Brazil’s Amazon Rainforest at a Crossroads
TRAIRAO, Brazil (AP) — Night falls in Brazil’s Amazon and two logging trucks without license plates emerge from the jungle. They rumble over dirt roads that lead away from a national forest, carrying trunks of trees hundreds of years old.
After pulling onto a darkened highway, the truckers chug to their turnoff into the woods, where they deliver their ancient cargo. By morning, the trunks are laid out for hewing at the remote sawmill, its corrugated metal roof hardly visible from the highway.
The highway known as BR-163 stretches from soybean fields to a riverside export terminal. The loggers were just south of the road’s juncture with BR-230, known as the Trans-Amazon. Together the highways cover more than 5,000 miles, crossing the world’s fifth-biggest country in the state of Para.
Carved through jungle during Brazil’s military dictatorship in the 1970s, the roads were built to bend nature to man’s will in the vast hinterland. Four decades later, there’s development taking shape, but also worsening deforestation — and locals harbor concerns that progress may pass them by.
Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro, a former Army captain, won last year’s election with support from farmers, truckers and miners by resurrecting the dictatorship-era desire to develop the world’s largest tropical rainforest. But he did so at a different stage of human history, one where scientists recognize the Amazon must remain to suck carbon from the air and help arrest climate change. Some also argue the Amazon, which has lost some 20% of its original forest, is nearing an irreversible tipping point. In that sense, Brazil itself is at a crossroads.
The clock is ticking. Already the Amazon is growing warmer and drier, losing its capacity to recycle water, and the majority may become savannah in 15 to 30 years, said Carlos Nobre, a climate scientist at the University of Sao Paulo.
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In this Nov. 28, 2019 photo, a logging truck without license plates carries the trunk of a giant tree on a dirt road away from Trairao National Forest in Trairao, Para state, Brazil. Night after night, truckers chug along the darkened road to their turn-off into the woods, where they deliver their ancient cargo. By morning, the logs are laid out for hewing at the remote sawmill, its corrugated metal roof hardly visible from the highway. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
In this Nov. 30, 2019 photo, a fragment of Amazon rainforest stands next to soy fields in Belterra, Para state, Brazil. The Amazon, which has lost about 17% of its original forest, is nearing an irreversible tipping point. In that sense, Brazil itself is at a crossroads. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
In this Nov. 24, 2019 photo, Paulo Bezerra, a member of the Munduruku indigenous people, works on his fruit plantation at the Acaizal village in Santarem, Para state Brazil. The 56-year-old indigenous leader says that farmers from Mato Grosso and other states are using tractors to rip down trees near his village and try to intimidate them into silence. "Because of the complaints we make, we have been threatened," said Bezerra. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
In this Nov. 22, 2019 photo, cut logs and wooden boards lie in an area opened by illegal loggers within the Renascer Reserve in the Amazon rainforest in Prainha, Para state, Brazil. This conservation unit is known to have trees with high economic value such as ipe, jatoba and massaranduba. One of the biggest seizure of illegal timbers, in the Brazilian Amazon forest, happened in this reserve in 2010. Those who live in there denounce that illegal logging is still happening. After 2 years without inspection, on last November, agents of a Brazilian environmental agency found several spots of illegal logging in the reserve, but they didn't remove the trees illegally cut. Residents of the unit say there is a big chance of loggers return to take the wood. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
In this Nov. 29. 2019 photo, an otter pelt hangs on the wall behind Dede Diniz in his home in the town of Ruropolis, Para state, Brazil. Diniz remembers the visit of President Emilio Medici, during his military dictatorship, at the time the town was inaugurated. "There was a dream of colonization, of getting land and seeing if here we could have better financial conditions," said Diniz in his home. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
In this Nov. 29, 2019 photo, an image of sacred heart of Jesus hangs on a wall in Dede Diniz's home in the town of Ruropolis, Para state, Brazil, next to an aerial photo of the town. The Trans-Amazon highway and route BR-163 meet in the city of Ruropolis, where the military government promised land to lure people to the planned agricultural village in the 1970s. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
In this Nov. 29, 2019 photo, a tank truck pours water on the street at dusk in Ruropolis, Para state, Brazil. Carved through jungle during Brazil???s military dictatorship in the 1970s, the roads that meet in Ruropolis were built to bend nature to man???s will in the vast hinterland. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
In this Nov. 18, 2019 photo, 24-year-old Donizete carries a heavy sack of watermelons through the water at the edge of the Tapajos river as he unloads a boat with goods to be delivered to the local market in Santarem, Para state, Brazil. The town, at junction of the Tapajos and Amazon rivers, is an important hub where grain is loaded onto barges for a downriver trip that takes days, then poured into ships' holds and dispatched across the world, largely to China. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
In this Nov. 29, 2019 photo, cargo trucks turn off the Trans-Amazon highway, top, onto route BR-163 in Campo Verde, near Itaituba, Para state, Brazil. Carved through jungle during Brazil's military dictatorship in the 1970s, the roads were built to bend nature to man's will in the vast hinterland. Four decades later, there's development taking shape, but also worsening deforestation_ and locals harbor concerns that progress may pass them by. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
In this Nov. 29, 2019 photo, a dead armadillo lies on a dirt road in Campo Verde, near Itaituba, Para state Brazil. The clock is ticking. Already the Amazon is growing warmer and drier, losing its capacity to recycle water, and may become savannah in 15 to 30 years, said Carlos Nobre, a climate scientist at the University of Sao Paulo. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
In this Nov. 25, 2019 photo, highway BR-163 stretches between the Tapajos National Forest, left, and a soy field in Belterra, Para state, Brazil. Carved through jungle during Brazil’s military dictatorship in the 1970s, this highway and BR-230, known as the Trans-Amazon, were built to bend nature to man’s will in the vast hinterland. Four decades later, there’s development taking shape, but also worsening deforestation. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
