Brazil issues: Beyond the Criticism of Deforestation. M.Sc. Aline Guerrieri Moreira International Fellowship WFI Winter 2009

Transcription

1 Brazil issues: Beyond the Criticism of Deforestation M.Sc. Aline Guerrieri Moreira International Fellowship WFI Winter 2009

2 Presentation overview 1. About me 2. My project at WFI 3. Brazil General Information and Demographics 4. Forest Resources 5. Amazon and Deforestation 6. Social problems

3 1. Talking about me

4 My work at WFI To continue research and curriculum development for: Global Connections: Forests of the World + =

5 A TRIP THROUGH: BRAZIL - COUNTRY OF CONTRASTS

6 If I say Brazil what images comes to your mind? 6

7 Capital: Brasilia Government: Presidential Independence in 1822 from Portugal Language: Portuguese

8 Population: 191 million (5 th ) Land area: 845 million hectares (5 th ) Approximately 544 million hectares, 64% total area, are natural forest 17% of the world's remaining forests

9 Emperor ( ) Provisory Republic (1889) Republic (1889 today): blue is sky, yellow is the gold and green is the forest. Stars are the states. Future that we do not want

10 North Extraordinary landscape: no earthquakes, hurricanes or wars! Northeast Centre-West South Southeast 42% of Brazil s population 58%GDP

11 North Rich diversity in population and culture! and POPULATION Northeast Centre-West Southeast South

12 But harsh extremes as slums: Poor living condition, social exclusion, violence, environmental degradation

13 Big challenges: Too large an area to govern Too many people concentrated along the coast A growing economy Unequal distribution of income Member of BRIC Rising Emerging Countries GINI (inequality on income distribution): % poverty 36% in cities with more than 1 million

14 GINI index

15 What do the statistics mean?

16 Rural and poor

17 Urban and sophisticated

18 Isolated areas with some tribes have had little contact with the world Indigenous: less than 1% of the population, live mostly in the Amazon region. In 2007: reported around 60 different tribes yet living without contact with civilization.

19 International with a large middle class

20 Vast natural resources Brazil, 60% of the rainforest Amazon covers about 58% of Brazil It has been suggested that many new species of plants, insects, and microorganisms are still undiscovered. 20% of fresh water of the world 5000 species of trees (650 in the US) 2 nd in endemic species

21 Limited enforcement of environmental laws wildlife smuggling is Brazil's 3 rd most profitable illegal activity, after arms dealing and drug smuggling. Biopiracy

22 Intense urbanization on the coastal areas resulting in Urban concentration: 80% World s richest biodiversity Nowadays: 5% of Atlantic Forest destruction of Atlantic Forest

23 Urban development in preview forested area: erosion -landslide

24 Bad solutions: Gated favelas (2009): contributing to segregation

25 Instead of Creative and sustainable!!!

26 Amazon and Deforestation

27 Amazon region 5,500,000 km2 (2,123,562 sq mi) = 20 times State of Oregon!!!!! Or half size of the USA 66% public, 24% Private, 10% Special

28 Population Until 60 s population was 2,000,000 Nowadays: 20 million

29 The pattern: 70% Arc of deforestation Key element: human pressure

30 Back in the history of deforestation Misconception: recent occurrence, especially focusing in tropical regions since 1950!!!!!!!!!! Far back: half-amillion years ago fire use Possibly 9/10 of all global deforestation occurred before 1950

31 Exploitation of natural resource as old as Brazil In Brazil From 1500 to 1822, exploitation for external market. Brazilwood was for 30 years the only product extracted Forest destruction for: monocultures of sugar cane, cotton and tobacco mining: gold and diamond cattle ranching

32 Today: 5 main causes of deforestation

33 Cattle Beef exports: world s leader in 2003, surpassing Australia. Why in Amazon: cheap land and difficult control: cattle under trees 20% of pasture land is degraded because of overgrazing, compaction and erosion

