When Brazils President Lula began his second term in January, he immediately announced massive investment in the countrys infrastructure. One of the plans high profile projects is to finish paving over the countrys most controversial road the BR-163.
Over 1000 miles long, the road starts in the centre of the South American continent and ends on the banks of the Amazon River.
For almost two-thirds of its length the road is a muddy track that cuts through the rainforest.
Lula says his government can develop the road AND preserve the environment.
Alex Bellos travelled the route to ask if this was an impossible dream.
MUSIC
Eu Tambem Quero MocotoBy Erlon ChavesPolygram Brasil
COMMENTARY
This is Cuiaba , a city of half a million people and the CAPITAL of Brazils NEW agricultural heartland. It is also the beginning/ of the most controversial road in Brazil
COMMENTARY The BR 163
COMMENTARY
The Brazilian dictatorship built this road, in the 1970s. Their intention was to populate the rainforest and exploit its resources - under the slogan land without people for people without land.Ignoring the tens of thousands of indigenous Indians who were there already.But the road was never finished and now 30 years after it was first started, President Lula has promised to finish the job.
PTC
Ive been on the bus for about 6 hours and we are 250 miles from Cuiba, about 30- years ago this would have been where the Amazon started but now there is just fields, maize especially soya.
COMMENTARY
The soya boom has consolidated Brazil as an agricultural superpower.But the farmers live with huge logistical problems.Only the first 450 miles of the road is paved so at present the crops have to take a huge detour to get to their markets.
MUSIC
Eu Tambem Quero MocotoBy Erlon ChavesPolygram Brasil
COMMENTARY
Which is why Soya farmers like Nelson PIccoli are campaigning for the road to be paved all the way to the amazon river.
ASTONNELSON PICCOLI
Soya farmer
IV NELSON PICCOLI
The port of Santarem is the most viable exit for what we produce here.We are going to be adding to the value of what we produce between 5 to 6 reais a bag. And also everything we need to produce, everything we need to plant the soya, most of it is imported, and that will also be cheaper.
COMMENTARY
The rapid growth of soya in this region half of which is exported to the EU - has been blamed as a principal cause of recent deforestation of the Amazon
IV NELSON PICCOLI
Here we are being blamed by the whole world, even by our own government, who instead of defending us, instead of saying we generate wealth, blame us as destroyers. We did not destroy this region. We transformed it to agricultural production.What you are seeing here is how we are supporting the human race. You cannot survive without eating food.
MUSIC
Eu Tambem Quero MocotoBy Erlon ChavesPolygram Brasil
COMMENTARY
Soya may be feeding the world, but at a high cost to the environment. Where there are farms, industry and towns soon follow.
COMMENTARY
Two hundred miles further north is Guarantã do Norte, a town first settled by wildcat goldminers.
COMMENTARY
The gold rush is long over but like contestants in Scrapheap Challenge, locals have found another use for the mining pumps left behind.
COMMENTARY
Guarantã has the last office of Brazils environmental protection agency for 400 miles.Márcio da Costa and his 4 staff are the frontline soldiers protecting the rainforest against illegal loggers. Its a dangerous job.
ASTONMÁRCIO DA COSTA IBAMA, Guarantã do Norte
MÁRCIO DA COSTA IV
Once I was taking part in an operation and a lorry tried to run me over. I had to jump out the way, but we managed to catch him.
COMMENTARY
Márcio shows me on a satellite map how development has in the past brought devastation.
MÁRCIO DA COSTA IV
With the paving, the tendency is that you will have more deforestation.It opens the possibility of new side roads being opened up and deforestation will move into the more preserved areas.
COMMENTARY
These new side roads can be clearly seen from satellite imagery, where they have a distinctive fishbone pattern.Márcios challenges are a lack of money and staff, an immense area to protect but, he says the biggest problem is one of attitude.
