Brazil Designates Amazon Reserves as Highway Paving Advances

New sustainable development areas aim to offset impact of BR-319 highway, a route conservationists say will drive deforestation.

The Brazilian government has established four new sustainable development reserves in the Amazon. This action is part of an effort to counter environmental damage expected from the planned full paving of the BR-319 highway, a route that runs through a part of the rainforest that remains largely undisturbed.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed decrees on September 8, which provide protection for over 668,000 hectares (1.65 million acres) of Amazon rainforest. The chosen model for these areas is sustainable-use, allowing current residents to remain on the land and use forest products. According to João Paulo Capobianco, the minister of environment and climate change, the federal government is working to enable the highway’s paving while ensuring environmental protection and encouraging sustainable economic development in the region.

Brazil’s Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation, a federal agency under the environment ministry, will manage the four reserves. The decrees also include buffer zones around three of the largest reserves. These zones add another 109,718 hectares (271,119 acres) under some form of protection, though mining may be permitted in these specific areas.

The BR-319 highway connects Manaus and Porto Velho in Brazil’s northern Amazon. It was constructed in the 1970s during Brazil’s military dictatorship and later fell into disrepair. The highway’s 339-kilometer (211-mile) middle section is frequently impassable during the rainy season, though many still attempt to travel it.

Former president Jair Bolsonaro had promised to repave the BR-319 when he took office in 2019. While the repaving did not occur during his term, speculation regarding the project led to a 144% increase in deforestation between 2019 and 2022. This deforestation often followed a “fishbone” pattern, where smaller roads branch off main routes, each with cleared land around it. Capobianco states that deforestation subsequently dropped 73% between 2022 and 2025, after Bolsonaro’s departure, and an additional 43% by July 2026.

Despite the creation of these protected areas and a reported reduction in deforestation, concerns remain about enforcement on the ground. The region has seen instances of public servants being ambushed and threatened, and environmental agencies being targeted. Suely Araújo, a senior public policy specialist at the Climate Observatory, told Mongabay that creating conservation units alone is not sufficient. She noted that the Chico Mendes Institute has a budget that is far below what is needed for protected areas, and this budget has not increased. Araújo emphasized that there needs to be a clear demonstration of how enforcement will actually happen in the region, which she says has not yet been shown.

For travelers and hosts considering the Amazon, the tension between development and conservation in Brazil means continued uncertainty for the region’s long-term environmental stability.