Brazil has destroyed an eight-mile stretch of protected Amazon rainforest in order to build a new four-lane highway in time for a one-time event — the COP30 climate summit.
The government of socialist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said the road will be used to ease traffic in and out of the city of Belem, which will host 50,000 people — including world leaders, at the climate conference in November.
Tens of thousands of acres of rainforest are being cleared for the highway.
"The eight-mile stretch of new highway — dubbed Avenida Liberdade, or Avenue of Liberty — has gouged a deep gash through a large swath of Amazon rainforest just in time for world leaders to convene to discuss how much they care about the Amazon rainforest," the New York Post noted.
Claudio Verequete, who lives around 200 meters from the new highway, said the road has "destroyed everything."
"Our harvest has already been cut down. We no longer have that income to support our family," Verequete told the BBC.
Verequete said he has received no compensation from the government and is worried that the road's construction will lead to more deforestation.
"For us who live on the side of the highway, there will be no benefits. There will be benefits for the trucks that will pass through. If someone gets sick, and needs to go to the center of Belem, we won't be able to use" the road, he added.
The climate summits have been accused of blatant hypocrisy as world leaders and corporate executives use private jets to fly to the conferences, DailyMail.com reported.
At COP28 in Dubai, 291 private flights were linked to the event, generating an estimated 3,800 tonnes of CO2 - equivalent to the annual emissions of more than 500 people.
Similar scenes unfolded at COP27 in Egypt, where 36 private jets landed in Sharm el-Sheikh and another 64 flew into Cairo.
"The Gulfstream G650 — one of the most popular models at the summit — burns around 1,893 litres of fuel per hour, producing 23.9 tonnes of CO2 on a five-hour flight," the Daily Mail noted.
The UK's Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy recommends multiplying this by 1.9 to account for non-CO2 emissions at high altitudes — meaning a single Gulfstream flight to COP27 could have generated a staggering 45.3 tonnes of CO2 equivalent — more than the annual emissions of the average person.
At COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, the trend worsened. A shocking 65 private jets landed in the week leading up to the summit - nearly double the number seen at COP28. Of those, 45 flights arrived in just two days as the conference got underway.
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