Eight-mile stretch of Amazon forest is felled… to build four-lane highway for COP30 climate summit

An eight-mile stretch of protected Amazon rainforest has been felled to make space for a new four-lane highway in time for the COP30 climate summit.

Drone footage and images have revealed thick dirt lanes cutting through the lush greenery as the Brazilian government prepare for the conference in November.

The road will be used to ease traffic in and out of the city of Belem, which will host a staggering 50,000 people – including world leaders. 

Logs have already been spotted piled high on the sides of the cleared land and diggers have appeared paving over the wetland in the world’s richest biological reservoir.

The state government of Pará had previously shelved plans for the highway, known as Avenida Liberdade, due to environmental concerns. 

However, the project was revived along with other infrastructure plans ahead of COP30. 

Adler Silveira, the state government’s infrastructure secretary, described the highway as an ‘important mobility intervention’ and a ‘sustainable highway,’ but several locals and conservationists have hailed blasted the decision, highlighting the substantial environmental impact.

‘We can have a legacy for the population and, more importantly, serve people for COP30 in the best possible way,’ he said.

The road will be used to ease traffic in and out of the city of Belem, which will host a staggering 50,000 people

The state government of Pará had previously shelved plans for the highway, known as Avenida Liberdade, due to environmental concerns

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (R) and Para Governor Helder Barbalho visit the area of Parque da Cidade, the venue that will host the activities of the 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 30) in Belem

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has defended the project, saying the summit will be ‘a COP in the Amazon, not a COP about the Amazon.’ 

Lula said the conference would highlight the needs of the Amazon and show the world what the federal government has done to protect it.

But the Amazon plays a vital role in absorbing carbon for the world and providing biodiversity, and many say this deforestation contradicts the very purpose of a climate summit. 

Speaking to the BBC, Claudio Verequete, a , who lives around 200m from the highway said the new road has ‘destroyed’ everything.

‘Our harvest has already been cut down. We no longer have that income to support our family,’ he told the news site.

Claudio explained that he has received no compensation from the state government and is worried that the road’s construction will lead to more deforestation.

But there are also fears as the local’s community will not be connected to the major road due to the walls on either side.

‘For us who live on the side of the highway, there will be no benefits. There will be benefits for the trucks that will pass through. If someone gets sick, and needs to go to the centre of Belém, we won’t be able to use it,’ he added. 

The construction comes amid wider environmental challenges in the Amazon.

In August 2024, devastating fires swept across the Amazon, Cerrado savannah, Pantanal wetland, and even Sao Paulo – many of them started deliberately to clear land for deforestation and pasture management.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (C) is pictured before putting fertilizer on a Samauma tree (Ceiba pentandra), typical of the Amazon rainforest

In many parts of the Amazon, disturbed parts of the forest may recover, but not to the same state they were before. Some will become overgrown with bamboo or lianas, which prevent trees from returning

At the same time, the Amazon River plunged to record lows for the second consecutive year, forcing governments to declare states of emergency and distribute food and water to affected communities. 

A key tributary of the river in Brazil fell to its lowest recorded levels.

Climate summits have come under increasing scrutiny for their environmental impact – particularly the use of private jets by world leaders and corporate executives who were accused of ‘blatant hypocrisy’.

At COP28 in Dubai, a staggering 291 private flights were linked to the event, generating an estimated 3,800 tonnes of CO2 – equivalent to the annual emissions of more than 500 people.

Alethea Warrington, head of energy, aviation, and heat at climate action charity Possible, didn’t hold back in her criticism.

‘Travelling by private jet is a horrendous waste of the world’s scarce remaining carbon budget,’ she told The Times. 

‘Each journey produces more emissions in a few hours than the average person emits in an entire year.’

Similar scenes unfolded at COP27 in Egypt, where 36 private jets landed in Sharm el-Sheikh and another 64 flew into Cairo. 

The UK is handing over the baton on the COP summits to Egypt, having hosted the 26th gathering in Glasgow last year

The Gulfstream G650 — one of the most popular models at the summit – burns around 1,893 litres of fuel per hour, producing 23.9 tonnes of CO2 on a five-hour flight.

However, the UK’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy recommends multiplying this by 1.9 to account for non-CO2 emissions at high altitudes –  meaning a single Gulfstream flight to COP27 could have generated a staggering 45.3 tonnes of CO2 equivalent — more than the annual emissions of the average person.

At COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, the trend worsened. 

A shocking 65 private jets landed in the week leading up to the summit – nearly double the number seen at COP28. 

Of those, 45 flights arrived in just two days as the conference got underway.

Warrington blasted the double standards: ‘For CEOs who claim to care about tackling the climate crisis, using a private jet to get to COP shows blatant hypocrisy.’

Despite the backlash, government officials have defended the practice. 

A UK government spokesperson insisted that their delegation’s flight to COP27 was ‘on one of the most carbon-efficient planes of its size in the world’ and that emissions were being offset.

Environmentalists, however, have argued that such reassurances ring hollow when leaders continue to rely on private jets – contradicting the very purpose of the climate summits.