Hacking through rainforest the summit of irony

IT’S as if Alcoholics Anonymous were to celebrate its AGM with a monster booze party. The port city of Belém, in Brazil, is to host 50000 visitors in November, according to the BBC, for the COP 30 Climate Change Summit. A new four-lane highway cutting through the protected Amazon rainforest is being built for the summit. The state government touts the highway’s sustainability creden- tials, but some locals and conserva- tionists are outraged at the environ- mental impact.

- John Dryden

The Amazon plays a vital role in absorbing carbon dioxide for the world and providing biodiversity, and many say this deforestation contra- dicts the very purpose of a climate summit. COP must surely have the world’s top climate scientists on board. One wonders, have they been fully consulted?

Along the partially built road, lush rainforest towers on either side. Logs are piled high in the cleared land which stretches more than 13km through the rainforest into Belém. Forest dwellers who used to harvest natural fruit for a living have now lost their source of income. A worry is that the road will lead to more deforestation. It leaves two disconnected areas of protected forest. Scientists are concerned it will fragment the ecosystem and disrupt the movement of wildlife.