A lack of consideration for the environmental impact of a multi-billion-dollar initiative to integrate 12 South American economic hubs could, according to a report by Conservation International (CI), result in the disappearance of the Amazon rainforest within 40 years.

The Initiative for the Integration of the Regional Infrastructure of South America (IIRSA), which began in 2000 in Brazil with the building of the Interoceánica (Interoceanic Highway) as reported in Geographical in September last year, seeks to integrate towns and cities across the continent through transport, energy and telecommunications. But according to CI, the IIRSA could flatten significant parts of the Amazon forest to make way for new and improved road and river networks, power and communication cables, and dams for hydro-electric power.

Although, individually, these projects are being well assessed, said Tim Killeen, a CI scientist and author of the report, there has been no consideration of the initiative’s overall impact on the fragile Amazon ecosystem.
 
‘Failure to foresee the full impact of IIRSA investments, particularly in the context of climate change and global markets, will bring about a combination of forces that could lead to a perfect storm of environmental destruction,’ Killeen said. ‘At stake is the greatest tropical wilderness area on the planet and the multiple benefits it provides.’

The IIRSA mega-project consists of some 40 separate schemes and is expected to cost South American nations US$37billion and open up previously inaccessible parts of the forest, spelling disaster for its biodiversity as well as the numerous indigenous groups that inhabit it.

December 2007