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Interoceanic Highway to Critically Damage Andes-Amazon in Peru

Highway Up


Written by Renata Leite Pitman

http://filer.livinginperu.com/news/img/highway.jpg725572

The path of the Interoceanic Highway crossing the Andes-Amazon wilderness, which has the highest concentration of Protected Areas in the tropics

© Heinz Plenge

The Interoceanic Highway is currently under construction in South America. It is predicted to result in unprecedented destruction of the Amazon – the largest tropical forest in the world.

In southern Peru the highway will slice through the Andes-Amazon region, critical habitat of the highly threatened Andean Bear, as well as jaguars, giant otters, and more than 1,200 other species of mammals and birds.

Once the highway is complete, the wilderness these species inhabit today will be forever cut in two, separated by a growing corridor of deforestation along the highway.

Elevating critical portions of the Interoceanic Highway, turning it into a toll pay scenic road, will help the conservation of the Andes-Amazon region and at the same time will catalyze the long-term economic stability of local people through ecotourism.

http://filer.livinginperu.com/news/img/highway_2.jpg576702

The highly threatened Andean Bear

© Heinz Plenge

Limiting economic activities around the highway only to special exits can be a great opportunity for regional economic growth. Doing so will reduce habitat destruction by restricting uncontrolled development of land away from the specified exits. At the same time it will be possible to offer tourists a variety of needs at one stop, including hotels, restaurants and field guides ready to show tourists the unique regional fauna and flora that should be regarded with pride and protected accordingly.

Construction of the highway has already begun and will soon reach this critical area. Now, in 2007, we still have time to ACT, or we will never recover what we are about to lose! We can change the future!

PLEASE GO TO THE FOLLOWING LINK TO SIGN THE LETTER BELOW

Dr. Alan Gabriel Ludwig García Pérez
President of Peru
webmaster@presidencia.gob.pe,
Dr. Isaac Roberto Ángeles Lazo
Chief of the National Institute of Natural Resources (INRENA)
iangeles@inrena.gob.pe
Dr. Veronica Zavala Lombardi
Ministry of Transportation and Communication
mtc@mtc.gob.pe



Dear Drs. Garcia Pérez, Ángeles Lazo and Zavala Lombardi,


I understand that you both have influence over the Interoceanic Highway’s future. This road will slice in half a region of Peru, from Cusco to Puerto Maldonado, that holds the richest biodiversity in the world. This biodiversity is a national treasure and should be protected; no other country possesses a resource of similar global significance. Building this road without proper structures for wildlife crossing will have a catastrophic effect on one of Peru’s most valuable resources.

I am writing this letter to request that you rethink the proposed design of the highway. If an accessible infrastructure that helped display this biodiversity were incorporated into the plans, it could potentially be the greatest tourist attraction in the entire Amazon. Moreover, it would target tourists that seek easy and fast access to the jungle, an innovative idea for tourism in tropical South America. By elevating critical portions of this highway so that it runs above, rather than through, the forest, you can create a toll-pay scenic road that will help conserve the Andes-Amazon region and facilitate long-term economic stability for local people through ecotourism. Designating special exits with organized economic activities can be a solution to uncontrolled development. Alternatively, it would offer tourists a variety of needs at one stop, such as hotels, restaurants, and pharmacies, increasing local economic gain.

Please consider this proposal to elevate portions of the Interoceanic Highway. Building this road without proper environmental planning will have grave repercussions. Elevating parts of the road will help to preserve the priceless natural resources of the area, allowing for the future potential of economic gains through ecotourism at specified exits all the while preserving your national heritage.


Sincerely,


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# Juan Blake says :
26 July, 2007 [ 16:38 ]

Elevation is the key for critical areas no doubt. Take the Alaskan Pipe Line as an example. In some of the more critical areas of wild life such as the Brook Range, it has worked quite well. The support columns are insulated from the flow of oil to prevent the permafrost from melting, thus insuring the safety of the structure and all the wildlife around it. All these years later though, you never hear about this from the radical commie enviros. All we hear about is death & distruction for all. We can still protect our enviroment & not have to sacrifice commerce as this artical points out in a very good way. Those Green Peace morons need to read Ms. Pitman's article.

# Kyle S. says :
26 July, 2007 [ 17:15 ]

You know something, when Green Peace first started out years ago, a lot of people were in touch with their concern for wild life and nature. But man have they turned into a bunch of cookoo's over the years! I guess communism is a good discript for them. Lets outlaw weedeaters, lawn mowers, BBQ pits, lead amunition, and so on. The Sierra Club folks are even worse than Green Peace as far as I'm concerned.

# Jason W. Smith, Ph.D. says :
26 July, 2007 [ 19:24 ]

I think we can all agree that this freeway needs to be built, soon and properly (no matter what the cost.) I can testify as an oilman that there is no inherent need to destroy any environmental treasures because of development. I spent years working offshore in the Gulf of Mexico both north (US) and south (Mexico) and I can tell you that there have never been cleaner waters than those around our rigs.
Working on land is more complex for many reasons but we have much experience in North America allowing us (you) to do this work safely.
Probably nothing is more important at this time than the infrastructure of roads, waterways, airstrips and of course superhighways to the Bolivarian industrialization and mechanization of South America.
You may add my name to your list of petitioners.

# souza says :
27 July, 2007 [ 13:47 ]

Let's fight against interoceanic highway.

It will destroy our rainforest.

Brasil isn't a good example of rainforest protection ,  that country does not care about it.

# Realista says :
14 July, 2008 [ 19:44 ]

This highway is vital for the economic development of an isolated region of Peru, the poorest southern portion of the country.  It is also to be followed by electrification, water works, and refrigeration for food preservation.  It is the way out of land lockedness for Bolivia, and a way for developing the economy of millions of isolated people with needs, from medical to help during the new weather changes which kills thousands of people in currently inaccessible areas.  To change the design of the highway or to stop it you must provide all the services that this highway will provide for the people of the region, as well as money to change the way it is being built.  In the US you print money that is accepted worldwide and gows with the world,s economy; here in Peru that recognisable money is scarse, and has to be earned by providing goods and services.  So be realistic about the third world and put the money to back up the words.   Thank-you

# cesar zavala toia says :
16 April, 2009 [ 18:36 ]

Is Time for  unify forces in South America figthing agains narcoterrorism,
that are contaminating  oure forest and rivers whith sulfuric acid and also disturving democratic goberments  like colombia FARC.
http://cesarzavala2853.blogspot.com

# Mario Azevedo says :
15 September, 2009 [ 09:32 ]

This is directed to a comment posted by Souza:

It is very easy to criticize anything developing countries do as an attempt to develop, yet very easy to forget what we have done in the past in the name of development. No, I am not advocating the destruction of the Amazon Forest, but development and preservation have to co-exist. You say "those people do not care about the Amazon Forest", but the fact is that should that be the case the forest would have been destroyed decades ago (Brazilians and Peruvians have inhabited that forest for centuries...). Brazil has the largest extent of the largest rainforest system in the World, and the reason is that all of the other rain forests around the World have been destroyed - but not in Brazil or Peru...  In fact a little known fact about Brazil, for instance,  is that 70% of its territory consists of protected lands, be it the rain forests (not only the Amazon exists in Brazil - it has remnants of its coastal rain forests under preservation currently and many areas which were deforested during Portuguese colonial times are being replanted), the water streams and basins, the sand dunes of the northeast, the archipelagos in the Atlantic or the Pantanal - the largest wetlands ecosystem in the World. Brazil is also in the process of creating a continuous area of preservation on the Northern borders of the Amazon forest which will give way to an independent Indian nation for the native peoples of the Amazon. They have dislodged rice growing interests that had been in the area for decades to allow for the creation of the park. They are also penalizing ranchers in the Amazon region - the government has been signing agreements with big supermarket chains (including Wal-Mart) in which those chains make a commitment to not buy beef grown in the Amazon region. As a matter of fact the list of preservation measures is so vast I would spend the rest of the day naming them here...

Again, I agree with preservation - it is a necessity, but it has to co-exist with development. Peoples of the region can only benefit with the moderate growth, which will eventually include provision of health care (currently provided by the armies of those two countries on floating boats and helicopters on make shift hospital tents), schools, etc. Fact is that those peoples are already in the region and have been there for centuries - what they need is better living conditions.

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