• The Brazilian environmental agency, Ibama, has granted the preliminary licence for the reconstruction of the BR-319 motorway.
• The motorway connects Porto Velho to Manaus, cutting the Amazon rainforest in two.
• Environmental organisations fear devastating consequences for the planet's green lung.
• President Jair Bolsonaro, by contrast, says he is enthusiastic.

Is there really a need to rebuild a motorway that runs through the very heart of the Brazilian Amazon rainforest? According to the main government environmental agency, the answer is yes. Even if that means inflicting a wound — probably an irreparable one — on our planet's green lung. Ibama (the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources) has granted the preliminary licence for the reconstruction and paving works on a 405-kilometre stretch of the BR-319 motorway running from Porto Velho (capital of the state of Rondônia) to Manaus (capital of Amazonas).

The history of the BR-319 motorway

The BR-319 motorway has a long history. It was opened by the military government in 1973, but before long the dense wilderness of the Brazilian Amazon rainforest reclaimed its space. A maintenance programme launched in 2015 made it partially passable, but only during the dry season and not without difficulty. Now Ibama has approved the feasibility and environmental impact studies for its reconstruction. "The next step is the installation licence, which will allow the works to be put out to tender in accordance with the specifications contained in the plans, programmes and projects approved by Ibama," the official statement reads.

If excavators and bulldozers return to the heart of the primary forest, the most immediate risk is that their activity will overturn an ecosystem already under severe strain from fires and illegal deforestation. Once the motorway is operational, it will be far easier for mining and oil companies to reach areas that have until now been considered extremely remote. Conflicts with indigenous peoples would, in that case, be just around the corner.

A victory for President Jair Bolsonaro

"Brazilians had already grown accustomed to cars and lorries getting stuck on the BR-319, which connects Porto Velho (Rondônia) to Manaus (Amazonas). That era, fortunately, is coming to an end. Ibama has provisionally granted the licence for our initiative to pave the remaining 405 km of motorway, abandoned 30 years ago!" exults the incumbent president Jair Bolsonaro on Twitter, ahead of elections to be held on 2 October 2022.

Jair M. Bolsonaro ✓ @jairbolsonaro

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- Os brasileiros já haviam se acostumado com carros e caminhões atolando na BR319, que liga Porto Velho-RO a Manaus-AM. Esse tempo, felizmente, está chegando ao fim. O IBAMA deu licença prévia à nossa iniciativa de asfaltar os 405 km restantes da rodovia, abandonados há 30 anos!

♥ 39869💬 1599 29 lug 2022 · Apri su X →

The former military officer subtly accuses environmental NGOs of being driven by less than transparent interests. "Many international groups have encouraged this neglect of the region. Many have an interest in keeping the Amazon, with its more than 20 million Brazilian inhabitants, isolated from the rest of our Brazil. The region is also of interest to organised crime, which sees areas where the state struggles to penetrate as an opportunity for theft and drug trafficking. The paving of the BR-319 is not merely an infrastructure issue, but one of national sovereignty and fighting crime."

The voice of those defending the Brazilian Amazon rainforest

The Brazilian branch of Greenpeace believes this is merely the latest demonstration of how far the Bolsonaro administration has succeeded in dismantling Ibama, stripping it of all credibility. Its president Eduardo Bim, appointed in January 2019, was himself involved in an investigation into international smuggling of Brazilian Amazon rainforest timber, as was former Environment Minister Ricardo Salles. The latter, however, was forced to resign: Bim, by contrast, got away with a 90-day suspension from his post.

The very fact that preliminary approval for the works on the BR-319 came so close to the elections is causing great concern among activists at the Observatório BR-319. The decision, they argue, appears to be purely political. And it represents "one of the greatest setbacks in terms of respect for the rights of forest peoples and for democracy," because the authorisation "was issued without a free and informed prior consultation of the populations most vulnerable to the impact of the repaving of the BR-319, of indigenous peoples and of the traditional communities living along the river."