Brazil’s Planned Railway To Amazon Draws Fire On Margins Of COP30

Rio De Janeiro: At the UN climate talks in Brazil, indigenous protesters focused on a major complaint: a planned railway that would run almost from London to Berlin and cut through the Amazon rainforest.

For farmers, Ferrograo – meaning Grain Railway – would be a logistics revolution.

Critics say another massive infrastructure project would threaten the Amazon, undermining President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s commitment to the environment.

– What is the idea behind Ferrograo? –

Brazil is the world’s largest exporter of soybeans and corn, most of which are produced in the central state of Mato Grosso.

Currently this cargo travels long distances by trucks to ports in the south or river ports in the north.

For more than a decade, Brazilian governments have been pushing for the construction of a 933-kilometer (580-mile) railway that would connect Sinop in Mato Grosso with the northern river port of Miritituba.

From here, grain can reach the Amazon River and the Atlantic Ocean.

– What do those who support the project say? –

Elisangela Pereira Lopes, technical adviser to CNA, Brazil’s main farmers’ organization, told AFP that the railway was “necessary to guarantee the competitiveness of Brazilian agribusiness.”

He said Mato Grosso, which is responsible for about 32 percent of national grain production, “needs a more efficient way of logistics to keep up with the growth of the sector.”

Lopes said the railway is expected to reduce the logistics cost of grain exports by up to 40 percent, while also reducing road traffic and associated CO2 emissions.

– What do the critics say? –

Mariel Nakane of the Socio-Environmental Institute (ISA) told AFP the railway would impact Indigenous lands and lead to deforestation and land grabbing.

He said the shift by agribusinesses over the past decade to export their goods more cheaply through northern river ports has already transformed the Tapajos River, on which the Miritituba port is located.

“Riverside communities are being pushed out… they can no longer fish in some areas because now there are only ports and barge traffic.

“The aim is to establish the railway and increase the volume carried on this route fivefold.”

Meanwhile, he fears free-for-all in areas already vulnerable to deforestation.

Nakane said Brazil’s current licensing procedures are not sufficient to protect the rainforest and its inhabitants.

He also noted other controversial projects, such as oil exploration near the Amazon River that began in October and plans to pave BR-319, a major highway through the rainforest.

“The government is not capable of doing this right. It is very easy for the government to claim that it is committed to the climate agenda but sweep these controversial projects under the rug.”

– Why did this come up at the COP climate talks? –

With the eyes of the world on Belem during the UN climate summit, indigenous communities like Ferrograo tried to draw attention to their grievances.

Protesters are also angry about a decree Lula signed in August designating major Amazon rivers, including the Tapajos, as a priority for cargo transportation and the expansion of a private port.

“We will not allow this because this is our home, our river, our forest,” said Alessandra Korap, the indigenous leader of the Munduruku people.

“The river is the mother of the fish.”

– What is the current status of the project? –

Brazil’s environmental agency Ibama said in a statement to AFP that “the licensing process for the Ferrograo railway is in the first stage, with the evaluation of its environmental viability.”

But the process was suspended in 2021 by Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes following a constitutional challenge to plans to change the borders of the national park to build a railway.

Moraes allowed the case to continue in 2023, and the court resumed hearing the case last month.

Moraes, a powerful figure who personally led several important investigations in Brazil, voted to allow the project to continue.

But the hearing is currently on pause after another judge asked for more time to analyze the case.