In Brazil, protected Amazon rainforests were cut down for the sake of holding a climate summit (4 photos)

In their place, a four-lane highway is planned to be built, more than 13 kilometers long, to the city of Belém, where the summit will be held. About 50,000 participants will use it to get to the summit venue.





The road will divide the local rainforest into two separate areas. The authorities of the state of Pará, to which Belém belongs, call the project “sustainable” and promise to build special crossings for animals, bike paths and solar-powered lighting.

However, local residents are criticizing their plans. For example, veterinarian Silvia Sardinha, who rehabilitates and returns injured animals to the wild, believes that the highway will make her work more difficult.

"We will lose the territory where we can release these animals back into their natural habitat. Land animals will no longer be able to cross to the other side, which will reduce the areas where they can live and reproduce," Sardinha explains.



The country's authorities - in particular the president and the minister of the environment of Brazil - call the COP30 summit, for which it was decided to cut down the tropical forest, historic. According to them, the meeting will provide an opportunity to focus on the needs of the Amazon, to show the unique forests to the world and to talk about what the federal government has done to protect them.

But, according to Silvia Sardinha, although such conversations will take place “at a very high level, among businessmen and government officials,” the inhabitants of the Amazon “will not be heard.”

Local communities have already suffered from the project. Claudio Verequette, whose house is 200 meters from the road, used to earn money by picking acai berries from trees. Now, during preparations for construction, all the trees on Verequette’s site have been cut down, and, according to the man, he no longer has anything to support his family with. The Brazilian government has not offered any compensation to local collectors. They fear that after the construction of the road, the urbanization of the forests will continue.

“We are afraid that one day someone will come here and say: ‘Here is some money. We need this territory to build a gas station or build a warehouse.’ And then we will have to leave. We were born and raised here, in this community. Where are we going to go? " says Verkete.





The rainforests are home not only to the indigenous peoples of South America, but also to many species of plants and animals that are found nowhere else. In addition, the rainforests absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide, thereby slowing down the climate crisis.

The Amazon rainforest has suffered from massive deforestation since the 1980s. Over the years, about 17% of its original area has been destroyed.

In 2023, scientists from the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the University of Maryland found that the rate of loss of tropical forests on the planet is 10 football fields per minute. They are destroyed for the sake of pastures for cattle breeding, agriculture and mining. At the same time, scientists noted that the rate of forest loss in Brazil itself in 2023 decreased by 36%. In 2024, the trend continued, and the tropical forests of Brazil were cut down less than in recent years of observation. However, natural fires replaced loggers. Because of them, primary forests of the Amazon suffered - that is, forests not changed by human activity and natural disasters.