Roadmap for Sustainable Infrastructure in the Amazon

The Climate Policy Initiative (CPI/PUC-Rio) report outlines a roadmap to make land transportation infrastructure in the Brazilian Amazon more sustainable. It identifies a strong link between road development and deforestation, noting that 95% of deforestation occurred within 5.5 km of roads until 2006. The report criticizes the current decision-making process for its lack of linearity and transparency, noting that 57% of primary documents for ten analyzed federal concessions were unavailable. Key recommendations include introducing a pre-feasibility phase, adopting a 'market access' approach to define indirect areas of influence, and establishing a single, georeferenced public database for infrastructure projects to better protect indigenous lands and conservation units.

• Land transport infrastructure is a primary driver of deforestation in the Amazon. Data indicates that until 2006, approximately 95% of deforestation occurred within 5.5 km of a road. In the state of Pará, planned federal investments including the Ferrogrão railroad and highways BR-155/158, BR-163/230/MT/PA, and BR-230/PA have the potential to cause 6,989 km² of deforestation over a thirty-year period.
• The current decision-making process for infrastructure projects lacks linearity and clear competencies, often resulting in ineffective sequencing. For instance, projects may undergo bidding before completing environmental impact assessments (EIA) or Technical, Economic, and Environmental Feasibility Studies (EVTEA). CPI/PUC-Rio recommends explicitly defining the order of steps and introducing a pre-feasibility phase to analyze socio-environmental complexity and territorial governance before the EVTEA is conducted.
• There is a significant lack of coordination and oversight in the approval of feasibility studies. A study of 10 federal concessions in the Amazon (5 railroads and 5 highways) found that either no council decision existed or none was available for the granting of prior approval for feasibility studies, which is the formal competency of the Investment Partnership Program (PPI) council. This leads to inconsistencies that are only identified late by the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU), causing delays and wasted resources.
• Socio-environmental studies (EVTEA and EIA) frequently suffer from poor quality and non-compliance. CPI/PUC-Rio found that half of the analyzed EVTEAs did not comply with their own terms of reference, and none of the analyzed EIAs completely complied with theirs. Furthermore, these studies often fail to include socio-environmental components cited as essential by international best practice guidelines.
• The method for defining the 'indirect area of influence' for projects is currently imprecise, often relying on simple buffers. CPI/PUC-Rio proposes a 'market access' approach to better estimate areas economically affected by a project and how these dynamics drive deforestation. In the case of the Ferrogrão railroad, the indirect area of influence is significantly smaller when using buffers compared to the market access approach, which alters predicted deforestation and carbon emission impacts.
• Infrastructure planning in Brazil is characterized by a severe lack of transparency and fragmented data. An analysis of ten federal rail and road concessions in the Amazon revealed that 57% of primary documents and information were unavailable or non-existent. Researchers were unable to obtain a single EVTEA approval despite requests under the Access to Information Law. The report recommends the creation of a single publicly available database and a Geographic Information System (GIS) to track projects and their impacts on indigenous lands, conservation units, and traditional communities.

APA

Climate Policy Initiative (2022). Roadmap for Sustainable Infrastructure in the Amazon. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/roadmap-for-sustainable-infrastructure-in-the-amazon/

Chicago

Climate Policy Initiative. Roadmap for Sustainable Infrastructure in the Amazon. 2022. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/roadmap-for-sustainable-infrastructure-in-the-amazon/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate Policy Initiative |title=Roadmap for Sustainable Infrastructure in the Amazon |date=4 July 2022 |url=https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/roadmap-for-sustainable-infrastructure-in-the-amazon/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{climatepolicyinitiative2022roadmap, author = {{Climate Policy Initiative}}, title = {{Roadmap for Sustainable Infrastructure in the Amazon}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2022}, month = jul, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/roadmap-for-sustainable-infrastructure-in-the-amazon/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }