Given the vast and challenging terrain, no oversight body has the resources, reach, or capacity to contain the chaos the BR-319 would unleash.
Today, more than 6,000km of illegal side roads already crisscross the region, forming a devastating fishbone pattern that grants unprecedented access to miners, loggers, land grabbers and organised crime.
Fertile
The BR-319 would not just be a road, it would become an artery of destruction, feeding a vast, uncontrolled deforestation machine.
The BR-319 would connect the central Amazon to the AMACRO region, a deforestation hotspot named after the states of Amazonas, Acre, and Rondônia.
Its reconstruction would bring catastrophic consequences, destroying biodiversity by opening one of the richest ecosystems on Earth to exploitation.
It would intensify climate change by releasing vast amounts of stored carbon. It would fuel illegal mining and logging, undermining the rule of law.
It would invade Indigenous territories, violate their rights and put their lives at risk. And it would create a fertile ground for organised crime to flourish.
Habitats
The damage would not be limited to the forest. The ‘flying rivers’, massive air currents that transport moisture from the Amazon to southern Brazil, would be disrupted.
These flying rivers are essential to rainfall patterns. Without them, major cities and agricultural regions will experience crippling droughts.
More than 70 per cent of the rainfall that sustains São Paulo’s Cantareira water system originates from the Amazon.
If BR-319 moves forward, the water security of Brazil’s largest city could be at risk, leading to direct consequences for agriculture and potentially causing a collapse across the country’s economic sectors.
The consequences of the BR-319 would also be measured in human lives. By destroying forest ecosystems and pushing deeper into wildlife habitats, this project creates perfect conditions for new zoonotic diseases to emerge, and increasing the risk of another global pandemic. Malaria cases in the region have already increased by 400 per cent.
Degradation
The spread of Oropouche fever, transmitted by the tiny Culicoides paraense mosquito, known locally as maruim, has been another alarming sign. Between 2022 and 2024, more than 6,000 cases of Oropouche fever were recorded.
These outbreaks originated in the AMACRO region have already spread across Brazil to the state of Espírito Santo, to other countries in South America, and the Caribbean.
According to the UK government, several travel-associated Oropouche cases have been reported in the US, Europe and the UK.
Ferrante warns about the severe biosecurity risks associated with ongoing environmental destruction in the Amazon.
“Deforestation and environmental degradation are already encroaching upon sensitive areas that safeguard unique zoonotic reservoirs,” he said.
Supercharged
“The Oropouche virus lineage now reaching Europe originates from this region. Nevertheless, the Brazilian government is opening a true Pandora’s box of new viruses, bacteria, and other pathogens. The consequences for global biosecurity will be catastrophic.”
If BR-319 goes forward, the health crisis will deepen. The Amazon will become a breeding ground for future pandemics, and Brazil will bear the cost of a preventable catastrophe.
The benefits of BR-319 won’t go to the Indigenous people, whose lands and lives it threatens. There are 69 Indigenous territories and 18,000 Indigenous people along the path of the highway. None of them have been properly consulted, despite protections under ILO Convention 169 and Brazilian law.
Instead, the primary beneficiaries will be oil and gas giants like Petrobras and Rosneft (Russian), mining companies such as Potássio do Brasil (Canadian), and agribusiness conglomerates like JBS.
Legal and illegal mining operations will expand. Livestock farming, which is already responsible for at least 88 per cent of deforestation in the Amazon, will be supercharged.
Extraction
The result will be more forests cleared, more carbon in the atmosphere, and more violence on the ground.
The highway will also strengthen the grip of organised crime. Land grabbing and illegal deforestation are already closely tied to criminal networks in the region. BR-319 would create a corridor of exploitation and conflict.
Some argue that the BR-319 is essential for developing Brazil’s so-called ‘bioeconomy’.
According to the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), the bioeconomy is projected to generate over $7.7 trillion globally by 2030. This concept, however, remains poorly defined and deeply controversial.
With COP30 on the horizon, Brazil is pushing this narrative hard. But what is being sold as a sustainable alternative may just be a new form of extraction.
Ruralista
Under the banner of the bioeconomy, projects include carbon credits, biofuels, timber and non-timber forest products, fishing, biotechnology, tourism, and even virtual platforms.
A bill has been proposed to create a bioeconomy free trade zone (FTZ) in Belém, the host city for COP30. It offers tax incentives, deregulation, and trade privileges. The beneficiaries, once again, will be corporations and elites.
Far from being a solution, the bioeconomy risks becoming another vehicle for greenwashing destruction in the Amazon.
Underlying all this devastation is legislation designed to dismantle Brazil’s environmental protections. Bill 2159/21, known as the ‘devastation bill’, allows companies to self-license their projects without any environmental impact assessment. A simple online form is all it takes.
Backed by the powerful ‘ruralista’ bloc, large landowners and agribusiness interests, this bill paves the way for unregulated expansion in oil and gas, mining, agribusiness, and infrastructure, including the BR-319.
Invalidates
On 17 July, Brazil’s chamber of deputies approved the ‘devastation bill’, which now awaits president Lula’s approval. This marks a significant blow to Brazil’s efforts on environmental justice and climate commitments.
Another law, 14.701/2023, known as the “marco temporal”, redefines Indigenous land rights. It states that Indigenous communities can only claim land if they were in possession of it on October 5, 1988, the day the Brazilian constitution was enacted.
Ferrante said: “Brazil is experiencing the greatest environmental vulnerability in its history.
“This decision aligns with the approval of bill 2159/2021, which eliminates environmental licensing for this type of project, and with the advancement of the so-called ‘timeframe thesis’, which invalidates the recognition of Indigenous lands demarcated after 1988.”
Logic
This cruel logic ignores centuries of displacement and paves the way for violent evictions, granting military police the authority to remove Indigenous people from their own ancestral lands.
The BR-319 is more than just a highway; it’s a symbol of a dangerous choice. It forces us to decide between two futures: one where we protect the Amazon, respect Indigenous rights, and chart a sustainable path forward; and another where we sacrifice it all for short-term profits, political gain, and corporate greed.
The Brazilian government must make a real technical decision, one grounded in science, not politics, because once the BR-319 is paved, there will be no turning back. If we lose the Amazon, we lose the climate, we lose biodiversity, and we lose our collective future.
We must ask: is the destruction of the planet worth a few more kilometres of road? Is this the legacy we want to leave behind to the next generations?
This Author
Monica Piccinini is a regular contributor to The Ecologist and a freelance writer focused on environmental, health and human rights issues.