Paraguay to modify highway regulations due to climate change

Paraguay will update its regulations for the construction of highways due to environmental damage to the country's road network during the last year, public works and communications vice minister Juan Manuel Cano said. He attributed worsening weather conditions to climate change.

The official stated that these events have caused "significant deterioration of the country's road networks", which forces authorities to take new considerations when designing roads, a press release from the public works ministry (MOPC) says.

Cano said that the regulation update is being carried out by the country's highway association APC with help from the Inter-American development bank IDB.

The officer said that climate change has ushered in heavier rains that can fall in a relatively short time period, which in turn causes "significant erosion and endangers embankments and hydraulic works."

He said that hydraulic works have to be adjusted in order to adapt to the new climate reality. "This marks an important landmark in recognizing the problem, and generating the necessary changes to accompany this process," Cano said.

Earlier this year, heavier than normal rains caused damage to roads, buildings and other structures in the southern Misiones and Itapúa departments.