Brazil is set to approve a controversial expansion of 2,000 kilometers, or more than 1,200 miles, of new shipping channels in the Amazon. With a price tag in the billions of reais, the expansion is needed to ensure cheaper, more efficient transportation of agricultural commodities out of the Amazon, the government says. But an investigation by Mongabay contributor Tiffany Higgins found minimal economic benefits compared to the high socioenvironmental costs the project will likely bring.
The Tocantins-Araguaia waterway project began under the previous president, Jair Bolsonaro, but in August 2024, federal prosecutors sued to stop the process, claiming the environmental review was incomplete. Indeed, 27 required studies were missing from the process.
Parts of the channel project were approved with hydrology data from 2017, when river levels were much higher than in the last two years when a crippling drought caused record-low water levels. The Tocantins River, for example, is normally 3-3.5 meters (9.8-11.5 feet) high in the dry season, but in October 2024 it was just 2 m (6.6 ft) high. Many barges need at least 2.5 m (8.2 ft) of water to safely navigate rivers. So, a large area may need to be dredged, significantly adding to the cost of the project. Ships can lighten their load to sit higher in the water, an option that will also make shipping more expensive and each bargeload of grain more carbon intensive.
“Every foot of reduced water depth or draft is the equivalent of loading 7,000 fewer bushels of soybeans per barge,” Mike Steenhoek, executive director of the U.S. Soy Transportation Coalition, told Mongabay.
Climate scientists say the Amazon Basin will become drier with climate change; the Tocantins River is expected to shrink by half in the next 25 years.
Higgins also reports that the channel project didn’t receive the free, prior and informed consent of local stakeholders, as required by Brazilian law. Local fishers report being harassed and coerced to leave their traditional territories as real estate speculation has driven up the value of nearby land.
Under Brazilian law, the National Department of Transport Infrastructure (DNIT) must compensate local people for any losses incurred as a result of an infrastructure project. But the department says it’s only responsible for damages from dredging and blasting and won’t pay for damages from operations. That will leave many communities without compensation. Local fisherman Nilton Lopes de Melo told Mongabay that the compensation DNIT plans to give, $230 per month for 30 months, is inadequate.
“Poisoned drinking water, and fish poisoned by dynamite, which no one will want to eat,” will last long after the detonations end, he said. He accused the DNIT of “violating our rights as traditional river peoples.”
This is a summary of “Brazil’s shipping channel plans in Amazonian rivers will worsen climate change, experts warn” by Tiffany Higgins.
Banner image of a traditional fisherperson near Tauiry Village. Photo by Tiffany Higgins for Mongabay.
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