Protesters in São Paulo fight infrastructure projects that would cut thousands of trees

Prosecutors have halted the tunnel and landfill projects over environmental concerns

A drone view shows an area where 10,000 trees will be cut off to give place to a landfill at Sao Mateus neighbourhood in Sao Paulo, Brazil Dec 22, 2024. REUTERS/Tuane Fernandes

Residents of the city of São Paulo, one of Latin America's largest and most built-up, have long fought for more green spaces. But, last year, the city announced plans that would do just the opposite: raze thousands of trees to build a tunnel and expand a landfill in some of its treeless neighbourhoods. Protests ensued.

Last November, demonstrators took to the streets in São Mateus, a peripheral neighbourhood in the east of São Paulo, to protest against a project to expand a landfill which would cut 10,000 trees. Building work for a tunnel, in the southern part of the city, sparked another protest that month.

"I tied myself to a tree to stop the building work," said Marco Martins, a spokesman for Rede Sustentabilidade, a political party that opposed the projects, during the protest against the tunnel.

So far, the protesters are winning. State prosecutors obtained a preliminary court ruling to stop the tunnel project in November, and, last month, lawmakers who oppose the landfill obtained an injunction to suspend it. Both rulings were based on claims the projects would be harmful for the environment.

"The floods, when it fills up in the region near the landfill, are chaotic," said Denny Gomes, a 31-year-old poet and law graduate and one of the leaders of the movement against the landfill project.

The city disputes those claims, and plans to appeal both court rulings. In a statement, the city called the landfill an "ecopark" that will reduce "the amount of material destined for landfill" and increase recycling. In addition, the city has vowed to plant more trees that the projects are scheduled to raze.

Mayor Ricardo Nunes has also argued that the tunnel is essential to improve traffic in the region, according to a video he posted on his Instagram account in November.

"We will overturn this preliminary decision, because everything is fine, we will continue this work and I will inaugurate this work", he said.

Experts agree that traffic and lack of urban mobility are some of São Paulo's most intractable problems. But, at the same time, the city also frequently suffers from flooding, especially in peripheral neighbourhoods that lack green spaces.