Within the Amazon:

1
Within the Amazon The Impact of Roads on
Brazils Environmental, Political, Social and
Economic Future
By
Sarah Barjum
Kate Heller
Dani Krumholz
2
Objective
To what extent have roads shaped the present
state of the Amazon? And with the continued trend
of road building throughout this rainforest, what
will be the long-term political, social, economic
and environmental impacts?
3
Avança Brasil What is it?

• In 2000 the Brazilian government created the
  latest plan which aims to develop roads,
  railways, waterways and hydroelectric dams in the
  Brazilian Amazon region. It is a package of 338
  projects throughout Brazil the portion of the
  plan to be carried out in Brazil's Legal Amazon
  region totals US 43 billion over 8 years, US20
  billion. Called for paving an additional 7,500 km
  of highways in Amazonia.The scale of the project
  could have global impacts as a huge amount of the
  world's biodiversity may be lost.

http//philip.inpa.gov.br/publ_livres/Preprints/20
02/Seminário20Nacional-em-2-w20figs_arquivos/ima
ge004.jpg
4
A Brief History

• Many analysts believe that Avança Brasil owes its
  origins to the IMF restructuring of Brazil in the
  late 1990s. Mandates included increasing Brazil's
  export earnings and attracting more foreign
  investments'. Another, was for Brazil to
  jump-start its construction industry. It is
  expected that Avança Brasil will certainly do
  that.

5
Why build roads?

• Fuelled by the demand for cheap supplies of
  mahogany and other tropical timbers .
• When contractors build roads into forest-rich
  regions, the improved access to urban markets
  sparks logging and land clearing along the roads.
  When contractors pave dirt roads, access improves
  again, so landowners clear more forest, and the
  extent of cultivated land expands close to the
  road.
• The Brazilian government argues that the rising
  population needs land to improve their quality of
  life, and the country needs to make money from
  natural resources to industrialize and to pay off
  foreign debt.

6
Where are the roads?

• The roads to be paved include the following
• BR-163 between the Para-Mato Grosso Border and
  Santarem
• BR-364 from Porto Velho to Rio Branco to Cruzeiro
  do Sul on the
• Peru Border
• BR-319 between Porto Velho and Manaus
• BR-317 from Rio Branco to Assis Brasil on the
  Peru border
• BR-230 (Trans-Amazon Highway) from Maraba to
  Itaituba
• BR-156 from Macapa to the Border with Guyana

http//www.geog.ubc.ca/courses/klink/g470/class02/
cjtruema/results.html
7
What will this do to the Amazon?

• William Laurance, of the Smithsonian tropical
  research institute in Panama, said "Once a road
  or highway is built, a Pandora's box is opened
  which is almost impossible for a government to
  control. Once you build a road into a pristine
  forest you start an inevitable process of illegal
  colonization, logging, land-clearing and forest
  destruction.
• Presented scenarios for the Amazon suggested
  that, fully implemented, Avança Brasil would lead
  to the loss of 28 percent of the forest by 2020
  if "optimistic" and a loss of 42 percent if "non
  optimistic.
• However, the Avanca Brasil plan will increase
  this rate of loss by between 14 percent and 25
  percent each year, according to the study.

http//www.geog.ubc.ca/courses/klink/g470/class02/
cjtruema/results.html
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The current and future impacts of roads in the
Amazon

• This project focuses on the building and/or
  paving of existing roads that will criss-cross
  the Amazon, leading to fragmentation, increased
  fire risk, deforestation and encroachment onto
  traditional indigenous lands
• These road networks will effectively fragment the
  most dense and remote areas of the Amazon
  Rainforest and leave it vulnerable to destruction
  through fire.
• Roads lead to fragmentation of forest lands and
  the drying out of edges of forest. In seasons of
  reduced rainfall or drought, or in El Nino years,
  breaks in the forest canopy will result in more
  radiation being absorbed and drier soil. This is
  a positive feedback cycle leading to larger and
  larger areas of flammable forest.
• In addition, new migrants arriving on the road
  will increase wildfire concerns if they burn
  their land to clear it.
• With the improved access that comes with an
  improved road system, the Amazon will face
  challenges coming from ther resouce extraction
  industry. Greenpeace estimates that 80 of Amazon
  logging is illegal. The spatial distribution of
  saw mills and the output of those mills and
  spatially correlated to the location of paved
  roads.
• Will allow for easier transportation routes
  between cities and ports in the area.
• New roads increase access for new migrants and
  increase the amount of land available for
  colonization. Accordingly, highway construction
  in the Amazon over the last 20 years has resulted
  in considerable land conversion from tropical
  forests to farming. A population increase of 330
  has been largely responsible for the
  deforestation in Mato Grosso and Rondonia

