Brazil’s environment chief approved paving Amazon highway against own agency’s warnings

Last week, Eduardo Bim, president of environmental agency IBAMA, authorized Brazil’s federal government to begin repaving highway BR-319 between the cities of Manaus, in Amazonas state, and Porto Velho, in neighboring Rondonia, a route which cuts through the most pristine area of the country’s Amazon rainforest. The decision was immediately criticized by environmental groups who say that repaving the route would encourage deforestation.The highway project was originally a key part of a plan by the country’s military dictatorship to develop the wild area and integrate it with the rest of the country. It was officially opened in 1976, but poor maintenance led to its abandonment by 1988. Since then, the road has been only partially usable.As climate NGO Civil society organizations are planning to push for IBAMA’s decision to be canceled in the courts, according to Suely Araujo, a public policy expert at the NGO Climate Observatory.”The license does not even require the installation of inspection posts (along the road). There is no guarantee that deforestation in the region will be controlled once the road is built,” said Araujo in a statement. “As deforestation is the main negative impact associated with paving, the declaration of the viability of the work, which is inherent to all prior licenses, is not duly substantiated. It is a license that must be annulled by the courts,” she added.Brazil’s Amazon rainforest has been deforested by a record amount in the first half of 2022, according to the country’s Space Research Institute (INPE.)Data from INPE satellites shows that 3,750 square kilometers (1,448 square miles) of the world´s largest rainforest were lost in Brazil between January 1 and June 24, the largest area since 2016, when the institute began this type of monitoring.