Brazil Takes Controversial Step , Toward Repaving a Highway, Through the Rainforest.
NBC reports that the lower house of Congress in Brazil
has approved a bill that would repave a highway which
cuts through the center of the Amazon rainforest.
Scientists say the easing of environmental licensing
threatens the future of Earth's largest tropical rainforest.
The controversial bill, which would use conservation
funds donated to Brazil to pay for the highway
project, still requires the Senate's approval. .
Those conservation funds include the
$1.3 billion Amazon Fund supported by
the United States and European allies.
According to the bill, donated
conservation funds would be used for the, "recovery, paving and increasing
the capacity of the highway.".
The highway was originally built in the 1970s,
but the project was quickly abandoned. .
In the years since, the 560-mile-long road from
Porto Velho in Rondonia state to Manaus in Amazonas
state has deteriorated into a rutted dirt road.
According to researchers in the Amazon, repaving the road
would trigger a surge of deforestation in Amazonas state,
which is home to much of Brazil's best-preserved rainforest.
According to researchers in the Amazon, repaving the road
would trigger a surge of deforestation in Amazonas state,
which is home to much of Brazil's best-preserved rainforest.
Researchers warn that the repaved
highway will open a new frontier for logging that
could do irreparable damage to the rainforest.
According to the bill, the highway is , “critical infrastructure, indispensable
to national security, requiring
the guarantee of its trafficability.”