Transcription
Now, as Brazil prepares to host tens of thousands of climate summit delegates later this year, there is visible evidence that the building work is causing deforestation. Tens of thousands of acres of protected forests of the Amazon have been deforested to make way for a new four-lane highway. As our South America correspondent, Ione Wells, now reports:
This is going to be a highway, and this, this is where it's being built, slicing through the Amazon rainforest, protected land until now. Clao Veri made his living from harvesting açaí berries here. Those trees were cut down. We no longer have the income to support our family. Our fear is someone will come here and say we're going to need this area to build a gas station, to build a warehouse that will be used by trucks, and then we will have to leave here. We were born and raised here in this community; then where are we going to go? The government here have made a big deal about this COP summit being in the Amazon, about the need to protect the Amazon, but preparations for the summit have already cut down some of the last remaining protected forest in this area. Scientists fear this could disrupt ecosystems.
This clinic, just meters from the new road, treats wild animals. Most, like their sloth, are injured by humans or cars. We are going to lose an area to release these animals back into the wild, which is the natural environment of these species. It does directly affect the conservation of these animals. Land animals will no longer be able to cross to the other side, too, reducing the areas where they occur.
The state government says the highway is sustainable, important for mobility, and will have solar lights and cycle paths. It's one of many projects to get the city ready to host tens of thousands of people. There's a new city park and conference center, hotels being frantically built, the port preparing to hold cruise ships to sleep more people, the small airport will be more than tripled in size.
For some in the city, this development is welcome. I think it's a good opportunity for many people, for tourism, to show the beauties of the city. I think the works are being done in a very good way. I hope that COP30 leaves a really great legacy for us. We hope that the discussions aren't just on paper but become real actions so that the population in the future will have cleaner air. That is the aim.
But each move here brings winners and losers. The question is whether the environment will come out victorious. Ione Wells, BBC News, in BM.