Rio’s slum walls to protect jungle

RIO DE JANEIRO’s state government will build 11km of concrete walls around some of the biggest slums in an effort to halt deforestation of the jungle surrounding the metropolis, officials said.

Ten-foot-high walls will be built this year around sections of at least 11 slums, said Icaro Moreno, president of the state’s public works department. The project will cost $17 million (e12.85m). Standing atop the Dona Marta slum in the shadow of Rio’s famed Christ statue, Moreno pointed to a 100-yard section of the first wall under construction. Work began a few weeks ago.

Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research, which monitors forest destruction, reported in December that between 2005 and 2008, deforestation of Rio’s urban rainforest had doubled compared with the previous three years. About 506 acres were destroyed in the last three years, most of which officials blame on the expansion of slums as more newcomers from Brazil’s interior arrive in the city.