A trip down the road that will determine the fate of the Amazon

The BR-319 is a 540-mile dirt highway that is the only overland link between Amazonas state, home to 4.2 million people, and the rest of Brazil. Truck driver Carlos Santos has spent years crossing it, sometimes taking 22 days through mud pools and river crossings, watching jaguars and tapirs cross his path at night.

After decades of court battles, sections of the road are now being asphalted, with plans to pave the full route. Scientists warn this will connect isolated, intact forest to Amazonas's deforestation frontier, threatening the 150 to 200 billion tons of carbon stored in the biome's plants and soil, while Indigenous communities say the project endangers their existence.

The road was actually paved once before, in 1976, but the state couldn't maintain it against the rainy and dry seasons, and by 1988 the jungle had reclaimed most of it. Proponents now argue Manaus's dependence on boats and planes raises costs and leaves the region vulnerable to droughts that have made river shipping unreliable.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.