Brazil Takes Controversial Step , Toward Repaving a Highway, Through the Rainforest.
NBC reports that the lower house of Congress in Brazil has approved a bill that would repave a highway which cuts through the center of the Amazon rainforest.
Scientists say the easing of environmental licensing threatens the future of Earth's largest tropical rainforest.
The controversial bill, which would use conservation funds donated to Brazil to pay for the highway project, still requires the Senate's approval.
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Those conservation funds include the $1.3 billion Amazon Fund supported by the United States and European allies.
According to the bill, donated conservation funds would be used for the, "recovery, paving and increasing the capacity of the highway.".
The highway was originally built in the 1970s, but the project was quickly abandoned.
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In the years since, the 560-mile-long road from Porto Velho in Rondonia state to Manaus in Amazonas state has deteriorated into a rutted dirt road.
According to researchers in the Amazon, repaving the road would trigger a surge of deforestation in Amazonas state, which is home to much of Brazil's best-preserved rainforest.
According to researchers in the Amazon, repaving the road would trigger a surge of deforestation in Amazonas state, which is home to much of Brazil's best-preserved rainforest.
Researchers warn that the repaved highway will open a new frontier for logging that could do irreparable damage to the rainforest.
According to the bill, the highway is , “critical infrastructure, indispensable to national security, requiring the guarantee of its trafficability.”
