Brazil pushes ahead with Amazon highway upgrade

Brazil’s government disclosed on Wednesday that it will allocate $75 million to upgrade the BR‑319 highway, a route that links the northern states of Amazonas and Rondônia with the rest of the country. The road, inaugurated in 1976 but still largely unpaved, runs alongside the Madeira River and reaches Manaus, the Amazon’s largest city with more than two million residents. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva spoke at a ceremony in Iranduba, a city about 23 miles (37 kilometers) from Manaus, declaring, “From an environmental standpoint, it will be the most modern road in the world,” and adding, “Any foreigner who comes here to weigh in on the climate issue, we will show what we’ve done here.” Environment Minister João Paulo Capobianco accompanied Lula during the announcement.

Protection measures outlined

Officials presented a video outlining a suite of environmental safeguards. The plan calls for continuous monitoring of a 50‑kilometer‑wide corridor on each side of the highway, the installation of inspection checkpoints, the establishment of enforcement‑agency bases, and the creation of new conservation units. A private company is slated to support enforcement activities beginning in 2028. Minister George Santoro said the entire highway would be under contract and operational by the end of June.

NGOs and scientists raise alarm

The Climate Observatory, a Brazil‑based environmental watchdog, filed a lawsuit in 2024 to overturn the 2022 preliminary license for paving the BR‑319 highway. The group argues that officials ignored warnings from Brazil’s own environmental agency and neglected required Indigenous consultation and climate‑impact studies. Executive director Marcio Astrini warned, “If there are no protection measures in place, it just becomes yet another driver of deforestation.” Former environment minister Marina Silva told a Senate hearing last year that deforestation in the BR‑319 area “surged immediately after roadworks were announced,” underscoring the link between new roads and forest loss.

Roads and deforestation: what the research shows

Scientific research consistently shows that new roads accelerate forest clearing in the Amazon. A 2014 study in Biological Conservation reported that 95 % of deforestation occurs within 5.5 kilometers of existing roads. Moreover, the study estimated that each official kilometer of road typically spawns roughly three kilometers of unofficial, illegal side roads, expanding the frontier for land‑grabbing and soy cultivation. Critics point to the period under former President Jair Bolsonaro, when paving the BR‑319 road “nearly doubled land grabbing and deforestation in the area,” as evidence that the current plan could repeat those patterns without robust safeguards.

Legal challenges briefly halted a related bidding process in April, but a higher court overturned the suspension, allowing the government to proceed with the upgrade. The ongoing lawsuit by the Climate Observatory remains pending, and the government’s new protection plan is being scrutinized for whether it meets the legal requirements for Indigenous consultation and environmental impact assessment. If the court finds the measures insufficient, the project could face further injunctions.