In November next year, the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as COP30, will take place in Belém, in the Brazilian Amazonian state of Pará. State Governor Hedler Barbalho has vowed a sustainable transformation of the city to deliver an “extraordinary experience” for attendees, with a strong focus on the forest.
However, the construction of a controversial highway that will slice through a protected conservation area is one of several projects set to undermine these promises, with environmentalists warning the road could devastate the reserve’s ecosystem.
The new 13.3-kilometer (8.3-mile), four-lane Avenida Liberdade highway will cut through the 7,458-hectare (18,427-acre) Belém Environmental Protection Area (APAB), providing an alternative to the overburdened BR-316 highway and Almirante Barroso Avenue, which currently handle 100,000 vehicles daily. Construction was inaugurated on June 15 and the highway promises to transform traffic flow and enhance the quality of life for up to 2.2 million people in the Belém metropolitan region, according to state officials.
But scientists warn the new highway will cut off APAB from the adjoining Utinga State Park, effectively fragmenting the interconnected ecosystem and disrupting wildlife movements between the two protected areas that are essential for biodiversity.
This fragmentation could accelerate local extinctions and threaten the long-term survival of native wildlife within the two conservation units, both of which are critical habitats for thousands of species, including 800 types of plants and fungi, and serve as essential water sources for the city.
“We have very few remnants of native vegetation in this municipality,” Leandro Valle Ferreira, a biologist and senior researcher at the Paraense Emílio Goeldi Museum, told Mongabay. “These remnants are very important in terms of biodiversity conservation, because they are the only ones left.”
He said separating the two parks could trigger a chain reaction known as the “edge effect,” where isolated forest patches experience drastic changes in microclimatic conditions. This leads to damage and mortality to vegetation at the edges of these fragments due to increased wind speed, reduced soil and air humidity, and higher temperatures, according to Ferreira.
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Deforestation tends to become increasingly stronger along roads because of the opportunities they create, for example illegal logging and even drug trafficking.
Daniela Dias da Souza, project coordinator, SOS Amazônia
Experts point out that past infrastructure development in the Amazon Rainforest, such as the BR-364 highway that runs thousands of kilometers from São Paulo state in the southeast to Acre in the far west, are associated with deforestation and environmental harm due to their role in opening up previously inaccessible areas to illegal settlements and agriculture.
“Deforestation tends to become increasingly stronger along roads because of the opportunities they create, for example illegal logging and even drug trafficking,” Daniela Dias da Souza, a geographer and project coordinator at the conservation NGO SOS Amazônia, told Mongabay.
The Pará government has responded to criticism of the new Belém highway, with Alder Silveira, the state secretary for infrastructure, saying in a statement that measures have been implemented “to mitigate potential environmental impacts.”
He highlighted features of the highway he said were designed to curtail environmental damage, including 30 wildlife crossings, acoustic barriers to minimise noise pollution, and fencing along the expressway to prevent roadside development. The construction project also has an environmental license issued by the state administration.
Historically, however, promises of infrastructure construction and regional integration in the Brazilian Amazon have often proved to be ineffective, Souza said, with detrimental impacts on Indigenous and traditional communities. APAB is home to the Abacatal quilombo, a community of the descendants of formerly enslaved Afro-Brazilians, located 1 km (0.6 mi) from where the highway will run.
Vanuza Cardoso, an anthropologist and spiritual leader of the Abacatal territory, told Mongabay that the Avenida Liberdade project, under discussion since 2013, has seen various changes since its first conception, including a proposal to route the road through the quilombo, which was later redesigned.
She expressed concern that the highway’s proximity could attract outsiders to the region and lead to problems such as real estate speculation that could disrupt their community lives. She also highlighted a past experience with the Equatorial Energia power substation, located less than a kilometre from their community, that went into operation in 2020.
Cardoso said it “completely transformed our lives for the worse,” alleging harassment by workers and a lack of community benefit from the development. She said she fears a similar outcome with the new highway, especially as she said the community wasn’t adequately consulted and its proposed compensation for mitigation wasn’t fully considered.
“[The Brazilian state] think they know what’s best for us, but they don’t,” she said. “They do not consider us, it is not the development we defend.”
The Pará government reported having conducted public hearings with civil society representatives, and presented a study of the quilombo that was approved by the community. State officials also said the highway would benefit surrounding communities, citing the issuance of agricultural certificates to 300 nearby farming families.
These certificates legitimise their work, provide access to public policies and rural credit, and are expected to help boost agricultural production in the area.
Clearing trees is necessary for highway construction, with Pará’s transport department, Setran, estimating 68 hectares (168 acres) of vegetation will be removed.
Three trees will be planted for every one removed, according to official reports, although the location and timeline of the replanting project are unspecified. Some sections of the road have already been cleared to make way for power transmission lines; the Avenida Liberdade construction plans aim to minimise disruption to existing flora by using these cleared areas where possible, according to government sources.
Logistical challenges
Critics have reprimanded Belém city officials for hosting the COP30, citing the city’s lack of infrastructure for such a large-scale event and the subsequent extensive development required to support it. However, experts say the decision to choose an Amazonian city carries significant political symbolism, despite the logistical challenges.
Residents of Belém expressed concerns to Mongabay about the city’s capacity to handle the influx of visitors, citing insufficient infrastructure, including a lack of hotels. Several drivers for ride-hailing apps recalled the challenges the city faced during previous major conferences, such as the Amazon Summit in August 2023, describing a surge in intense traffic during the event.
They also told Mongabay that a new highway is necessary to tackle Belém’s traffic issues, yet acknowledged its environmental contradictions. “If COP30 is held here, how can we degrade the environment?” one driver told Mongabay.
Currently, Belém’s hotel network has just over 25,000 beds available, far short of the 70,000 visitors expected for COP30. At the start of July, Belém’s environmental department authorised dredging of Guajará Bay, where the Guamá and Acará rivers empty out into the Atlantic, to make space for large ships and ocean liners to dock in the capital and serve as hotels, compensating for the city’s lack of rooms.
Another proposal being considered to get Belém ready for the climate summit involves dividing the 44-hectare (109-acre) Gunnar Vingren Ecological Park to accommodate an expressway expansion project.
According to news outlet ((o))eco, this plan could involve expropriating at least four blocks in the Bengui neighbourhood. The project is currently deadlocked due to conflicting stances between the city of Belém, which is opposed to the project, and the state government, which supports it.
At COP28 in Dubai, Pará Governor Barbalho defended the “standing forest” as a priority, yet critics point out the contradiction of this statement amid the construction of the new Avenida Liberdade highway.
“Will we continue to repeat historical errors in resolving a problem to the detriment of environmental quality?” said Ferreira, the biologist. “Between improving traffic flow and conserving biodiversity, we should favour the second option, as there are alternatives to building new avenues, but there is no remedy for the irreversible loss of biodiversity.”
This story was published with permission from Mongabay.com.
