Brazil to blast channel in Amazon river to increase shipping
Monday, November 3rd 2025, 5:43:43 pm
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<body><p>STORY: These massive rocky outcroppings on the Tocantins river are due to be blown up by the Brazilian government.</p><p>Brazil regulators want to blast a channel on one of the largest tributaries in the Amazon Basin, and turn it into an expressway for Brazil's booming tropical farm belt.</p><p>Opening the riverway to barges year-round could clear the way for soy and corn exports to rival the Mississippi River, with claims it will cut freight costs and cement Brazilian supremacy in the global grains trade.</p><p>But in turn, it will cut off local fisherman like Welton de Franca from accessing the crucial waterway.</p><p> "I live on an island, all around here is water, there's no way for us to leave here except by canoe, we live off fishing, so I think it will cause a lot of harm, I'm against the project."</p><p>Federal prosecutors are trying to halt the $7.3 billion project.</p><p>They are urging the courts to consider impacts on riverside communities who live from the river.</p><p>“Many women survive by cracking coconuts; they sell the coconuts to buy food for their children. So, with this waterway, all of that will have an impact, because they will no longer be able to cross the river to collect coconuts from the other side. On the side where we live, there are very few coconuts left because they are devastating the area, killing the palm trees, poisoning them.”</p><p>Researchers warn the river's biodiversity would also suffer if blasting destroys these rare rapids, where endangered fish gather, turtles breed and river dolphins feed.</p><p>Brazilian environmental agency Ibama says blasting will be managed, with provisions to monitor and relocate turtle nests.</p><p>Brazil's government has forecast the riverway will also cut down on long, polluting truck trips.</p></body>
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