Protected Rainforest Trees Felled to build COP 30 Road

Tens of thousands of acres of Amazon rainforest trees felled to build an 8 mile four lane highway for COP 30 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 city of Belém, more than 1500 miles away from Rio de Janeiro, will host COP30 from November 10 to 21 later this year.

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.

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.’

To prepare for the influx of crowds for the global event, Brazil has decided the best way to cope is to build a new four-lane highway.

It is also trying to double the airport’s passenger capacity to 14million per year – no small feat to achieve in eight months at a cost of £62million. Actual footfall was less than four million last year.

But it’s not all concrete and deforestation – the federal government is also building a 500,000-square-metre city park, complete with restaurants and a sports complex. That’s half the size of London’s Hyde Park.

Machines are currently working to pave over the thick forest mud to build the new road, which runs straight through the protected forest.

80,000 Hours

That’s a remarkable amount of work hours for a single machine, the Norcar 600 owned by Erkki Rinne is taken well care of, it even has the original Diesel engine.
Kieran Anders Forestry

Kieran Anders is a forestry contractor working in the lake district. His work involves hand cutting and extracting timber using a skidder and tractor-trailer forwarder.
Promoting safety in the workplace

It is not possible to eliminate chain shot, but there are simple steps that can be taken to reduce the risk.
Glasfryn Fencing and Sawmill

Arwel takes great pride in the fact that the mill has no waste whatsoever, “the peelings are used for children’s playgrounds, gardens and for farm animals in barns in the winter and the sawdust has multiple uses in gardens and farms as well.
Keeping Timber Hauliers Safe

Timber hauliers need to encourage young blood in, and also look after the hauliers we have, we need make the sector a safe and positive place to work.

FIND US ON

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.

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.