Amazon Highway Sparks Global Outcry Ahead of COP30 Climate Summit

A vast stretch of Amazon rainforest has been bulldozed to make way for a new four-lane highway — just months before world leaders arrive in Brazil for the COP30 United Nations Climate Summit.

The move has ignited global outrage and renewed questions about Brazil’s environmental leadership as it prepares to host the planet’s most important climate talks.

Local media and satellite imagery confirm that roughly 100,000 trees have been felled for the construction of the Avenida Liberdade (“Liberty Avenue”), a 13-kilometer road slicing directly through the Belém Environmental Protection Area (APAB), one of the last remaining urban forest corridors south of Belém, the capital of Pará state.

The highway, lined with red clay and heavy machinery, now cuts a glaring scar through what was once dense green jungle.

Bulldozers and excavators work around the clock as trucks haul debris under the humid Amazon sun — all to ready the city for an estimated 50,000 delegates attending COP30, scheduled for November 10–21, 2025.