- Brazil is pushing the Tapajós River waterway as one of the main Amazon shipping corridors and preparing it for privatization, which will enable regular dredging and maintenance to improve its capacity.
- Traditional communities and environmental groups warn that dredging and heavy vessel traffic threaten fish stocks, turtle nesting areas and other wildlife.
- The Tapajós waterway is a central component of the new Amazonian logistics plans to move commodities such as soy and beef, including the contested Ferrogrão railway.
On Nov. 7 in Brazil, Indigenous people from the Tupinambá and other ethnic groups occupied the Tapajós River with small boats for several hours, halting barges carrying soybeans and other commodities near the city of Santarém, in the state of Pará. They did so peacefully, displaying banners with messages such as “agriculture passes, destruction remains,” denouncing the socioenvironmental impacts of the Tapajós waterway and other infrastructure projects aimed at transforming the Lower Tapajós region into one of the leading logistics export corridors in the Brazilian Amazon.
A week later, at the COP30 climate summit in Belém, Indigenous Munduruku blocked the main entrance of the conference, demanding a hearing with Brazilian authorities to protest against the privatization of the waterway, among other issues.
The Tapajós River waterway is an ongoing infrastructure project in the Brazilian Amazon that stretches about 250 kilometers (155 miles), connecting the Miritituba port in Itaituba, Pará, a key intermodal logistics hub for agricultural and mineral commodities, to the city of Santarém, where it meets the Amazon River and which provides access to the Atlantic Ocean. Over the past 10 years, cargo traffic along this route has grown significantly, spurred by the paving of the BR-163 highway, the primary link between the granary states in Brazil’s central-west region and the beginning of the Tapajós waterway.
The river has long served as a shipping and travel route, but, to serve the interests of agribusiness, mining and other sectors, the Brazilian government decided to expand its capacity. The plan consists of consolidating the Tapajós waterway as one of the priority export corridors within the so-called Arco Norte project, an informal term used to describe a set of infrastructure projects aimed at improving logistical efficiency in northern Brazil.
On Aug. 28, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed a decree adding the Tapajós waterway to Brazil’s privatization program, paving way for private companies to manage the channel and carry out regular dredging and other works aimed at boosting cargo capacity and reducing transport costs. The Madeira River and Tocantins River waterways, both in the Amazon region, were also included in the plan.
“The government is trying to design the Tapajós waterway project with an environmental perspective,” Eduardo Pessoa de Queiroz, superintendent for waterway studies and projects at ANTAQ, Brazil’s waterway transportation agency, told Mongabay by phone. “River transport is more sustainable, with fewer emissions, and we are considering revitalizing river sources, protecting riverbanks, and reducing dredging.”
In a letter to the Brazilian government, civil society organizations criticized shortcomings in the Amazon waterway policy, in particular the lack of dialogue with affected communities. The diverse population of Lower Tapajós is closely connected to the river. Around 7,000 Indigenous people from 14 groups live along its banks, together with riverine, extractivist and artisanal fishing communities.
After the protest at the COP30, the Lula administration said it would consult Indigenous communities in the Tapajós region on the waterway project. “We are committed, and the federal government will hold a free, prior and informed consultation with all the peoples of the region before implementing any project on the Tapajós River,” said Guilherme Boulos, minister of the General Secretariat of the Presidency, during the closing of the People’s Summit, which issued a statement identifying challenges and proposing solutions.
Reconciling local inhabitants’ use of the river with the transformation of the Tapajós into one of Brazil’s main shipping corridors is challenging, according to experts. “This initiative worries Indigenous people,” Haroldo Pinto, regional coordinator at the Indigenist Missionary Council (CIMI in Portuguese), a Catholic organization that fights for Indigenous rights, told Mongabay by phone.
He said that navigating the Tapajós has become increasingly difficult, as large cargo ships generate waves that damage and sometimes even capsize the small boats used by local residents. “If there is already damage now, imagine the impact once the river is dredged to allow large ships to pass through all year round. How will these populations survive?”
