(Updates throughout, adding comments from COP30 Extraordinary Secretariat)
A new 13-km (8-mile) four-lane highway being built through Amazon rainforest on the perimeter of Brazil’s Belem, a throughway reported to be aimed at accommodating visitors for this year’s COP30, is not part of the 33 federal infrastructure projects planned for the climate summit to be held later this year.
A BBC report on Wednesday showed a drone view of the road, to be known as Avenida Liberdade, that will offer another route into the city centre from the east.
BBC reported that the highway, “cutting through tens of thousands of acres” of protected rainforest, was listed by the Para state government as one of 30 projects happening in the city to “prepare” and “modernise” it ahead of COP30.
The story exploded on social media, leading to thousands of angry comments accusing the conference organisers of hypocrisy for destroying an ecosystem that the summit and wider climate action efforts are claiming to be trying to save.
This prompted the Extraordinary Secretariat for COP30, linked to the Office of the Chief of Staff of the Presidency of Brasil, to clarify that the construction work for Avenida Liberdade is not under the responsibility of the federal government, nor is it part of the 33 infrastructure projects planned for COP30.
“We emphasise that the headline of the news story, in both English and Portuguese, misinforms readers by misleadingly suggesting a connection between the construction project and the federal government’s actions in preparing for the conference, which will leave a legacy for the city’s population,” the secretariat said by email.
The project, which has been under consideration since 2012 as a way of easing traffic in the capital of Para state, has also drawn criticism from conservationists and local communities who warned of deforestation, biodiversity loss, and displacement.
The state government had shelved the project for years due to environmental concerns, but revived it as part of a broader infrastructure push ahead of COP30 that includes building new hotels and conference facilities, expanding the size of the local airport, and redeveloping the city’s port to accommodate large cruise ships.
Officials described the highway as a “sustainable” mobility project, incorporating wildlife crossings, solar lighting, and bike lanes.
According to Carbon Pulse calculations, a four-lane highway including surrounding area and spanning 13 km should require less than 300 acres of land, assuming a width of 300 feet.
Brazil’s federal government is positioning COP30, which takes place from Nov. 10-21, as an opportunity to highlight Amazon conservation efforts.
Brazilian COP30 President-Designate Andre Correa do Lago emphasised forest conservation in his first open letter about the upcoming summit, released earlier this week.
“Forests can buy us time in climate action in our rapidly closing window of opportunity,” he wrote, adding that reversing deforestation and recovering what has been lost can unlock massive removals of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.
COP30 is also due to take stock of new national climate action plans, or Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), to the Paris Agreement. All parties to the agreement are due to submit updated NDCs by September, covering the 2025-35 period.
ALARMING DEFORESTATION
Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, southeast of Belem and one of the world’s richest biodiversity hotspots, continues to face alarming rates of illegal deforestation, despite strict protective laws, a new study by Brazilian scientists has found.
Between 2010 and 2020, approximately 186,000 hectares of mature forest – critical for biodiversity and carbon storage – were cleared across the region, according to the paper published last month in Nature Sustainability.
Researchers identified 14,401 separate instances of deforestation, mainly driven by agricultural expansion on private properties.
The rate of deforestation varied annually, peaking at 30,645 hectares in 2015-16 and reaching its lowest at 12,824 ha in 2017-18. The majority of these deforestation patches were smaller than 51 ha, with nearly half being less than 6 ha.
Notably, nearly three-quarters of the losses occurred on private lands, although significant clearing was also detected in protected reserves and Indigenous territories.
The Atlantic Forest, which once spanned much of Brazil’s eastern coastline, now retains only 24% of its original cover, the study found.
The researchers highlighted two major deforestation hotspots: a northern area covering Bahia and Minas Gerais, where eucalyptus plantations and pasture expansions dominated; and a southern hotspot in Parana and Santa Catarina, where forests primarily gave way to temporary crops.
Despite Brazil’s Atlantic Forest Law, which strictly controls forest clearance and permits it only under exceptional circumstances, the researchers reported that almost all deforestation activity was likely illegal.
They cautioned that this ongoing illegal clearing threatens to trigger species extinctions, compromise ecosystem services such as water regulation, and exacerbate Brazil’s greenhouse gas emissions, contributing 89 million tonnes of CO2 emissions during the study period.
The Atlantic Forest provides essential ecosystem services to around 70% of Brazil’s population, including vital water resources for the country’s major urban centres.
The authors warned that continued deforestation risks irreversible biodiversity losses and reduced ecosystem functionality.
To counteract this trend, the team recommended stricter law enforcement, enhanced monitoring systems, and incentives for landowners preserving native vegetation.
They proposed also expanding protected areas and promoting sustainable practices, particularly in high-risk regions, to move towards zero deforestation.
By Arshreet Singh and Mike Szabo – news@carbon-pulse.com
