nations, such as Kenya. It is expected that the impacts will affect large and charismatic terrestrial giants such as elephants that depend on high mobility and open spaces for climatic and anthropogenic impact adaptation. In Kenya, large and numerous infrastructure projects and rapidly changing land-use systems are found within biodiversity-rich and fragile ecosystems such as the Amboseli-Tsavo Conservation Area in the south-eastern part of the country, hosting Kenya’s largest elephant population. Elephants are important flagship species that significantly influence conservation efforts in many parts of Africa. Understanding the consequences of transportation infrastructure is important for their management and conservation, and securing their spaces and livelihoods depending on the resources in these spaces. The Space4Giants project will assess the impacts and interactions between changing human population, environments, infrastructure, and development at a landscape scale in the recent past and the near future. The findings of this study will support the development of tools and capacity that will provide insight into the socio-ecological-environmental impacts of linear infrastructure in Kenya that will be used to mitigate the impacts nationally with the potential to be applied across the Global South.

Status

TERMINATED

Call topic

MSCA-IF-2020

Update Date

28-04-2024
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Horizon 2020
H2020-EU.1. EXCELLENT SCIENCE
H2020-EU.1.3. EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
H2020-EU.1.3.2. Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
H2020-MSCA-IF-2020
MSCA-IF-2020 Individual Fellowships