COP30 and a new highway in the Amazon: the height of irony or a coincidence?

The 30th UN Climate Change Conference (COP30) will be held this year in Belém, Brazil. Although it does not take place until November, preparations are already generating considerable controversy. Part of the Amazon rainforest is being cleared to make way for a new four-lane highway intended to improve access to the city, several international media outlets have reported. According to Reuters, however, Brazilian authorities deny that the project is directly linked to the upcoming conference.

The host city, Belém, is in northern Brazil and is the second-largest metropolis in the Amazon region after Manaus. Government officials and representatives of international organizations, along with scientific experts, activists, lobbyists and other summit participants, will gather there from 10 to 21 November. The city’s infrastructure is expected to be upgraded for the tens of thousands of visitors coming to COP30.

“To ease traffic associated with the summit, a new four-lane highway known as Avenida Liberdade is being built,”the BBC reported last week. The report immediately drew criticism from the public, local residents and environmental organizations. The Economic Times, for example, called the highway’s construction “the height of irony.”

It is a fact that the project was approved on 15 June last year, when construction was officially launched. The highway is expected to be 13.3 kilometres long and provide an alternative to existing roads, which carry around 100 000 vehicles a day. However, discussions about its construction date back to 2012.

Different media portrayals

The BBC links the project to preparations for COP30 based on comments by Adler Silveira, the state secretary for infrastructure. “Adler Silveira listed this highway as one of 30 projects being carried out in the city to ‘prepare’ and ‘modernize’ it, ‘so that we can leave a legacy for residents and, above all, serve the people as well as possible for COP30,’” the BBC wrote.

Reuters disputes this connection, although it was unable to obtain a comment from the secretary. According to its findings, the first preparatory work on the construction began in 2020, before Belém was selected to host COP30. The project also did not receive federal funding as part of Brazil’s preparations for the summit.

For completeness, Brazilian media quoted Silveira last August as saying: “We are committed to moving the work forward while respecting environmental legislation and protecting local fauna and flora.” The secretary also said the avenue would have 34 wildlife crossings to ensure the safety of animals living in the area and prevent them from accessing the highway.

“This project will be completely fenced off to protect native vegetation, preserve the surrounding ecosystem and prevent users from accessing areas bordering the highway,” Silveira added.

It is interesting to see how differently various media outlets interpret the situation. While some sources directly link the highway’s construction to preparations for COP30, others say it is a long-planned project with no direct connection to the summit. The conflicting claims raise further questions about the transparency of the process and the Brazilian authorities’ true intentions.

Regardless of whether there is a direct connection between the highway’s construction and the conference, the heart of the problem remains the same. Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest is a serious environmental issue that contrasts with the climate summit’s message. This paradox only underscores the criticism surrounding the event’s impacts, including the carbon footprint of tens of thousands of participants flying into the region on private jets.