BRAZIL’S TRANS-PURUS REGION: SIMULATING THE IMPACT OF PLANNED HIGHWAYS ASSOCATIATED WITH BR-319 ON AMAZON DEFORESTATION

Despite the Brazilian government’s efforts to combat deforestation, conflicting infrastructure policies, particularly the proposed construction of highways, pose a threat to undesignated public forests (UPFs) in a critical area of Brazilian Amazonia: The Trans-Purus region. This region is currently inaccessible by road and therefore less attractive to land grabbers, but it could evolve into a new deforestation hotspot. We simulate the potential impact of the planned highways on deforestation and illegal land occupation up to 2070 in this region and its surrounding areas. The simulation showed a substantial deforestation with planned highways in the Trans-Purus region, mainly in UPFs, demonstrating the role of highways in facilitating the access of actors from Brazil’s “arc of deforestation” and threatening forests that play a crucial role in biodiversity conservation, water cycling, carbon sequestration, and the survival of local communities. The magnitude of potential impacts implies that government policies on infrastructure need to be rethought.