As we all know Brazil is developing, the economy is growing, the income of the population is rising... all this are really good news. Brazil is also going to host the soccer world cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016, with the economy expanding and these two really important events coming in the next few years, Brazil is putting in action many development plans. I am writing about two of them in this post, first the construction of the Belo Monte Dam and second the approval of the new forest code.
Plans of building the Belo Monte Dam started in 1975 during Brazil's military dictadorship, under the name of Kararaô. The project was never approved, because it would affect too much the environment, 5 dams would be built and 1,3 thousand km2 would be flooded. The new project called Belo Monte Dam that is already under construction, predicts that 516 km2 will be flooded and only 1 dam will be built. Even though the environmental damages were cut to 60% it is still a lot. The proponents of the dam argue that this number represents 1/14 of what is deforested in the Amazon per year, that the construction is not THAT bad. The ones that are opposing to the project says that the construction of the dam will affect and displace thousands of indigenous populations and cause high environmental effects, that will take decades to "fix" the environmental damages if it is even fixable.
The population is divided as of now, there are a lot of debates whether the dam is overall good or bad for the country, but as we keep debating the dam is being built, and construction will be concluded in 2015. I just hope that we can trust that the government is being responsible regarding our forest and our biodiversity.
The second development plan is the approval by the senate of the new forest code. As the Financial times stated it: "Environmentalists say the new law amounts to an amnesty for illegal clearing by ranchers, while proponents say it provides much-needed legal certainty for farmers in the world’s largest producer of coffee, sugar, beef and orange juice." For the ex-senator, ex-minister and ex-member of the Partido Verde (Green Party) Marina Silva this change in the forest code threatens the international commitment that Brazil made to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases and weakens the image of Brazil as a leader and reference for other countries that protect their forests. Dilma Rousseff can still use her presidential veto, and many international organizations such as World Wild Fund is hoping that she will.
It doesn't look like Brazil is following the safe and responsible path to develop, but as a Brazilian citizen and most importantly as a world citizen, I hope that soon Ill be proven wrong.
*sources:
http://www.estadao.com.br/noticias/vidae,mudanca-no-codigo-florestal-ameaca-lideranca-do-brasil-diz-marina-silva,807921,0.htm
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/19374ef0-2103-11e1-8133-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1fslZz2ea
http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usina_Hidrel%C3%A9trica_de_Belo_Monte
No comments:
Post a Comment