City Hall officially gives up on building a racetrack in the Camboatá Forest

Last Friday (29/01), the Rio de Janeiro City Hall sent a letter to the State Environmental Institute (INEA) requesting that the process, of which it is the holder, for the licensing of the construction of the Rio International Race Track, in the Camboatá Forest, in the West Zone of the capital, be shelved. The measure guarantees the preservation of up to 200 thousand trees, in a lowland Atlantic Forest area, a forest considered rare, sheltering endangered species.

In the document sent to Inea, the agency responsible for licensing the project, the municipal secretary of the Environment, Eduardo Cavaliere, highlights that the Camboatá Forest is an environmental heritage site of the city of Rio, which plays a fundamental role in connecting the Pedra Branca and Mendanha massifs, units protected by state and municipal legislation. Cavaliere emphasizes that Camboatá is considered a priority for the project to create “Green Corridors” in the capital.

The secretary determined, in an internal order dated January 29, the reopening of the process (initiated in 2013) for the creation of a conservation unit in the area.

– If it’s up to the City Hall, this racetrack will not be built in Camboatá. It was a campaign promise made by Mayor Eduardo Paes that is being fulfilled. In the Decade of Environmental Restoration, we need to talk about recovering green spaces, not destroying them – he says.

With 160 hectares (of which 108 are in good condition), Camboatá is a reference to the gentle elevation of land that exists there, the Morro do Camboatá. It is home to 146 species of flora, of which 14 are threatened, in addition to 150 bird species and 19 mammal species.

In May 2019, the company Rio Motorpark won the bid to build the racetrack on the site. On November 19 of last year, by 10 votes to 3, the councilors of the State Commission for Environmental Control (Ceca), an agency of the State Secretariat for the Environment and Sustainability (Seas), decided to request additional studies from the company.

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• News

February 1, 2021

Appointments: Racetrack camboata environment City Hall of Rio