Amazon rainforest cut down to build highway for COP climate summit (2025)

Brazil is constructing a four-lane highway through tens of thousands of acres of protected Amazon rainforest to accommodate over 50,000 attendees, including world leaders, at the COP30 climate summit in Belém in November 2025. While the state government claims the road has "sustainable" credentials, local residents and conservationists argue the deforestation contradicts the summit's climate goals and threatens indigenous livelihoods, with some locals like açaí berry harvesters receiving no compensation and fearing further environmental destruction will follow.