9
Overview of the Immediate Environmental Impacts
of Roads

• Largest threat is the ever-increasing
  deforestation
• - Local importance of development to provide
  for the population
• - Difficulty of regulation of roads
• Rate of loss 2 million hectares/year
• Road-caused deforestation likely to increase
  surface temperatures and change rainfall
• Deforestation poses huge threats to survival of
  wildlife
• Highways and roads determined to be strongest
  cause of deforestation (greater than climate
  factors, rural-population density, and soil
  factors)

10
The Convergence of Two Roads in the Amazon
http//images.wildmadagascar.org/pictures/andasibe
-Mantady/mantady_forest_road0093.jpg
11
Deforestation and CO2

• Amazon contains 12 of world carbon reservesà
  absorbs a lot of earths carbon and gives off a
  lot of oxygen
• In converting the forest into agriculture,
  grasslands, or simply destroying it, world CO2
  concentrations would rise by 16-36 ppm
• Tropical land temperature could potentially
  increase between 2C and 8C, decreasing the
  forests productivity
• Average global temperatures are likely to rise by
  0.1C to 0.3C
• One scenario predicts eastern Amazon to become a
  permanent El Niño where forests replaced by
  savannas
• Although it is difficult to quantify the threat
  of atmospheric change, it is clear that average
  tree life expectancy will decline and carbon
  cycle will be altered à grave consequences for
  the Amazons ecology à threats to survival

http//www.geog.ubc.ca/courses/klink/g470/class02/
cjtruema/results.html
12
Impacts of Roads on Wildlife

• Roads have not only caused deforestation, but
  also fragmentation, both of which are harmful to
  animals and plants
• Roads ( power lines) or narrow, linear
  clearings, have 3 major negative effects
• 1) Creation of edge effects
• 2) Promotion of invasive species
• 3) Increase of human disturbances and hunting
• A population of understory birds were used in a
  2-year study to assess environmental effects of
  roads on wildlife
• Study Conclusions roads highly impede the rate
  of bird movement
• - edge avoidance birds avoided area near
  roads
• - gap avoidance birds rarely went on the
  cleared roads either
• Roads could have even graver consequences for
  less mobile species
• Roads have the potential to not only divide
  populations into smaller ones, but in doing so
  they increase species vulnerability to decreased
  genetic variation and thus make local populations
  extinct

13

• Environmental Impacts of Avança Brasil
• 2 models used to predict future of Amazon
• optimistic (top image)
• nonoptomistic (bottom)
• Models show spatial distribution of land ranging
  from heavily degraded to pristine forest
• Optimistic scenario assumes protected areas are
  less likely to be degraded and that degraded
  areas are more localized
• Both models show the dramatic destruction of
  forest over the next 20 years
• Highest destruction in southeast
• Future Predictions
• Optimistic ? total of 28 loss of original forest
  by 2020
• Nonoptimistic ? total of 42 loss of original
  forest by 2020

http//lba.cptec.inpe.br/publications/Laurance_eta
l_2001.pdf
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Avança Brasil
(Advance Brazil)
Social, Economic and Political Expectations of
New Roads

• Increased available land
• New access into pristine, previously undisturbed
  forests
• Onset of new agriculture
• Lower transportation time (as opposed to barges
  and ships)
• Increased capital/ Economic development

http//www.flem.org.br/iflem/Recursos/Biblioteca/I
mages/2001/04/liv20010405-00Avança.jpg
15
The Reality of Roads
Brazils National Bank for Economic and Social
Development (BNDES), which promotes
transportation infrastructure development, has
published transportation cost figures that
directly contradict the political discourse
promoting the highway project.
(Fearnside-BR-319, 712)
-Roads facilitate spread of diseases -No economic
improvement -Large drops in price of rice,
soybeans and beef -The Brazilian Real (form of
currency) is extremely low compared to the US
dollar -Freight by ship much more energy and cost
efficient
http//www.latin-focus.com/content/countries/bra_g
ifs/braexchg.gif
16
Projects initiated before the studies that
examine benefits and risks are performed
Faults of the Avança Brasil Plan
Corruption within Avança Brasil committee
Tendency to ignore unfavorable information
Discourse regarding the highway systematically
overestimates the highways benefits and
underestimates its impacts. (Fearnside-BR-319,
715)
Abandonment of commitment to biological reserves,
Amerindian reserves, environmental preservation
Sole consideration of primary impacts of roads/
Ignorance towards human impacts
The decision to build or not to build a highway
is made by government officials, in contrast to
the thousands of largely uncontrollable
individual decisions made by far-flung squatters,
speculations, and others once a highway is
built. (Fearnside-Deforestation, 218)
http//www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0701/featur
e1/images/ft_hdr.1.jpg
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Human Impacts as a Result of Road Construction
Soybeans
Logging
Migration of the landless
Cattle Ranching
http//www.rainforestrelief.org/contentimages/Amaz
on_Logging.JPG
http//assets.panda.org/img/108416_amazon_agricult
ure1_50759.jpg
http//www.whrc.org/southamerica/images/cows1_300w
.jpg
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Linking Population Migration and Deforestation
Roads facilitate entry of settlers whose land
claims (established by deforestation) justify
building more roads. (Feanside-Deforestation,
214)
Roads
Colonist Turnover



