Public radio’s longest-running daily global news program.AboutContactDonateMeet the TeamPrivacyTerms of use©2026 The World from PRXPRX is a 501(c)(3) organization recognized by the IRS: #263347402.Lula to pave highway through untouched part of Brazilian AmazonBrazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva says the government will invest $75 million to pave and improve a highway running through a largely untouched section of the Amazon. That’s fueling concerns about landgrabs leading to deforestation. The World’s Host Carolyn Beeler speaks with Philip Fearnside, a scientist at the National Institute for Research in Amazonia, about the concerns. EnvironmentJune 1, 2026Updated: June 1, 20266:16Vehicles move on an unpaved part of the BR-156 highway that connects the state capital Macapa with the city of Oiapoque, Amapa state, Brazil, March 13, 2026. Asphalt is coming to one of the best-preserved regions of the Brazilian Amazon. At the end of May 2026, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced plans to pave and improve a highway to connect remote northern areas of Brazil with the rest of the country. The announcement has reignited environmental concerns over deforestation in the rainforest. To understand the matter, The World’s Host spoke with Philip Fearnside, a scientist at Brazil’s National Institute for Research in Amazonia (INPA). He said completing the highway is the start of something much bigger.According to him, “when the roads are open, people just move in. And I think for people in the US, it’s just difficult to imagine. But here in the Amazon, people go into these areas and invade the land or claim it, even if they aren’t actually there, and resell it, and it gets deforested. And that’s one of the things that’s going on right now with the BR-319 highway. You have all this area that is claimed by what are called land grabbers here.”Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva speaks during a news conference at the COP30 U.N. Climate Summit, Nov. 19, 2025, in Belem, Brazil. Andre Penner/AP PhotoPhillip explained that “these are big operators that claim big areas of government land, and then they often get titles to it. It used to be always through illegal means. Now they’re more and more using legal pathways to do this, and then they resell it to cattle ranchers, and it gets deforested. And then you also have smaller farmers invading it, and these are also being legalized. And so, that is a vicious circle because the more people get rewarded for invading these areas, the more and more people come and invade more areas, and so forth. It just keeps going.”Philip Fearnside: No, certainly not. Thirty-one miles is 50 kilometers on each side, and that’s just minuscule compared to the area that is being opened up by these state highways. You’re opening up a huge area of Amazon forest deforestation, and that has global impacts. It’s important to understand, too, that it affects people in the United States, as well, because you have a huge stock of carbon in the forest there, and global climate is very near a tipping point where global warming gets out of human control.And a key part of that is exactly this area that’s being opened up for BR-319, because if that area is deforested, it would be much more than enough to push global climate past that tipping point. It also has a huge impact in Brazil because of the water cycling function of the forest. The Amazon forest recycles water. It falls as rain and then it goes back into the atmosphere through the leaves of the trees. And this water vapor is carried to São Paulo, for example. But if you cut down the forest, it’s not recycling the water.Trees line a cleared area known as Nova Conquista or New Conquest, where families are building houses near the center of Oiapoque, Amapa state, Brazil, March 11, 2026.Ernaldo Peres/ AP PhotoParts of this interview have been lightly edited for length and clarity.