Road Construction in the Amazon

Amazon Road Construction When thinking about Amazon tropical rainforest, paved roads and highways are unlikely to appear in imagination. Unfortunately, over the past 35 years, road construction has been the main cause of deforestation in the Brazilian basin of the Amazon. In order to expand the borders and economically develop areas that can not be accessed in the country, the Brazilian Government has launched a series of projects aimed at improving infrastructure in the Amazon region.

Because most of the Amazon basin (> 70%) is in Brazil, most of our research concentrates on Amazon in Brazil. Since the late 1950s, many new roads directly connected to the Amazon tropical forest were built to develop the western and northern part of Brazil. Construction of these routes and other incentive measures (eg, ranch, hydropower project, timber mining) is aimed at expanding development and integrating the entire region into the national economy. This plan succeeded when people moved along these large roads, such as 2 million people moved along Belem Brasilia during the first 20 years of construction. Major trunk roads and Amazon forest settlements are not very organized and lead to long-lasting unnoticed deforestation

Service roads are part of a multistage plan to establish new restrictions on access to expressways. Before the highway was built many years later, it was a highway leading to a local company. After completing the highway, ProStreet Road is the main channel for local activities like Greater Houston's Katy Express Way Project (I-10). In some cases, a long-term plan requires a highway in the future, but the design was changed or canceled before the project was completed.

Imazon reuses the same infrastructure to keep track of real-time changes in the Amazon basin - especially emphasis on building a new road in the rain forest. Historically, given the size and remoteness of this terrain, illegal loggers may construct illegal roads and use it for illegal logging for years to be discovered and closed. With the application of Imazone's satellite technology and coordination with the government and the media, logging operations and other intruders may identify, deter and indict perpetrators.