Agricultural Profitability
()
Positive feedback loop


Clearing Per Colonist
Population

Deforestation


Causal loop diagram adapted from Deforestation
and International Economic Development Projects
in Brazilian Amazonia by Philip M. Fearnside
19
So, what are the main problems with roads?
Misplaced Intentions
Loose Enforcement and Ineffective Regulation
Projects in Amazonia are often undertaken to
alleviate social problems outside the region,
especially by absorbing migrants who leave
southern and northeastern Brazil because of
population growth, agricultural transformation,
and land tenure concentration. (Fearnside-
Deforestation, 214)
Avanca Brasil proponents emphasize the existence
of federal and state environmental agencies,
police, etc., giving the impression that the
process of land occupation and deforestation is
orderly and controlled in Amazonia. This is very
misleading, as much of this activity occurs
illegally. Enforcement of the regulations that
exist on paper is a tremendous problem at the
frontier. (Fearnside-Avanca, 738)
Symbolic Actions
Symbolic actions include announcements of
grandiose plans that are never to be executed,
and undertaking visible environmental measures
that are either inherently ineffective as
solutions to the problems created by the
developmental projects in questions, or are
carried out on a merely token scale.
(Fearnside-Deforestation, 219)
20
Are the benefits worth the costs?
21
In Conclusion What needs to be done to change
the state and status of road building and
encourage positive growth?
Realize
-The need for long-term solutions ex. Migration
and squatting do not satisfy the lack of
employment -The unsustainability of logging,
cattle ranching, soybean production,
deforestation
Implement Change
-Unbiased reports -The need to evaluate before
implementing -Assess the interrelatedness of
economic, social political and environmental
issues -Weigh the impacts as well as
benefits -Find sustainable solutions
22
Sources

• Amzonia Jornal do Commercio. As many as
  173,000km of roadways are illegal. 2007.
  lthttp//www.amazonia.org.br/english/noticias/not
  icia.cfm?id238029gt (25 March 2007).
• Connor, Steve. A Super-road spells death for
  Amazon forest.lthttp//www.rainforests.net/2020rep
  ort.htmlgt (25 March 2007).
• Fearnside, Philip M. (2002) Avanca Brasil
  Environmental and Social Consequences of Brazils
  Planned Infrastructure in Amazonia.
  Environmental Management 30 (6), 735-747.
• Fearnside, Philip M. (1987) Deforestation and
  International Economic Development Projects in
  Brazilian Amazonia. Conservation Biology 1 (3),
  214-221.
• Fearnside, Philip M. and Paulo Mauricio Lima de
  Alencastro Graca. (2006 BR-319 Brazils
  Manaus-Porto Velho Highway and the Potential
  Impact of Linking the Arc of Deforestation to
  Central Amazonia. Environmental Management 38,
  705-716.
• Laurance, Susan G. W., Philip C. Stouffer,
  William F. Laurance (2004) Effects of Road
  Clearings on Movement Patterns of Understory
  Rainforest Birds in Central Amazonia.
  Conservation Biology 18 (4), 10991109.
• Laurance, William F. Ana K. M Albernaz, Götz
  Schroth, Philip M Fearnside, Scott Bergen,
  Eduardo M Venticinque, Carlos Da Costa (2002)
  Predictors of deforestation in the Brazilian
  Amazon. Journal of Biogeography 29 (5-6),
  737748.
• Laurance, William F. Mark A. Cochrane, Scott
  Bergen, Philip M. Fearnside, Patricia Delamônica,
  Christopher Barber, Sammya D'Angelo, Tito
  Fernandes. The Future of the Brazilian Amazon.
  Science 19 January 2001 Vol. 291. no. 5503, pp.
  438 - 439.
• London, Mark and Brian Kelly. 2007. The Last
  Forest The Amazon in the Age of Globalization.
  Random House, New York.
• Maslin, Mark, Yadvinder Malhi, Oliver Phillips,
  Sharon Cowling (2005) New views on an old forest
  assessing the longevity, resilience and future
  of the Amazon rainforest. Transactions of the
  Institute of British Geographers 30 (4),
  477499.
• Pfaff, Alexander, Juan Robalino, Robert Walker,
  Steven Aldrich, Marcellus Caldas, Eustaquio Reis,
  Stephen Perz, Claudio Bohrer, Eugenio
  Arima, William Laurance, Kathryn Kirby (2007)
  ROAD INVESTMENTS, SPATIAL SPILLOVERS, AND
  DEFORESTATION IN THE BRAZILIAN AMAZON. Journal
  of Regional Science 47 (1), 109123.
• Trueman, Chris. Building Highways Across the
  Brazilian Amazon. lthttp//www.geog.ubc.ca/cou
  rses/klink/g470/class02/cjtruema/gt (25 March
  2007).
• Wallace, Scott. January 2007. Last of the Amazon.
  National Geographic Magazine. 211 (1) 40-71.