MÁRCIO DA COSTA IV
The people who came here, came to conquer and destroy the land, the economy here is based on wood and gold the cultural thing is very strong and needs to be ended.
COMMENTARY
Márcio has managed to find an unlikely ally in saving the rainforest the timber industry. He took me to a local sawmill, where he has persuaded the owner to replant the forest he has cut down with native species.
MÁRCIO DA COSTA IV
In the rainy season we grew 40,000 saplings and planted them.This is still the exception, but if the local businessmen want to have continuity then they need to come round to this way of thinking.
COMMENTARY
Márcio is the last environmental chief for 400 miles just where the forest needs it most. From here the road is not paved and as a consequence much less of the forest is destroyed.
PTC
This is where the asphalt ends. From here its a dirt track.
MUSIC Castelo de SonhoBy Grupo MinuanoLabel unknown
COMMENTARY
But even a dirt track is enough to attract Brazilians to live along it each one dreaming of a piece of land to call their own. Tens of thousands live here, where they are able to raise cattle, farm and cut down trees away from the eyes of the state..
COMMENTARY
Towns have cropped up like Castelo dos Sonhos, or Castle of Dreams. Although few dreams have been realised.Especially for the poor, some of whom have been settled by the government on what are rather grandly called Sustainable Development Projects
ASTONTELMO DAVIES
Resident, PDS Brasília TELMO DAVIES
Its a very difficult life. The government doesnt help us. They have abandoned us here.
COMMENTARY
Telmo lived in a town on the paved part of the road for 20 years, before coming here in the hope of finding land.He is waiting for the government to give him this plot and achieve his dream.Here he survives with no money, no water or electricity.So, for him, paving the road is a matter of life and death.
TELMO DAVIES
The road will change things for us 100 per centHere if someone gets ill, and there is no one around to help, that person will die right here.
MUSIC Castelo de SonhoBy Grupo MinuanoLabel unknown
COMMENTARY
To President Lula, solving the social problem here is as important as the environmental problem.He has promised the poor land and support, even though as I saw - nothing has yet been deliveredOne hundred miles further on is Novo Progresso, one of the fastest growing cattle centres in South America.Lula has promised to help the ranchers too.
ASTONJOSÉ DOS SANTOS
Rancher
JOSÉ DOS SANTOS
10 years ago we had 50,000 head of cattle, now we have about a million.
COMMENTARY
He argues that theres plenty of space for both farmers and the forest. He claims that only 8% is deforested in this region and the reserves are enormous.
JOSÉ DOS SANTOS
Why should we in the Amazon, an area of little deforestation almost completely intact pay such a high price just because other states in Brazil and certainly England destroyed their forest, what we want is the right to have a little space to work and produce.
COMMENTARY
Ranchers like Jose are not the only ones who feel that the behaviour of the developed world is hypocritical.Talk of rainforest campaigns got an angry reaction from one of my passengers.
WALDEMAR GRIGORI
When local leaders want to bring benefits to our society, the International organisations, , they stand in our way, they put pressure on us. Why dont they come and bring us resources
instead and help us develop the region with technology?
MUSIC
LisbelaBy Trio ForrozaoBMG Brasil
COMMENTARY
And as it started to rain it all soon it became all too clear why the paving the road is so fundamental
COMMENTARY
The lorry driver who caused this bottleneck was once was stuck like this for ten days.He told me that in the eight years he has driven along the road he has already seen the consequences of human activity
MUSIC
LisbelaBy Trio ForrozaoBMG Brasil
GUSTAVO HERING
Everything from the scenery to the wildlife. You used to see loads of animals on the side of the road, now you dont see them any moreIf the paving ever happens, the rest of the Amazon could disappear bit by bit.With the paving you will be able to get everything out and it will be totally destroyed.
PTC
The last 200 miles took me 26 hours. Now Im going to get the boat.
