JUST when you thought the climate con couldn’t get any more mendacious, it’s reaching new heights of cynicism in the Amazon jungle.
Near the north-east Brazilian city of Belem, thousands of acres of protected rainforest are being ruthlessly felled. But it’s not illegal loggers who are to blame. Almost unbelievably, the trees are being cleared with official approval to build an eight-mile, four-lane highway which will cater for the forthcoming COP30 climate summit.
The annual international jamboree of virtue-signalling, greenwashing and empty talk is due to take place in Belem in November and the state government is constructing the new road to ease traffic to the city, which will host more than 50,000 visitors.
Now, we’re well used to the hypocrisy of delegates flying to these conferences in private jets, generating untold tons of the carbon dioxide they say is killing the planet. It’s what we wearily expect from such arrogant, entitled liars. But how can even they be happy with the deliberate destruction of the Amazon rainforest – that gigantic swathe of wild greenery that holds a hallowed place in climate zealotry because it captures oodles of nasty CO2 and saves us all from spontaneously combusting? How in God’s (sorry, Gaia’s) name can such sacrilege be justified?
Quite easily, as it turns out. Adler Silveira, the state government’s infrastructure secretary, describes the highway as ‘sustainable’. It’s one of those nebulous, define-it-yourself words in the climate lexicon that gives you a free pass. And I suppose a four-lane super-road is sustainable – you just keep pouring more concrete or asphalt on it when it wears out.
The highway is bad news for local farmers, who used to harvest fruit from the trees that are no longer there. Wildlife too is a loser, with habitats ruined and the road forming a barrier across the jungle. But hey-ho, omelettes and eggs.
As for Belem itself, the city is busy throwing up hotels, expanding the airport and building berths for cruise liners which will help accommodate the influx of climate boondogglers. However, the COP30 delegates may be in for an eye-opener when they get there. According to the AP news agency, ‘they won’t find idyllic images of rainforest, like lush vegetation and clean rivers. In Belem, impoverished, crime-ridden and filled with inequalities, most of the 2.5million residents live in slums. What’s more, only two per cent of the city’s sewage gets treated . . .’
It sounds like that new highway may come in handy – for getting the hell out of there.