34 Small scale agriculture and fire Fire: slash-and-burn agriculture Principal tool to clear land for planting soon after deforestation Fire escapes from agriculture land to forest land

35 Landless movement and agrarian reform More than 800,000 families in Amazon Each family can extract 3 hectares per year not too much. But the sum of all together is a problem: hectares

36 Logging 28 million cubic meters logged annually = 12 billion board feet (Oregon almost 4 billion)!!!!! 80% to Brazilian market Until 80 s very little logging: difficult access and high diversity In 2004, 4% of GNP (gross National Product) 3100 sawmills 6.7 million direct and indirect jobs 43% in 2004 was illegal

37 Infrastructure and Energy 90% energy in Brazil comes from hydropower = clean and sustainable Ethanol fuel is produced from sugar cane. Roads: 80% deforested area is located within 30km of an official road. BR-163: 1,100 mile cutting the heart of Amazon. Polemic debate!

38 Extra problems: Soybeans Soybeans: world's second largest producer. Production has increased more than 3000% in the last 35 years. Not planted in the Amazon but pushing the cattle into Amazon as soy plantation demand former cattle areas

39 Challenge: Control and technologies last 20 years: 60 satellites and U$ 1.4 billion 2006: Forest Service 5 million sqkm of Amazon controlled by 695 patrolmen, 1 ranger to 2 x Mt Hood National Forest Fines, 12% are cancelled for wrong form filling and 80% are just not paid. When paid, it last 3 years inside the government bureaucracy.

40 Social problems

41 Landless people: if they don t have access to land they will join the slums in the urban areas!!!

42 Local communities conflict and death 1988, Chico Mendes In 2005, Dorothy Stang Murdered by ranchers

43 Charcoal production: Slavery: 25,000 Brazilians work under "conditions analogous to slavery,"

44 Indigenous people Indigenous areas exploitation Brazilian's forest preservation plays a key role in the preservation of this native culture.

45 Some Good News

46 There is deforestation, but we also gain forest especially in the south

47

48 Extractivism

49 More holistic Valuation of the Forest Environmentalists have stated there is not only a biological incentive to protecting the rainforest, but an economic one as well. One hectare of the Amazon Rainforest has been calculated to have a value of: (A) $6820 if intact forest is sustainable harvested for fruits, latex, and timber; (B) $1000 if clear-cut for commercial timber (not sustainable harvested); (C) $148 if used as cattle pasture (Peters, C.M., Gentry, A.H. & Mendelsohn, R.O. (1989) "Valuation of an Amazonian Forest." Nature 339: )

50 Several possibilities Education Law enforcement Corruption combat Ecotourism Carbon market Certification Increase protected area Intensification of cattle rising Investment in forest restoration Increase extrativist reserves Higher Fines and fight against corruption qualification of workers and managers Additional financing to control agencies Payment for the ecological services Sustainable use and management of forest Incentive to the market of non timber products Technical support to settlers in developing sustainable use of their lands Increasing the budged to control and not only to monitoring the area Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) mechanism Technologies and technical knowledge about sustainable forest management practices must be shared

51 Illustrating why the problem is not only local

52 My questions to you What would you do if your country had areas so rich in natural resources still available? What would you do if your country were having such a good economical growth but at the same time such a high level of poverty? What would you do if you had such a big country and 80% of your population were living concentrated in the coast, in big cities, with a huge portion of them in miserable conditions? How conservation and development can maintain livelihood options?

53 References Human Pressure on the Brazilian Amazon Forests, Paulo Barreto (et al.), World Resources Institute, The Dynamics of Deforestation and Economic Growth in the Brazilian Amazon, Lykke E. Andersen [et al.], Cambridge, UK ; New York : Cambridge University Press, The last forest : the Amazon in the age of globalization, Mark London and Brian Kelly, New York : Random House, c2007. Brazilian Environmental Ministry

54 THANK YOU! OBRIGADA! The goal of dialogue is the discussion of our own knowledge and its relation to the reality, in order to better u nder stand, explain and change it. (Free translation of Paulo Freire)