MUSIC
Carimbo da SaudadeBy Nazare PereiraLabel PlayasoundFrom BBC Gram Library
COMMENTARY
Here I got my first glimpse of the old Amazon.The river Tapajos runs parallel to the last section of the road.The inhabitants here are the caboclos the descendents of Indians mixed with settlers - whose colonisation is much more harmonious with their surroundings
PTCIve finally arrived in Santerem, its been 73 travel hours since Cuiaba.
COMMENTARY
The next day I went to a conference about the future of the road.Among the hundreds of delegates was a local Congressman, who was cautiously optimistic about his governments plans.
ASTON
PAULO ROCHACongressman, Workers Party
PAULO ROCHA
Weve made space for the poor communities, space for the landowners, and for the reserves all that is left is that the state needs to make sure that everyones interests are met and there is no conflict.Because of Brazils past mistakes we are prisoners of an offensive politics by the international environmental lobby. Correcting this, and looking to sustainability, we will no longer have to choose between total destruction or total preservation. The future of the Amazon is sustainability.
COMMENTARY
He makes it sound so straight forward if only Brazilian history was not so full of false hopes.
TARCISCO FEITOSAEnvironmentalist
TARCISCO FEITOSA
The government has been saying it will pave the BR-163 for thirty years and hasnt managed to do it. It has promised state presence for thirty years and hasnt managed to do it. What we have is a politics of illusion. A politics of dreams. If the government isnt clear this region is destined for chaos.
MUSIC
Carimbo da SaudadeBy Nazare PereiraLabel PlayasoundFrom BBC Gram Library
PTC
There was a lot of talk on the road that practices and behaviour were changing. But reading the local paper, you wouldnt believe it.On the front page, the discovery of more illegal logging and the arrest for fraud of the former head of the state environmental agency.
END SHOT
Fishermen on Amazon river
COMMENTARYIn
Santarem, Cargill, the agribusiness multinational, has built a soya terminal on the banks of the Amazon gambling that the road will eventually be builtThe government is gambling too that the paved road will not bring destruction, but ordered development. But the stakes could not be higher. If the project is done badly, it will be a social and environmental tragedy not just for the Amazon, but for the whole world.
Over 1000 miles long, the road starts in the centre of the South American continent and ends on the banks of the Amazon River.
For almost two-thirds of its length the road is a muddy track that cuts through the rainforest.
Lula says his government can develop the road AND preserve the environment.
Alex Bellos travelled the route to ask if this was an impossible dream.
MUSIC
Eu Tambem Quero MocotoBy Erlon ChavesPolygram Brasil
COMMENTARY
This is Cuiaba , a city of half a million people and the CAPITAL of Brazils NEW agricultural heartland. It is also the beginning/ of the most controversial road in Brazil
COMMENTARY The BR 163
COMMENTARY
The Brazilian dictatorship built this road, in the 1970s. Their intention was to populate the rainforest and exploit its resources - under the slogan land without people for people without land.Ignoring the tens of thousands of indigenous Indians who were there already.But the road was never finished and now 30 years after it was first started, President Lula has promised to finish the job.
PTC
Ive been on the bus for about 6 hours and we are 250 miles from Cuiba, about 30- years ago this would have been where the Amazon started but now there is just fields, maize especially soya.
COMMENTARY
The soya boom has consolidated Brazil as an agricultural superpower.But the farmers live with huge logistical problems.Only the first 450 miles of the road is paved so at present the crops have to take a huge detour to get to their markets.
MUSIC
Eu Tambem Quero MocotoBy Erlon ChavesPolygram Brasil
COMMENTARY
Which is why Soya farmers like Nelson PIccoli are campaigning for the road to be paved all the way to the amazon river.
ASTONNELSON PICCOLI
Soya farmer
IV NELSON PICCOLI
The port of Santarem is the most viable exit for what we produce here.We are going to be adding to the value of what we produce between 5 to 6 reais a bag. And also everything we need to produce, everything we need to plant the soya, most of it is imported, and that will also be cheaper.
