The great highway that destroys the Amazon to connect the city that will host COP30

The construction of a large highway in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, crossing a protected area, has sparked an international controversy due to its alleged connection with the UN summit against climate change This year's COP30, which is being held in Brazil. The regional authorities responsible for the project assure us that it has nothing to do with COP30, but the fact is that the road under construction - which has deforested a 13-kilometer-long strip of land - will take a good part of the 50,000 summit participants to the city where it is being held, Belem do Pará.

Images of the jungle opened and deforested to make way for this four-lane road, two in each direction, went around the world a few days ago when the BBC denounced the project that "is being built for the COP30 climate summit." The extraordinary secretariat of COP30 immediately responded to the BBC with a statement ensuring that the construction of this highway was not the responsibility of Lula's federal government and that it was not included among the 33 infrastructure projects planned for COP30. The government of the state of Pará, responsible for the project, has also come out to say that the highway is not part of the works planned for COP30, although an article published on November 28, 2028 by the Pará Agency did mention this road as one of the works to facilitate the climate summit, a reference that after the controversy State of Para Online.

The controversial highway, dubbed Liberty Avenue, is a project that dates back to 2012, but had been postponed and halted several times due to resistance from local communities and environmental concerns. In 2023, when it had already been announced that Brazil would host the 2025 summit, the environmental impact study was published, which "concludes that the project is technically and environmentally viable," despite the fact that the same report also admitted that construction would cause "land animals to be expelled towards the animals" due to possible changes in water quality in rivers and streams generated by indirect erosion events.

Liberdade Avenue actually crosses the "Belém metropolitan environmental protection area", a region of high biodiversity on the banks of the Guamá River and in riverine areas connected by streams where species such as the white-fronted toucan, the common squirrel monkey (Saimiri sciureus) and capuchins of the type Sapajus. It is also home to three endangered plant species. Some of the local communities that make a living from harvesting and selling açaí complain that the construction has wiped out many of the açaí trees they used to grow their supplies from.

Local communities also complain that the estimated flow of 24,000 vehicles per day once it is operational will increase noise pollution and cut the habitats of many of these species in two, putting even more pressure on fragile ecosystems. The most belligerent communities against the project have been the Kilimbolas. from Abacatal and the riverbanks of Nossa Senhora dos Navegantes, two communities that live in the jungle near the Guamá River and that will be separated from the city of Belém by this road. Quilimbolas and riberinhos are traditional Brazilian communities descendants of slaves who fled to the jungle in the 17th and 18th centuries and who today normally live off their own crops and what nature provides them, but who usually do not have land titles.

"The forest is being destroyed, and we residents have no guarantee of environmental protection," said Diana dos Santos Araújo, leader of the Nossa Senhora dos Navegantes community, on the Estado do Pará website. A demonstration last October against the highway forced a meeting between the affected communities and the regional government, which promised them collective compensation, including a sports court, a bridge, daycare centers, a health center, and running water. The Pará government also claims that the controversial highway will be a "sustainable" route because it "includes exclusive lanes for cyclists, environmentally friendly paving of the bike path, and solar lighting."

Hotel construction, port expansion, and skyrocketing Airbnb prices

But the highway isn't the only symptom of the pressure on the Amazon region to host an international event of the magnitude of COP30. The city of Belém, capital of the state of Pará and considered the gateway to the Amazon, is rushing to build and prepare spaces to accommodate the more than 50,000 visitors who will arrive to participate in the summit between November 10 and 21. The Amazonian capital only has hotel capacity for 18,000 people, which is why new hotels are being built and more than 5,000 new Airbnb spaces have been added with prices ten times higher than usual. The Brazilian government will even hire two ocean liners, which will dock at the Outeiro port in Belém, to provide 4,500 beds for COP30, according to the country's authorities explained to a UN delegation that visited the city last month to oversee preparations. Work is also underway at the port to expand capacity.

Lula's choice of this city to host the climate summit was intended to put the Amazon's key role in the fight against climate change and the problems facing this ecosystem at the center of the debate. But the question remains as to whether the event's ecological (and social) footprint could end up further exacerbating these problems.