🛣️ Highway to deforestation hell

The BR-319 highway, connecting the Amazonian cities of Manaus and Porto Velho, is in a state of severe disrepair. Rebuilding and paving it, however, might be a bad idea

Author

Euan Marshall
December 19, 2024 • Reading Time: 3 minutes

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Hello! Welcome back to the Brazil Climate newsletter, brought to you by The Brazilian Report. This week, we tell the story of the BR-319 highway, the source of much disagreement, controversy and environmental risk in Brazil’s Amazon.

If you have any questions about this newsletter, or topics you’d like to see covered in future issues, send me an email at [email protected]

To pave or not to pave? The environmental dilemma behind a major Amazon highway

The majority of the BR-319 highway, which cuts through well-preserved portions of Brazil’s Amazon, is little more than a dirt track. Environmentalists warn of the deforestation risks of rebuilding and paving the road. Photo: Alberto César Araújo/Amazônia Real

The majority of the BR-319 highway, which cuts through well-preserved portions of Brazil’s Amazon, is little more than a dirt track. Environmentalists warn of the deforestation risks of rebuilding and paving the road. Photo: Alberto César Araújo/Amazônia Real

The city of Manaus is a marvel. A metropolis of more than 2 million people, plonked in the middle of Brazil’s Amazon rainforest. Lying on the banks of the hulking Amazon and Negro rivers, it is home to reputable universities, plush shopping malls, a World Cup-standard football stadium and an international airport.

Yet, it has no paved road connections to the rest of Brazil, with regional travel carried out predominantly via boat. And plans to change that, by restoring the controversial BR-319 highway, have come up against intense environmental pushback — and could put the Lula government’s sustainability credentials in check.

BR-319, then and now

Construction of the BR-319 highway was completed in the early 1970s, as part of plans by Brazil’s military dictatorship to open up the Amazon to extractive industries and “integrate” it with the rest of the country.

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