COMMENTARY
The rapid growth of soya in this region half of which is exported to the EU - has been blamed as a principal cause of recent deforestation of the Amazon
IV NELSON PICCOLI
Here we are being blamed by the whole world, even by our own government, who instead of defending us, instead of saying we generate wealth, blame us as destroyers. We did not destroy this region. We transformed it to agricultural production.What you are seeing here is how we are supporting the human race. You cannot survive without eating food.
MUSIC
Eu Tambem Quero MocotoBy Erlon ChavesPolygram Brasil
COMMENTARY
Soya may be feeding the world, but at a high cost to the environment. Where there are farms, industry and towns soon follow.
COMMENTARY
Two hundred miles further north is Guarantã do Norte, a town first settled by wildcat goldminers.
COMMENTARY
The gold rush is long over but like contestants in Scrapheap Challenge, locals have found another use for the mining pumps left behind.
COMMENTARY
Guarantã has the last office of Brazils environmental protection agency for 400 miles.Márcio da Costa and his 4 staff are the frontline soldiers protecting the rainforest against illegal loggers. Its a dangerous job.
ASTONMÁRCIO DA COSTA IBAMA, Guarantã do Norte
MÁRCIO DA COSTA IV
Once I was taking part in an operation and a lorry tried to run me over. I had to jump out the way, but we managed to catch him.
COMMENTARY
Márcio shows me on a satellite map how development has in the past brought devastation.
MÁRCIO DA COSTA IV
With the paving, the tendency is that you will have more deforestation.It opens the possibility of new side roads being opened up and deforestation will move into the more preserved areas.
COMMENTARY
These new side roads can be clearly seen from satellite imagery, where they have a distinctive fishbone pattern.Márcios challenges are a lack of money and staff, an immense area to protect but, he says the biggest problem is one of attitude.
MÁRCIO DA COSTA IV
The people who came here, came to conquer and destroy the land, the economy here is based on wood and gold the cultural thing is very strong and needs to be ended.
COMMENTARY
Márcio has managed to find an unlikely ally in saving the rainforest the timber industry. He took me to a local sawmill, where he has persuaded the owner to replant the forest he has cut down with native species.
MÁRCIO DA COSTA IV
In the rainy season we grew 40,000 saplings and planted them.This is still the exception, but if the local businessmen want to have continuity then they need to come round to this way of thinking.
COMMENTARY
Márcio is the last environmental chief for 400 miles just where the forest needs it most. From here the road is not paved and as a consequence much less of the forest is destroyed.
PTC
This is where the asphalt ends. From here its a dirt track.
MUSIC Castelo de SonhoBy Grupo MinuanoLabel unknown
COMMENTARY
But even a dirt track is enough to attract Brazilians to live along it each one dreaming of a piece of land to call their own. Tens of thousands live here, where they are able to raise cattle, farm and cut down trees away from the eyes of the state..
COMMENTARY
Towns have cropped up like Castelo dos Sonhos, or Castle of Dreams. Although few dreams have been realised.Especially for the poor, some of whom have been settled by the government on what are rather grandly called Sustainable Development Projects
ASTONTELMO DAVIES
Resident, PDS Brasília TELMO DAVIES
Its a very difficult life. The government doesnt help us. They have abandoned us here.
COMMENTARY
Telmo lived in a town on the paved part of the road for 20 years, before coming here in the hope of finding land.He is waiting for the government to give him this plot and achieve his dream.Here he survives with no money, no water or electricity.So, for him, paving the road is a matter of life and death.
TELMO DAVIES
The road will change things for us 100 per centHere if someone gets ill, and there is no one around to help, that person will die right here.
MUSIC Castelo de SonhoBy Grupo MinuanoLabel unknown
COMMENTARY
To President Lula, solving the social problem here is as important as the environmental problem.He has promised the poor land and support, even though as I saw - nothing has yet been deliveredOne hundred miles further on is Novo Progresso, one of the fastest growing cattle centres in South America.Lula has promised to help the ranchers too.
