Brazil grants permit to pave highway through heart of Amazon forest
Brazil’s environmental authority on Thursday granted an initial permit that will allow a major highway to be paved through the center of the Amazon rainforest, the minister of infrastructure said, in a move that threatens to increase deforestation.
Right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro on the campaign trail had pledged to repave the road, called BR-319, that would connect the largest Amazon city of Manaus year-round to the rest of Brazil.
The road was originally constructed by Brazil’s military dictatorship in the 1970s but rapidly fell into disrepair in the harsh conditions of the rainforest.
