Road expansion in the Amazon

A study examines tradeoffs tied to road expansion projects in the Amazon. Thousands of kilometers of roads are expected to be constructed or improved in the Amazon over the next 5 years, but the projects’ broad impacts on the region are unclear. Over an evaluation period of 20 years, Thais Vilela, Alfonso Harb, and colleagues examined economic, environmental, and social impacts of 75 proposed road projects that include more than 12,000 kilometers of planned roads in the Amazon regions of Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. The authors estimated that implementing all projects will lead to deforestation of at least 2.4 million hectares–approximately the size of Belize. Further, at least 17% of the projects would result in legal violations related to environmental statuses or indigenous rights. Almost 50% of the projects are expected to result in economic losses, although canceling these projects would avoid a loss of $7.6 billion as well as 1.1 million hectares of deforestation. The authors also identified 18 projects with the lowest social and environmental impacts and found that focusing on them while cutting the other projects would generate $4 billion in net gain and result in less than 10% of projected deforestation. The findings suggest that launching a few carefully chosen projects would be economically sound and mitigate negative impacts on the Amazon, according to the authors.

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Article #19-10853: “A better Amazon road network for people and the environment,” by Thais Vilela et al.

MEDIA CONTACT: Thais Vilela, Conservation Strategy Fund, Washington, DC; tel: 510-809-6441; email:

[email protected]

; Alfonso Malky Harb, Conservation Strategy Fund, La Paz, BOLIVIA; tel: +591-2-272-1925; email:

[email protected]