Belém, Brazil, has welcomed climate change activists, journalists, and other high-profile guests for the COP30 climate summit, which began on Monday. Ironically, a multi-lane highway has been built to ferry all of them to Belem by cutting down 100,000 trees in the Amazon forest spread over a 12-kilometre area. US President Donald Trump also cited recently how a horrible thing has been done to the forest. “They ripped the hell out of the Rainforest of Brazil to build a four-lane highway for Environmentalists to travel. It’s become a big scandal!” Trump posted on Truth Social on Sunday. Trump is not attending the conference as White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers says the president would “not jeopardise our country’s economic and national security to pursue vague climate goals that are killing other countries.” California Governor Gavin Newsom and New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, are in Brazil for COP30.
People lashed out at the irony of cutting down trees for a climate conference
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It’s strange how the authorities were perfectly fine with cutting down hundreds of thousands of trees for a climate conference where leaders are gathering to talk about deforestation. Activists and netizens are enraged by the act, slamming those responsible for clearing such a huge area of the Amazon rainforest. Canadian climate activist Mike Hudema wrote on X, “You can’t be a climate leader if you’re cutting down one of the world’s greatest climate solutions to do it.” Climate change has been a major talking point, and several studies note that the world has already crossed the 1.5°C global warming limit for the first time on an annual basis. The Amazon is seen as the answer to Earth’s climate problems, but corruption and illegal activities have led to a large portion of it being cut down.
Amazon is crucial for the environment and helps reduce global warming
The latest move has angered everyone, as experts had flagged that Amazon could not afford to lose any more trees. If this happened, then billions of tons of stored carbon would be released into the air, making climate change much worse. Researchers Thomas Lovejoy and Carlos Nobre wrote in a study in Science Advances that if 20 to 25 per cent of the Amazon were cut down, it would turn dry and grassy due to a lack of enough rain.
An X user pointed out the irony of the COP30 and the cutting down of trees. “If they truly saw climate change as an imminent catastrophe, would they destroy the lungs of the planet for their own convenience?” they wrote. The highway was suggested by the Brazilian state government of Para more than 10 years ago. Environmentalists came out against i,t and this led to it being cancelled back then. But the COP30 summit once again led politicians to back it, along with several hotels and airport expansion. They claim that the highway is sustainable because of the solar-powered LED lighting. 30 wildlife crossings, protective fencing for vegetation, and bicycle lanes.