'It's as if we've learned nothing': alarm over Amazon road project [View all]

[Judi Lynn]

Memories of Brazil’s dictatorship as plan threatens biodiverse home of three indigenous communities

Tom Phillips and Caio Barretto Briso in Rio de Janeiro
Sat 26 Dec 2020 01.00 EST

Brazilian activists have voiced alarm over their government’s plans to bulldoze a 94-mile highway through a biodiverse corner of the Amazon along the border with Peru that is home to at least three indigenous communities.

The planned road is an extension of the BR-364, a 2,700-mile highway that links São Paulo with the Amazon state of Acre, and would connect the town of Cruzeiro do Sul with the Peruvian border town of Pucallpa.

Backers of the “transoceanic” project, who include Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, argue it will boost the economy of this remote region by creating a transport hub through which agricultural products can be shipped to Pacific ports in Peru and on to China.

“This project won’t destroy the forest, it will bring sustainable development to the region by heating up commercial and cultural relations [with Peru],” said Mara Rocha, a centre-right congresswoman from Acre who supports the idea.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/dec/26/alarm-over-amazon-road-project-brazil-bolsonaro-biodoverse-indigenous-communities

Please take a moment to scan google images of irreplaceable fauna, flora in the Serra do Divisor National Park. Not one more square foot of this vital area should be altered:

https://tinyurl.com/y73x466u

Also posted in Environment and energy:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1127142355