Amazon Rainforest cut to build road for copy compliance

A new four -lane road is being built through tens of thousands of Amazonian -protected Amazon jungle for the Cop30 climate summit in the Brazilian city of Belém.

Its objective is to facilitate traffic to the city, which will house more than 50,000 people, including world leaders, at the conference in November.

The state government promotes the “sustainable” credentials of the road, but some premises and conservationists are outraged by the environmental impact.

The Amazon plays a vital role in carbon absorption for the world and in providing biodiversity, and many say that this deforestation contradicts the purpose of a climate summit.

Along the partially built road, lush towers of the tropical jungle on both sides, a reminder of what was once there. The trunks are stacked in the clear earth that extends more than 13 km (8 miles) through the tropical jungle towards Belém.

The excavators and the machines are carved through the forest floor, racing on the surface wetlands the road that will cross a protected area.

Claudio Vereque lives about 200 meters where the road will be. He used to get an entrance to reaping açaí berries of the trees that once occupied the space.

“Everything was destroyed,” he says, pointing to the clear.

“Our harvest has already been reduced. We no longer have that income to support our family.”

He says he has not received compensation from the state government and that currently depends on savings.

He worries that the construction of this path leads to greater deforestation in the future, now that the area is more accessible to companies.

“Our fear is that one day someone comes here and says: ‘Here is some money. We need this area to build a service station or build a warehouse.’ And then we will have to leave.

“We were born and grew here in the community. Where are we going?”

Your community will not be connected to the road, given its walls on both sides.

“For us who live on the side of the road, there will be no benefits. There will be benefits for the trucks that will happen. If someone gets sick and needs to go to the center of Belém, we will not be able to use it.”

The road leaves two areas disconnected from protected forest. Scientists are concerned that it will fragment the ecosystem and interrupt the movement of wildlife.

Professor Silvia Sardinha is a veterinarian and wildlife researcher at an animal university hospital that gives to the new road site.

She and her team rehabilitate wild animals with injuries, predominantly caused by humans or vehicles.

Once cured, they release them again in nature, something that says it will be more difficult if there is a road at their door.

“From the moment of deforestation, there is a loss.

“We are going to lose an area to free these animals to nature, the natural environment of these species,” he said.

“Terrestrial animals can no longer cross to the other side, reducing the areas where they can live and reproduce.”

The president and the Brazilian Environment Minister say that this will be a historical summit because he is “a policeman in the Amazon, not a policeman over the Amazon.”

The president says that the meeting will provide the opportunity to focus on the needs of the Amazon, show the forest to the world and present what the federal government has done to protect it.

But Professor Sardinha says that while these conversations will happen “at a very high level, between businessmen and government officials”, those who live in the Amazon “are not being heard.”

The State Government of Parar had promoted the idea of ​​this road, known as Avenida Libytade, already in 2012, but had been repeatedly filed due to environmental concerns.

Now a large number of infrastructure projects have been risen or approved to prepare the city for the police summit.

Adler Silveira, the State Government Infrastructure Secretary, listed this road as one of the 30 projects that occur in the city to “prepare it” and “modernize it”, so “we can have a legacy for the population and, what is more important, serve people for cop30 in the best possible way.”

Speaking to the BBC, he said it was a “sustainable road” and an “important mobility intervention.”

He added that he would have wildlife crosses so that animals pass, bicycle lanes and solar lighting. New hotels are also being built and the port is being rebuilt so that cruise ships can rob there to accommodate excess visitors.

The Federal Government of Brazil is investing more than $ 81 million (£ 62 million) to expand the capacity of the airport from “seven to 14 million passengers.” A new city park of 500,000 square meters, Parque da Cidade is being built. It will include green spaces, restaurants, a sports complex and other facilities for the public to use later.

Some business owners in the vast outdoor market outdoors of the city agree that this development will provide opportunities for the city.

“The city as a whole is being improved, it is being repaired and many people are visiting from other places. It means that I can sell more and win more,” says Dalci Cardoso da Silva, who runs a leather shoes.

He says this is necessary because when he was young, Belém was “beautiful, well saved, well cared for”, but since then he has been “abandoned” and “neglected” with “little interest of the ruling class.”

João Alexandre Trindade da Silva, who sells Amazonian herbal medications in the market, recognizes that all construction work can cause problems, but felt that the future impact would be worth it.

“We hope that discussions are not only on paper and become real actions. And the measures, the decisions taken, really put into practice so that the planet can breathe a little better, so that the population in the future has a slightly cleaner air.”

That will also be the hope of world leaders who choose to attend the Cop30 summit.

The scrutiny is growing on whether to fly to thousands of them worldwide, and the infrastructure required to accommodate them is undermining the cause.