As the world turns its eyes to Brazil for next year’s critical COP30 climate summit, the future of the Amazon and its peoples stand at a dangerous crossroads. Brazilian agribusiness and global commodity traders like Cargill are attempting to drive a mega-railway through COP30’s host state, Pará.

Known as Ferrogrão, this 933 km railway would slice through the Amazon, gravely violating the rights of local communities and devastating forests.

Tailored to serve the export of soy and corn that comes largely at the expense of the Amazon and Cerrado, the project would lock in ever-growing expansion of monocultures and carve a new track of destruction across the already deeply impacted Tapajós and Xingu River basins.

Yet while its proponents attempt to ram the project forward, popular resistance is mounting. Next week’s massive Indigenous “Free Land Camp” mobilization in Brasilia will center the fight against Ferrogrão as a symbol of Brazil’s intensifying struggle for social and environmental justice.