Transoceanic Highway Will Link Amazon to the Pacific
Brazil and Peru have announced a $700 million plan for a highway that would link Brazil's Amazon river port of Assis to Peru's Pacific ports of Matarini, Ilo and San Juan, raising concerns over further deforestation in the region. Officials say the main purpose of the 711-mile Transoceanic Highway is to enable farmers in the Brazilian Amazon to efficiently bring agricultural products (like soybeans and cattle) to international markets, but environmentalists fear the road will result in increased destruction of the Amazon rainforest.


Roads linked to deforestation in the Amazon
Recent satellite data fuels speculation that this highway project could result in significant deforestation. Last month, the Brazilian government released figures showing nearly 9,000 square miles of the Amazon have been destroyed this year. The satellite data showed a marked increase in deforestation along the BR-163 road, a highway the government has been paving in an effort to help soy farmers from Mato Grosso get their crops to export markets. Critics need point no further than Brazil's ill-fated Trans-Amazonian highway project of the 1970s to support their concerns.


Proposed road would cut through primary rainforest
Environmentalists fear the Transoceanic Highway would have a similar impact -- the latest proposal have the road running through a primary rainforest in the Madre de Dios province before climbing over the Andes and down to the Pacific coast.

To learn more about deforestation in the Amazon, check out these links:
  • Why is the rainforest being destroyed in Brazilt
  • How to Save the Amazon Rainforest
  • Amazon Deforestation Figures


    • This article was written by Rhett A. Butler [citation]

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