A thin brown line east of the Ucayali River snakes through an expanse of green rainforest in eastern Peru. The road—originally called OX1 and now UC-105—first appears in Landsat satellite imagery in 1987. Landsat images indicate that the surrounding forest stayed mostly intact for more than two decades, despite the activity of oil and logging companies. But starting in 2017, large clearings have sprung up on either side of the road, and networks of smaller roads connected to it have pushed deeper into the rainforest. “The pace of change in the past five years is staggering,” said David Salisbury, a University of Richmond professor who has been doing field work in the region for decades. “It’s also a preview of what is to come if this road is paved and extends all the way to Puerto Breu. Most of the deforestation in the Amazon rainforest happens within 5 kilometers (3 miles) of roads.” The pair of satellite images above show the extent of the change between the Ucayali and Genepanshea rivers.