This Nov. 18, 2019 photo shows boats at dusk in a port at Santarem, Para state, Brazil, at the confluence of the Tapajos and Amazon rivers. The grain export terminal, top left, loads ships with grains, which are then dispatched across the world, largely to China. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
In this Nov. 27, 2019 photo, a woman stands on her stilt house with her dog, watching young boys playing soccer in the Vila Nova neighborhood of Itaituba on the Trans-Amazon highway in Para state, Brazil. The highway, carved through jungle during Brazil's military dictatorship in the 1970s, was built to bend nature to man's will in the vast hinterland. Four decades later, there's development taking shape, but also worsening deforestation, and locals harbor concerns that progress may pass them by. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
In this Nov. 29, 2019 photo, smoke rises from a fire in the Amazon rainforest near route BR-163 and the Trans-Amazon highway in Ruropolis, Para state, Brazil. Official data show Amazon deforestation rose almost 30% in the 12 months through July, to its worst level in 11 years. Para state alone accounted for 40% of the loss, especially along the Trans-Amazon and BR-163 highways. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
In this Nov. 23, 2019 photo, a burned area of the Amazon rainforest is seen in Prainha, Para state, Brazil. Official data show Amazon deforestation rose almost 30% in the 12 months through July, to its worst level in 11 years. Para state alone accounted for 40% of the loss. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
In this Nov. 27, 2019 photo, kids play soccer next to stilt houses at the Vila Nova neighborhood in Itaituba, Para state, Brazil. Carved through jungle during Brazil???s military dictatorship in the 1970s, the roads were built to bend nature to man???s will in the vast hinterland. Four decades later, there???s development taking shape, but also worsening deforestation_ and locals harbor concerns that progress may pass them by.(AP Photo/Leo Correa)
In this Nov. 28, 2019 photo, an old television transmits a Brazilian soap opera in the home of Domingas Rufina, who is a member of a local women's association in Trairao, Para state, Brazil. The 67-year-old is considering moving to another quiet town after a leader of her association was threatened after denouncing illegal logging in the nearby Trairao national forest. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
In this Nov. 28, 2019 photo, Domingas Rufina, a member of the local women's association, poses in her home in Trairao, Para state, Brazil. The 67-year-old is considering a move to another quiet town after a leader of her association was threatened for denouncing the illegal logging in the nearby Trairao national forest. Rufina doesn't want to get mixed up in any conflict. "I don't know how to read and I only know how to write my name, but I am an experienced woman," she says. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
In this Nov. 21, 2019 photo, 10-year-old Kevin performs a somersault in the Uruara river as his friend looks on, at the entrance of the Renascer conservative unit of the Amazon rainforest in Prainha, Para state, Brazil. The clock is ticking. Already the Amazon is growing warmer and drier, losing its capacity to recycle water, and may become savannah in 15 to 30 years, said Carlos Nobre, a climate scientist at the University of Sao Paulo. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
In this Nov. 20, 2019 photo, Valmir Lima de Souza poses with a sickle on his manioc plantation at the Curua-Una region in Santarem, Para state, Brazil. The 60-year-old small farmer, who has been working on this land for 48 years, says people have tried to buy his property, telling him that he has already raised his family and deserves to take a rest. "Man, I am already resting, because I didn't have water and light here, and now I have water and light and I am resting in my piece of land where I'm gonna stay. Making abundance, growing what I want to plant," says Souza. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
In this Nov. 20, 2019 photo, Valmir Lima de Souza shows a twig that was cut by a bug on his property in the Curua-Una region in Santarem, Para state, Brazil. The 60-year-old small farmer says the way the twig was cut by the insect is a signal of good rain coming to the region. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
In this Nov. 22, 2019 photo, the sun lights part of a path opened by illegal loggers in the Renascer Reserve of the Amazon rainforest in Prainha, Para state, Brazil. This area is known to have trees with high economic value such as ipe, jatoba and massaranduba. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
In this Nov. 27, 2019 photo, Antonia Pereira swings on her hammock as she talks with a friend on her stilt house at the Vila Nova neighborhood in Itaituba, Para state, Brazil. She says life was better in the 1980s when people came to the gold mines in the region. Now she survives selling hammocks and cooking street barbecues. Sometimes she can fish from her porch during the season that the Tapajos river floods. "I wish there were more jobs for the young people," she says. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
In this Nov. 27, 2019 photo, a boy runs with a hammer on a high platform that connect houses in the Vila Nova neighborhood in Itaituba, Para state, Brazil. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
In this Nov. 26, 2019 photo, a truck drives on the road in Ruropolis, Para state, Brazil. From Ruropolis, the Trans-Amazon and BR-163 run jointly westward over a bumpy 70 miles before splitting at a little roundabout. During corn and soy harvests, 2,600 trucks pass through each day to and from the nearby Tapajos river. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
In this Nov. 28, 2019 photo, Lauzenir Araujo stands beside his truck after removing a layer of rubber from a damaged tire on route BR-163 near Ruropolis, Para state, Brazil. Araujo, who is hauling a load of manure to a grain plantation in the state of Mato Grosso, says that the old tires tend to explode as the truck can move faster on the newer road. "Eighty percent of your life is on the road," he says. "There is no life. That's why I say, this is for those who like it." (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
In this Nov. 30, 2019 photo, a rooster-tail cicada clings to a tree on the property of Joao Batista Ferreira in Belterra, Para state, Brazil. The area was jungle throughout Ferreira's childhood. Today, his plot is an island of shade and birdsong in the middle of sweeping plantations. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)