Brazilian Supreme Court Allows Resize of National Park for Proposed Railway

The Brazilian Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Jamanxim National Park can be resized to allow passage of the proposed Ferrogrão railway. The nearly 600-mile line would run alongside the existing soy highway that carries soybeans and corn from plantations to river ports in the Amazon basin.

The project is backed by major grain traders including Cargill. Cargill and Brazilian developers state the railway would support economic growth and improve grain export infrastructure in northern Amazon states.

Brazilian researchers estimate the railway would cause more than 1,500 square miles of direct deforestation and release 75 million tons of carbon. They project broader environmental effects across roughly 19,000 square miles. The Amazon rainforest holds the world's largest terrestrial carbon reservoir. Soy plantations and cattle ranching are the main drivers of its loss.

Thursday's ruling reversed an earlier court decision that had blocked boundary changes to the park. Earlier in the week, Brazil's lower house of Congress approved a 40 percent reduction in the nearby Jamanxim National Forest. Both protected areas were established to limit agricultural expansion along the soy route.

The court noted that altering park boundaries does not constitute project approval. The Ferrogrão still requires permits from environmental regulators and the Federal Court of Accounts. Indigenous and environmental groups have opposed the project since its proposal by a consortium that includes Cargill, Bunge, and Archer Daniels Midland.

"The injunction had kept the project at bay for quite a number of years," said Christian Poirier of Amazon Watch. A coalition of 42 Brazilian and international advocacy groups formed the Enough Soy Campaign to oppose the railway and related infrastructure plans.