Plans to build a railway that would slice South America from east to west, crossing part of the Amazon Rainforest, are advancing with Chinese funding, according to a recent announcement by the Brazilian government. Brazil President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, along with ministers and Chinese officials, including President Xi Jinping, met in Beijing on […]
The latest route follows existing highways in southern Acre, avoiding Indigenous territories and more intact forests.
“Railways cause less impacts than highways. And from the little we know so far, it will not go through any Indigenous territories,” Ivaneide Bandeira, coordinator of the Kanindé Association, a nonprofit organization in Rondônia state, told Mongabay in an audio message. But construction and resulting agricultural expansion may cause negative impacts, she added.