Brazil: MAP is a forest that was once known as the “end of the world”

For 15 years, Foster Brown, a senior scientist at the Woods Hole
Research Center, has been living in and around Acre, the state where
Chico Mendes was killed 20 years ago for leading a homegrown movement
to preserve rain forests as living assets. I asked Dr. Brown, who is
in the capital, Rio Branco, for an update on the long-imagined “Road
to the Pacific” and other projects and trends that could imperil the
region’s remaining rain forests. Here’s what he wrote back: The heart
of this region is where the Peruvian Department of Madre de Dios, the
Brazilian State of Acre, and the Bolivian Department of Pando meet.
This region is also known by the acronym MAP, based on the initials of
the first letters of the respective political units.

The MAP Region
has some of the most biologically diverse rain forests in the world
and a cultural diversity that includes indigenous tribes trying to
avoid contact with industrial society. The region is about as large as
the combined areas of New York State, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and
Massachusetts, but with a combined population of less than a million
persons. Several of the most important forces shaping development here
are related to the recent surge in infrastructure investments. Until
recently, the navigable rivers and roads came to an end in the MAP
Region. When I first visited Acre in the late 1980s, a common phrase
described the region as “the end of the world.” This was in this end
of the world where Chico Mendes led a movement for land reform that
also sought to preserve forest resources. But he was also involved in
the issue of highways; Mendes’ pointed questioning about the
environmental and social impacts of the IDB-funded [Inter-American
Development Bank] paving of the BR-364 highway to Rio Branco, Acre
contributed to his international prestige. Major infrastructure
investments are now transforming the respective ends of the world for
Brazil, Bolivia, and Peru into an expanding transportation and energy
corridor. While there are definite benefits for regional development,
the rate and magnitude of these investments may produce significant
colateral damage to regional ecosystems and societies. The investments
planned for the next five years in MAP and neighboring regions are on
the order of 10-20 billion dollars and will involve the migration of
tens of thousands of persons. Let me sketch out some of the most
important investments.
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/22/can-roads-and-rain-forests-co-exist/

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