The long road to ruin for the Amazon forest - Observer

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Source: The Observer

The long road to ruin for the Amazon forest


$350m plan to pave 600 miles of Brazilian track exacerbates
the conflict between settlers and environmentalists

Alex Bellos in Novo Progresso, Brazil
Sunday April 15, 2007
The Observer

Taking a bus along the BR-163 is an adventure sport. When
it is dry, the ride is an exhilarating slalom between gigantic
potholes. When it is wet, the bus gets stuck in the mud and
the passengers are expected to pull it out by rope.

The 1,100-mile road is the main north-south artery of the
Amazon rainforest. It is also the most controversial road in
Brazil, built in the 1970s to open up the jungle to colonisation
- forgetting, of course, that many indigenous Indians lived
there already. It has become a frontier of deforestation. Now
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has announced that one of
the major projects of his second term, at a cost of $350m, will
be to pave the 600 miles of the road that is still a dirt track.

Roads bring human activity, which has always meant a
plundering of natural resources. Yet Lula believes he can
develop the region without increasing destruction. The stakes
are high, since the area of influence of the BR-163 is a quarter
of the Brazilian Amazon. 'The problem in the past is that the
government has not had presence in the area,' says Muriel
Saragossi, the government's co-ordinator for the Amazon
region. 'We now have an integrated vision.' The 'Sustainable
BR-163 Plan' involves 20 ministries and is Brazil's most
ambitious attempt ever to reconcile growth and conservation.

The road stretches from Cuiaba, near the Bolivian border, to
Santarem on the banks of the Amazon. On the first 450-mile
paved section the rainforest has been transformed into rolling
fields as far as the eye can see. The main crop is soya. Soya
- half of it exported to the EU - is the economic force behind
the road project. ...

-snip-

Read more: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2057399,00.html

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