Roads through the Heart of Borneo will break up key conservation landscapes

Planned infrastructure in the Heart of Borneo is predicted to fragment important conservation landscapes, say Australian and international researchers. The Heart of Borneo initiative is a government-led and NGO-supported programme to protect the an area of rainforest the size of Victoria. Sabah is planning a Pan-Borneo Highway network but the researchers say the planned network would seriously undermine protected areas and intact-forest connectivity. The researchers say Sabah’s commitment to underpasses and forest corridors is arguably a futile gesture as it is unlikely to fully address the issue and is ultimately too economically costly as a practical solution.