Brazil Clears Eight Miles of Amazon Rainforest to Host UN Climate Summit

A four-lane highway is under construction through tens of thousands of acres of protected Amazon rainforest to prepare for the COP30 climate summit in Belém, Brazil.

Brazil Clears Eight Miles of Amazon Rainforest to Host UN Climate Summit

Irony in Action: Destroying the Environment to Discuss Saving It

This November, Belém, Brazil, will host the 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP30, an event aimed at addressing global climate issues. To accommodate the 50,000 attendees expected at the summit, Brazil has razed a portion of the Amazon rainforest to construct a four-lane highway, facilitating access to the conference.

The state government of Pará cleared eight miles of rainforest to make way for the highway. The satellite images showing the stark contrast between the untouched jungle and the barren land now prepared for paving.

Forests play a crucial role in mitigating climate change, with the Amazon Rainforest being one of the planet’s most significant carbon sinks. André Aranha Corrêa Do Lago, a seasoned Brazilian diplomat and the lead organizer of COP30, recently underscored the vital role of forests in a letter outlining his vision for the summit.

“When we get together in the Brazilian Amazon in November, we must listen to the latest science and re-evaluate the extraordinary role already played by forests and the people who preserve and rely on them,” Do Lago wrote.

Local residents have already begun to feel the consequences of the deforestation. Claudio Verequete, who previously made a living harvesting açaí berries, has lost access to the trees he depended on. “Our fear is that one day someone will come here and say: ‘Here’s some money. We need this area to build a gas station, or to build a warehouse.’ And then we’ll have to leave,” he told.

The highway now divides the once-continuous forest, disrupting habitats and severing access for both wildlife and indigenous communities. Verequete noted that his village will not even have an onramp, leaving them trapped next to the imposing noise barriers of the highway. Scientists and conservationists have voiced concerns that this new infrastructure project will have devastating effects on the local ecosystem.

The state of Pará has been pushing for a highway to Belém, a city of over two million people, since 2012. Until now, environmental protections have prevented its construction. Ironically, the upcoming climate conference has provided the justification needed to override these protections. The new road will be named Avenida Liberdade, or “Liberty Avenue.”

Avenida Liberdade is only one component of a broader infrastructure overhaul intended to modernize Belém. The state has allocated $81 million to expand the airport and develop a five-million-square-foot park. Several new hotels are under construction, and cruise ships will dock in the city’s port to house attendees who cannot secure hotel accommodations.

The decision to hold COP30 in Belém was deliberate—this marks the first time a UN climate conference will take place in the Amazon, a region critical to regulating Earth’s climate. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has previously campaigned on promises to protect the rainforest, and although deforestation rates slowed under his leadership, they have not ceased entirely. In fact, Lula has backed projects allowing oil companies to conduct exploratory drilling near the Amazon River’s mouth.

“Forests can buy us time in climate action in our rapidly closing window of opportunity,” Do Lago stated in his letter. “If we reverse deforestation and recover what has been lost, we can unlock massive removals of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere while bringing ecosystems back to life.”

His words ring true. Unfortunately, Brazil has just sacrificed eight miles of the Amazon Rainforest to prepare for the very conference dedicated to preventing such destruction.