The industrial complex established in the Brazilian Amazon city of Manaos at a cost of heavy subsidies since 1967 has reduced deforestation in the northeastern state of Amazonas by 70 percent between 2000 and 2006. The avoided emissions of climate changing carbon gases would be worth 10 billion dollars on the European carbon market according to a study by the Federal University of Amazonas, the Federal University of Pará, the Applied Economics Research Institute and the Piatã Institute, released on Sep. 12.

The industries there have concentrated the economy and the population in the capital, allowing the state to preserve 98 percent of its vegetation, says the report.

But “Amazonas has few roads and 70 to 80 percent of the population is urban. Road infrastructure would increase deforestation and reduce the weight of the industrial complex in containing” the process, Paulo Moutinho, of the non-governmental Environmental Research Institute of the Amazon, told Tierramérica.