Dredging operations, alongside competition for river space, present significant environmental risks, according to experts. They can restrict access to fishing areas, increase erosion in vulnerable residential zones, and deteriorate water quality. Additionally, these activities can alter the water’s pH, conductivity, salinity, turbidity and temperature, threatening the river’s wildlife and the livelihoods of those who rely on it.
Vítor Vieira Alves, a federal public prosecutor in Pará state who has been working to guarantee the rights of the peoples of the Lower Tapajós, said the traditional way of life of Indigenous peoples and other communities has already been impacted. “These populations use the Tapajós River for fishing, bathing and other essential activities, and they also see it as part of their spiritual worldview,” he told Mongabay by phone.
The operation of the waterway is contributing to water contamination through the movement of sediments, mercury from mining activities, and other toxic substances, Alves said. By harming fishing, the primary source of food and income for many Indigenous and riverine families, the waterway poses a risk of food insecurity and social destabilization.
The Tapajós River also flows through protected areas, including the Tapajós-Arapiuns Extractive Reserve and the Tapajós National Forest, raising concerns about impacts on biodiversity. Environmental groups fear that dredging activities and the constant traffic of large vessels could affect the migration and reproduction of Amazonian turtles in the Monte Cristo tabuleiro, one of Brazil’s largest turtle sanctuaries, as well as impact fishes and other aquatic species.
Unlicensed dredging after severe droughts
The technical, economic and environmental feasibility study for the Tapajós concession is underway and is expected to be completed in early 2026. Due to low river levels caused by the 2024 drought, Brazil’s department of transport infrastructure, DNIT, conducted emergency dredging in February 2025 to ensure the passage of ferries carrying commodities — a measure requested by shipping companies.
The unexpected use of dredging machines alarmed traditional communities, which asked the Federal Public Ministry (MPF in Portuguese) to investigate possible irregularities. According to the prosecutors, dredging was carried out without an environmental license. They also said Indigenous communities were not consulted, as required under Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization (ILO), which guarantees the right to free, prior and informed consultation (FPIC) for any project that affects the life, territory or culture of Indigenous peoples.
A few days after the MPF filed the lawsuit, DNIT ended the dredging operation, saying the river had already reached its flood stage. As a result, a judge ruled that the case had lost its purpose.
Another lawsuit filed by the MPF is still active, as DNIT intends to dredge the Tapajós annually. “The Public Civil Action [legal procedure] preemptively asks that the state of Pará and DNIT comply with environmental and socioenvironmental laws, which include prior environmental impact studies, studies on impacts to Indigenous peoples, licensing, and prior consultation,” Alves said.
In an emailed statement to Mongabay, DNIT said there is an ongoing licensing process for maintenance dredging at seven critical navigation points on the Tapajós River. According to the agency, socioenvironmental impact studies and consultations with potentially affected communities will still be carried out. DNIT also said work will begin only after the state of Pará issues the license.
According to the Brazilian government, dredging to consolidate the waterway will initially be more intensive to establish a main channel, which would then require only maintenance and occasional interventions, with less impact. “We do not consider the Tapajós River complicated from an infrastructure standpoint. It already has very good navigability,” said de Queiroz, from ANTAQ.
Still, good navigability does not lessen the problems caused by increasing traffic, a scenario expected to worsen with the construction of Ferrogrão, a 933-km (580-mi) railway connecting the grain-producing state of Mato Grosso to the Tapajós River. According to preliminary studies released by the Ministry of Transport, this new railway could increase the volume of grain exports via rivers more than sixfold by 2049. Ferrogrão, a central component of Brazil’s plans for new transportation routes in the Amazon, is currently being challenged in the Supreme Court.
After demonstrating with banners alongside ferries loaded with soybeans and other commodities, more than 300 Indigenous people, riverine residents, activists and community communicators traveled by boat from Santarém to the Pará state capital, Belém, for COP30. It was a symbolic journey, following the agribusiness export route to denounce the construction of logistics infrastructure that affects rivers and territories.
“The struggle of Indigenous peoples and riverine communities is to stop the construction of the waterway,” said Pinto, from CIMI. “They will not give up.”
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