Highway through the Amazon rainforest

Imagine there's a climate conference – and the rainforest is being cleared for it. This is currently happening in Brazil , where the next climate summit is taking place: The government has invited participants to Belém, in the heart of the tropical Amazon. In order to get to the conference, which is supposed to protect the climate, the carbon-storage rainforest is being cleared to build a highway. Isn't that a scandal?

True to UN arithmetic, climate conferences migrate across the planet: After an industrialized country from Western Europe or North America, a state from Central or South America hosts the climate summit, then it moves to Africa, followed by Asia, before an Eastern European or successor state to the Soviet Union hosts the summit. The cycle then begins again in the West (Glasgow stepped in for the Central and South American countries after the 2021 coronavirus pandemic).

This is important because the host countries always bring their own unique perspective to the negotiations. In Southeast Asia, for example, the focus is strongly on sea level rise; in Africa, adaptation strategies play a major role; in Western Europe, mitigation and regulatory frameworks are highly valued, for example, the question of what reporting obligations states have to ensure comparable climate protection between Bhutan, Bulgaria, Barbados, and Germany.

President wants to end illegal deforestation

It is no coincidence that Brazil has chosen to hold the next climate conference in the heart of the Amazon: Deforestation of tropical forests still contributes around 20 percent of global greenhouse gases caused by humans, and it is causing a decline in biodiversity and biocapacity – that is, nature's ability to produce oxygen, wood, drinking water, fish, or humus.

The Brazilian government is making this a topic with the choice of the conference venue. When he took office in 2023, Brazilian President Lula da Silva promised to stop illegal deforestation of the rainforest by 2030. And now he's clearing the rainforest for this purpose? To build a highway?

In case you're gasping for breath: New football stadiums are being built for a World Cup. The Buchheim Museum on Lake Starnberg is being expanded, and the Elbphilharmonie Concert Hall was built for a more dedicated cultural experience. Forests in Brandenburg have been cleared for electric mobility à la "Elon Musk made in Germany." Ten football fields of forest are to be felled for the wind farm in the Lüneburg district of Lower Saxony . Twenty-six ash trees were felled for the new school on the Werneuchener Wiese in Berlin – to create a bike path.

First, prevent the highway at home

Cutting down rainforests to draw attention to deforestation: Of course, this isn't a happy sign. Fifty thousand participants are expected at COP30, the 30th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Belém lacks the capacity for this, which is why the government is considering sending cruise ships to Marajó Bay to increase overnight accommodation. And yes, there is an airport near Belém, but roads to the metropolis of millions are scarce.

Which certainly doesn't justify building a new motorway specifically for the climate conference . That's a continuation of the "old way of life," the one that got us into the climate problem in the first place. But getting upset about it is "old life" by other means: In Germany, further construction of the A14 motorway near Stendal will begin this year, and the A20 near Bad Segeberg, the A44 in Hesse, and the A45 in the Sauerland region are also scheduled to be continued.

Anyone who wants to get upset about a new highway being built in the rainforest should first prevent the highway from being built in their own backyard. That would be the kind of practical climate protection everyone always expects from climate conferences. But they can only progress as far as the slowest member state allows. That's why we need pioneers, not outsiders!