Environmental Assessment
Volume C-4.2
Slurry Pipeline
Fauna
Ambatovy Project
114
January 2006
Barriers to Movement
Approximately 200 km of new roads will be created along the length of the
pipeline for construction and maintenance. Additional site access roads will also
be created that link existing transportation corridors to the pipeline route. The
physical presence of the roads, vehicular traffic and sensory disturbance associated
with construction and maintenance activities will create a barrier to fauna for as
long as they are in place. If the barriers result in the inability of animals to disperse
or find mates, the impacts to affected species could affect genetic and demographic
attributes of populations. Impacts will be greatest for wary or wide-ranging
species. For the latter, these impacts could be regional. However, most
development will occur in previously disturbed areas between Mantadia and
Andasibe national parks, minimizing impacts to faunal populations.
No maintenance road will be built along the pipeline within a core part of the
Mantadia-Zahamena Conservation Corridor and the pipeline will be constructed
such that trees can be grown along the proposed pipeline route. These design
features will reconnect previously disturbed areas, thereby eliminating existing
barriers in key sensitive habitats. In areas where roads are built but reclaimed
following closure, faunal movement will no longer be restricted.
Residual Impact Classification
Residual impacts as a result of fragmentation and barriers to movement are
provided in Table 4.2-8.
Fragmentation
The environmental consequence to all habitats due to fragmentation is predicted
to be negligible primarily because about 95% of the route occurs along existing
disturbance. The magnitude of the effects is therefore predicted to be negligible,
local in extent, long-term in duration and occur once during site clearing.
Impacts to fauna due to fragmentation effects of pipeline construction are also
predicted to be negligible, again primarily because the route follows previously
disturbed habitats.
Barriers to Movement
Barriers to movement are predicted to have a low to moderate environmental
consequence for wary and wide-ranging species. For the latter species, impacts
can be regional if the ability to disperse and find mates is impaired. For all
affected species, the impact duration will be long-term as effects will last until
habitats are reclaimed, the effects are reversible if remaining populations can
compensate for losses and the frequency is high as barriers occur continuously.
