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Tourism Turns Combu Island Into International Attraction, But Residents Face Environmental Degradation, Lack of Oversight, and Pressure on Natural Resources
Leaving from the port of Belém, in just a few minutes by boat, the urban landscape gives way to the Amazon rainforest. This quick encounter with nature has made Combu Island a sought-after tourist destination. Once silent and marked by riverside living, the region has started to receive visitors from various parts of the world.
The impact was immediate. Ronaldo Pinho, 41, grew up in the area and makes a living from harvesting açaí, fishing, and more recently, transporting tourists.
The activity has created a new occupation and a larger source of income. In just one trip, his 20-seat boat can earn 240 reais.
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He acknowledges that tourism has brought jobs and opportunities for the residents. However, he warns about the disappearance of shrimp, a species that once thrived in the island’s rivers. For many, the constant flow of boats contributes to this imbalance.
Uncontrolled Growth Cycle
The arrival of tourists creates a chain reaction. More visitors generate more businesses, which in turn attract new tourists. Restaurants and guesthouses have multiplied in the last decade, changing the landscape of the island.
The problem is that this advancement occurs without an environmental control plan. The increase in boats and jet skis accelerates the wear of riverside vegetation.
Waves caused by the vessels erode banks and cause siltation. Trees fall into the river, further altering the ecosystem.
Raquel Ferreira, owner of a tourism agency founded in 2019, closely monitors this transformation.
Every week she takes groups to the island and observes the decline of vegetation and aquatic life. For her, the biggest problem is not the presence of tourists, but the absence of oversight.
Protected Area Without Monitoring
Combu Island was declared an environmental protection area in 1997. The law mandates the preservation of biodiversity, regulation of human occupation, and sustainable use of resources. However, in practice, there is no oversight.
This control vacuum allows businesses to grow in an unregulated manner. Living conditions for residents worsen.
Even surrounded by rivers, many have to cross to Belém just to buy gallon jugs of drinking water. Sanitation is inadequate and waste is disposed of improperly.
Jonathan Nunes, a researcher at the Federal University of Pará, studies the advancement of urbanization on the island. He points out that the real estate speculation by non-natives pressures the original residents, who end up reduced to service providers.
For him, tourism has brought income but has not resolved historical problems such as deforestation, pollution, and social exclusion.
Belém in Light of COP 30
The situation on the island contrasts with Belém’s position on the international stage. The city will host COP 30, a conference that will bring together global leaders to discuss climate change.
Even so, Belém faces its own environmental issues. The IBGE indicates the capital as the sixth least wooded city in Brazil, with more than 55% of the population living on tree-less streets.
CarbonPlan, an independent organization, projects that Belém could become the second hottest city in the world by 2050.
These data reveal the challenge for the Amazonian capital: being a host for an environmental conference while dealing with significant local degradation.
Sustainable Tourism as an Alternative
Despite the negative impacts, residents and entrepreneurs are trying to find another way. Raquel bets on community-based tourism. Her work involves small groups of visitors, respecting traditions and environmental limits.
She argues that sustainable tourism can be a conservation tool, as long as it is well planned.
For her, the Amazon is not just a landscape, but also the people who live in it. This approach aims to include residents in the process and ensure that they are not merely spectators of the transformation.
The experience shows that it is possible to create routes that combine income generation and preservation. But it depends on clear rules and effective oversight.
Hope with International Visibility
While the island continues to be pressured by tourist flow and lack of control, Ronaldo continues to balance transporting tourists with harvesting açaí. He has seen neighbors abandon their homes, fleeing the unregulated growth.
Even so, he remains hopeful that the attention brought by COP 30 can change this reality. For him, it is urgent that the government pays closer attention to the islands of Belém.
“We need more oversight, which brings real benefits to those who live here. This piece of forest is our home, and we want to preserve it,” sums up Ronaldo.
Amid economic advances and environmental losses, Combu Island symbolizes the dilemma faced by the Amazon: how to reconcile tourism, development, and preservation in a space where nature is both wealth and victim.
With information from G1.
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