Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has pledged to complete the paving of the BR-319 highway, which would connect the city of Manaus to the rest of Brazil. This would allow ig database illegal loggers and land grabbers to easily access remote and relatively untouched areas of the forest.
One study estimated the project would increase deforestation fivefold by 2030, equivalent to an area larger than the US state of Florida.
The vast area that will be opened west of BR-319 is home to high biodiversity and a rich diversity of indigenous peoples. The potential impacts of allowing the western, central and northern Amazon to be destroyed by this project are of high magnitude, according to a study published in Ambio.
Another concern is a planned state highway (AM-366) that would branch off from BR-319 to the west and pass through the first drilling blocks of the “Solimoes Sedimentary Basin” project, for oil and gas extraction.
The blocks that AM-366 would pass through have already been purchased by the Russian oil company Rosneft, a company that has the potential to influence government authorities to speed up the construction of AM-366.
The initial permit granted Thursday will allow the government to hire companies to pave the larger middle section of the road that is in worse condition than the highway that was originally built in the 1970s. The poor conditions are due to the region's six-month rainy season.
Contractors will draw up plans for the project, but will need another permit to begin construction.
The BR-319 highway will be a disaster for the ecological system, according to the study in Ambio. This highway and its planned secondary roads threaten a part of the Amazon that must be kept in the forest to generate the environmental services that this biologically diverse habitat provides to the local population, the Brazilian population and the rest of the world.
