"Amazon Rainforest Trees Cut Down To Build Road For Climate Summit"

Tens of thousands of acres of protected Amazon rainforest are being cut down to build a four-lane highway for the COP30 climate summit.

The highway, which cuts more than 13 km through the rainforest into the Brazilian city of Belém, is being constructed to ease traffic for the conference, which will host over 50,000 attendees, including world leaders, in November. Logs are already piled high along the cleared land, and diggers are paving over wetland in the protected area.

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.”