Brazil’s Cuiaba ´ - Santare ´ m (BR-163) Highway: The Environmental Cost of Paving a Soybean Corridor Through the Amazon Philip M. Fearnside Received: 30 April 2006 / Accepted: 21 September 2006 Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007 Abstract Brazil’s Cuiaba ´ -Santare ´m (BR-163) High- way provides a valuable example of ways in which decision-making procedures for infrastructure projects in tropical forest areas need to be reformulated in order to guarantee that environmental concerns are properly weighed. BR-163, which is slated to be paved as an export corridor for soybeans via the Amazon River, traverses an area that is largely outside of Brazilian government control. A climate of generalized lawlessness and impunity prevails, and matters related to environment and to land tenure are especially unregulated. Deforestation and illegal logging have accelerated in anticipation of highway paving. Paving would further speed forest loss in the area, as well as stimulate migration of land thieves (grileiros) to other frontiers. An argument is made that the highway should not be reconstructed and paved until after a state of law has been established and it has been independently certified that sufficient governance pre- vails to secure protected areas and enforce environ- mental legislation. A waiting period is needed after this is achieved before proceeding with the highway paving. Above all, the logical sequence of steps must be followed, whereby environmental costs are assessed, reported, and weighed prior to making de facto decisions on implementation of infrastructure projects. Deviation from this logical sequence is a common occurrence in many parts of the world, especially in tropical areas. Keywords Amazonia Á Brazil Á BR-163 Á Deforestation Á Environmental impact Á Highways Á Roads Á Santare ´ m-Cuiaba ´ Á Soybeans Introduction Deforestation in Brazilian Amazonia has global impacts and is, therefore, a matter of wide interna- tional, as well as national, concern (Fearnside 2005a). The central role of infrastructure in driving deforesta- tion in Brazil and in other tropical-forest countries makes understanding and improving the decision- making process for major infrastructure projects a matter of primary interest for environmental manage- ment in these countries. A concrete example of the need for strengthening the role of environment in decision-making on infrastructure projects is provided by the question of reconstructing and paving the BR- 163 Highway from Cuiaba ´, Mato Grosso, to the Amazon River port of Santare ´m in Para ´ (Fig. 1). The highway would primarily be used to transport soybeans from rapidly expanding areas of this crop in the northern part of the state of Mato Grosso (Bolzon and others 2006; Fearnside 2001). It is a high priority of the Mato Grosso state government, headed by Gover- nor Blairo Maggi, whose Maggi Group is Brazil’s largest producer of soybeans. It is also a top priority of the federal government’s Ministry of National Integra- tion, as well as the ministries of Planning, Transpor- tation, and Agriculture. BR-163 has existed as a dirt road since 1973, but poor road conditions (especially in the rainy season) are a significant impediment to an influx of migrants and investment. Paving highways greatly increases P. M. Fearnside (&) Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazo ˆ nia-INPA, Av. Andre ´ Arau ´ jo, 2936, c.p. 478, 69.011-970 Manaus- Amazonas, Brazil e-mail: pmfearn@inpa.gov.br Environ Manage (2007) 39:601–614 DOI 10.1007/s00267-006-0149-2 123