REDEFINING PRIORITIES IN INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT IN THE AMAZON

The report highlights a critical gap in the state of Pará, Brazil, where infrastructure planning prioritizes large-scale projects like roads and railroads over essential local services. Using high-resolution data, the authors demonstrate that access to sanitation, healthcare, education, and digital connectivity is extremely low and unequally distributed, with residents in the areas of influence of large projects often facing worse conditions than the state average. The report suggests using compensation payments from large-scale projects to fund these essential local infrastructure gaps.

• Access to sanitation services in Pará is extremely poor and characterized by severe spatial inequality. 52% of households lack connection to the water network, and 69% dispose of sewage improperly, with 21% dumping it directly into waterways.
• There are substantial disparities in access to digital connectivity, health, and education across Pará, with services concentrated in urban centers. Approximately 1.36 million people (16.9% of the population) live 10km or more from a 4G antenna, 1.7 million (21%) live 10km or more from high schools, and 1.13 million (14%) live 10km or more from healthcare centers.
• Local infrastructure is particularly deficient in the areas of influence of large-scale projects. Residents in these zones have worse access to sewage, mobile internet, health facilities, and high schools than the typical state inhabitant.
• The area surrounding the BR-230 project exhibits the most striking infrastructure gaps: over 90% of the population lacks adequate sewage collection, and more than 50% live more than 10km from 4G antennas, healthcare, and high schools.
• The report argues that large-scale infrastructure investments in the Amazon have not historically generated sufficient economic benefits to improve local services, necessitating a redefinition of priorities and the potential use of project compensation payments to fund local infrastructure.

APA

BRAGANÇA, A., & MORAIS, M. (2022). REDEFINING PRIORITIES IN INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT IN THE AMAZON. Climate Policy Initiative. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/INS-Local-Infra-EN.pdf

Chicago

BRAGANÇA, ARTHUR, and MATEUS MORAIS. REDEFINING PRIORITIES IN INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT IN THE AMAZON. Climate Policy Initiative, 2022. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/INS-Local-Infra-EN.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=BRAGANÇA |first1=ARTHUR |last2=MORAIS |first2=MATEUS |title=REDEFINING PRIORITIES IN INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT IN THE AMAZON |publisher=Climate Policy Initiative |date=June 2022 |url=https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/INS-Local-Infra-EN.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{bragana2022redefining, author = {BRAGANÇA, ARTHUR and MORAIS, MATEUS}, title = {{REDEFINING PRIORITIES IN INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT IN THE AMAZON}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2022}, month = jun, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/INS-Local-Infra-EN.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }