{
  "id": 5352500,
  "title": "Planned Bolivia-Brazil highway threatens Chiquitania dry forest",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/03/planned-bolivia-brazil-highway-threatens-chiquitania-dry-forest",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-09-03T15:08:19.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Mongabay",
    "slug": "mongabay",
    "url": "https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/planned-bolivia-brazil-highway-threatens-chiquitania-dry-forest/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "On July 31, Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz signed an agreement alongside politicians and agribusiness leaders from Bolivia and Brazil in San Ignacio de Velasco, eastern Bolivia. This agreement marked the beginning of technical studies for a highway connecting San Ignacio de Velasco to Marfil, on the Brazilian border, with a second section extending into Brazil toward Vila Bela da Santíssima Trindade. Environmental experts warn that this highway project, set to traverse the Bolivian Chiquitania - a region of vast tropical dry forests - will lead to severe environmental damage. Deforestation and land-use change are expected to make way for soy fields and cattle ranches on the Bolivian side. The small airfield in San Ignacio de Velasco, home to 67,103 inhabitants per the 2024 census, experienced a brief transformation into an international airport on the day of the signing. Apart from the Bolivian presidential plane, all other aircraft were belonging to Brazilian businesspeople and politicians, including Eraí Maggi, referred to as the \"soy king\" in Brazil. San Ignacio de Velasco, which encompasses 3.4 million hectares of the Chiquitano forest, or 6.2% of Bolivia's total forest cover, has become the epicenter of deforestation in the country. According to a 2025 report by Nómadas magazine, the Institute for Socio-Economic Research (IISEC) at the Bolivian Catholic University (UCB) found that agricultural expansion from 2017 to 2023 contributed to this alarming trend.",
  "summary": "Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz signed an agreement to begin technical studies for a highway connecting the municipality of San Ignacio de Velasco in the Chiquitania region with the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}