An enormous amount of protected Amazon rainforest is being used to build a four-lane highway for a November climate summit in Brazil, it was reported.

The road will be built on tens of thousands of protected acres in time for the COP30 climate summit in Belém, Brazil, BBC reported.

The report came two days after the COP30 president urged the world to take collective and urgent action against climate change, the conference's official website reported.

The conference is expected to host more than 50,000 people including world leaders, and the highway is expected to help alleviate traffic.

Nevertheless, locals and conservationists have expressed outrage at the environmental impact of the highway. The Amazon plays a vital role in absorbing carbon for the world and providing biodiversity.

Professor Silvia Sardinha works as a wildlife researcher at a university animal hospital where injured animals are treated and then released back into the wild. The hospital overlooks where the highway is being built.

"From the moment of deforestation, there is a loss," Sardinha said. "We are going to lose an area to release these animals back into the wild, the natural environment of these species. Land animals will no longer be able to cross to the other side too, reducing the areas where they can live and breed."

The project also is harming locals' ability to raise income.

"Everything was destroyed," said Claudio Verequete, who lives about a tenth of a mile from where the road will be.

Verequete used to earn money from harvesting açaí berries from trees that previously occupied the space used for the highway. He said he has received no compensation from the state government.

"Our harvest has already been cut down," he said. "We no longer have that income to support our family."

Verequete added that he's concerned construction of the highway will lead to more deforestation.

"Our fear is that, one day, someone will come here and say, 'Here's some money. We need this area to build a gas station or to build a warehouse.' And then we'll have to leave," he told BBC.

"We were born and raised here in the community. Where are we going to go?"

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