ASTONJOSÉ DOS SANTOS
Rancher
JOSÉ DOS SANTOS
10 years ago we had 50,000 head of cattle, now we have about a million.
COMMENTARY
He argues that theres plenty of space for both farmers and the forest. He claims that only 8% is deforested in this region and the reserves are enormous.
JOSÉ DOS SANTOS
Why should we in the Amazon, an area of little deforestation almost completely intact pay such a high price just because other states in Brazil and certainly England destroyed their forest, what we want is the right to have a little space to work and produce.
COMMENTARY
Ranchers like Jose are not the only ones who feel that the behaviour of the developed world is hypocritical.Talk of rainforest campaigns got an angry reaction from one of my passengers.
WALDEMAR GRIGORI
When local leaders want to bring benefits to our society, the International organisations, , they stand in our way, they put pressure on us. Why dont they come and bring us resources
instead and help us develop the region with technology?
MUSIC
LisbelaBy Trio ForrozaoBMG Brasil
COMMENTARY
And as it started to rain it all soon it became all too clear why the paving the road is so fundamental
COMMENTARY
The lorry driver who caused this bottleneck was once was stuck like this for ten days.He told me that in the eight years he has driven along the road he has already seen the consequences of human activity
MUSIC
LisbelaBy Trio ForrozaoBMG Brasil
GUSTAVO HERING
Everything from the scenery to the wildlife. You used to see loads of animals on the side of the road, now you dont see them any moreIf the paving ever happens, the rest of the Amazon could disappear bit by bit.With the paving you will be able to get everything out and it will be totally destroyed.
PTC
The last 200 miles took me 26 hours. Now Im going to get the boat.
MUSIC
Carimbo da SaudadeBy Nazare PereiraLabel PlayasoundFrom BBC Gram Library
COMMENTARY
Here I got my first glimpse of the old Amazon.The river Tapajos runs parallel to the last section of the road.The inhabitants here are the caboclos the descendents of Indians mixed with settlers - whose colonisation is much more harmonious with their surroundings
PTCIve finally arrived in Santerem, its been 73 travel hours since Cuiaba.
COMMENTARY
The next day I went to a conference about the future of the road.Among the hundreds of delegates was a local Congressman, who was cautiously optimistic about his governments plans.
ASTON
PAULO ROCHACongressman, Workers Party
PAULO ROCHA
Weve made space for the poor communities, space for the landowners, and for the reserves all that is left is that the state needs to make sure that everyones interests are met and there is no conflict.Because of Brazils past mistakes we are prisoners of an offensive politics by the international environmental lobby. Correcting this, and looking to sustainability, we will no longer have to choose between total destruction or total preservation. The future of the Amazon is sustainability.
COMMENTARY
He makes it sound so straight forward if only Brazilian history was not so full of false hopes.
TARCISCO FEITOSAEnvironmentalist
TARCISCO FEITOSA
The government has been saying it will pave the BR-163 for thirty years and hasnt managed to do it. It has promised state presence for thirty years and hasnt managed to do it. What we have is a politics of illusion. A politics of dreams. If the government isnt clear this region is destined for chaos.
MUSIC
Carimbo da SaudadeBy Nazare PereiraLabel PlayasoundFrom BBC Gram Library
PTC
There was a lot of talk on the road that practices and behaviour were changing. But reading the local paper, you wouldnt believe it.On the front page, the discovery of more illegal logging and the arrest for fraud of the former head of the state environmental agency.
END SHOT
Fishermen on Amazon river
COMMENTARYIn
Santarem, Cargill, the agribusiness multinational, has built a soya terminal on the banks of the Amazon gambling that the road will eventually be builtThe government is gambling too that the paved road will not bring destruction, but ordered development. But the stakes could not be higher. If the project is done badly, it will be a social and environmental tragedy not just for the Amazon, but for the whole world.