Brazil is facing accusations of hypocrisy after cutting down large sections of the Amazon rainforest to construct a road for the upcoming COP30 climate summit, according to The Telegraph. The highway, designed to accommodate tens of thousands of delegates for the UN climate conference, has raised concerns about the country’s commitment to environmental protection.
According to The Telegraph, the Amazon rainforest is credited with absorbing enormous amounts of carbon and hosting extraordinary biodiversity. Locals have said the new road is destroying their livelihoods, while conservationists claimed it would prove a danger to wildlife trying to move through the forest.
According to the BBC, the four-lane highway aims to ease traffic to the city, which will host more than 50,000 people – including world leaders – at the conference in November. The state government touts the highway’s “sustainable” credentials, but some locals and conservationists are outraged at the environmental impact. The Amazon plays a vital role in absorbing carbon for the world and providing biodiversity, and many say this deforestation contradicts the very purpose of a climate summit.
Claudio Verequete lives about 200m from where the road will be. He used to make an income from harvesting acai berries from trees that once occupied the space. “Everything was destroyed,” he told BBC. “Our harvest has already been cut down. We no longer have that income to support our family.”
Meanwhile, the Brazilian president and environment minister say this will be a historic summit because it is “a COP in the Amazon, not a COP about the Amazon”.
The president says the meeting will provide an opportunity to focus on the needs of the Amazon, show the forest to the world, and present what the federal government has done to protect it.