Environmentalists Slam Brazil Over Fires

***********************************************

WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

***********************************************

Forest Networking a Project of forests.org

http://forests.org/ -- Forest Conservation Archives

http://forests.org/web/ -- Discuss Forest Conservation

9/6/99

OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY by EE

The significance of increased fires in the Amazon can not be

overemphasized. If humanity loses the Amazonian rainforest, we lose

one of the most important ecosystem engines, composed of priceless

biodiversity, which together helps to drive planetary ecological

functionality. International mechanisms to respond to global

ecological crises are inadequate. It is problematic that some of the

international players that are calling for economic austerity in

Brazil (which includes a 1/3 reduction in environmental spending) are

responsible for providing and coordinating international funding for

environmental objectives. Too often these roles work at cross-

purposes. Saving the Amazon is worth the price it would cost to

fully fund environmental programs, from International grants if

necessary, while helping Brazil weather its recession. It is

ludicrous to cut Amazon conservation programs as a response to cyclic

economic recession--any short term savings will end up being many

times more costly in the future; as ecosystems no longer function,

land productivity is diminished, and development aspirations are lost

due to lack of natural resources. There needs to be improved

international mechanisms to respond to ecological catastrophes in a

timely and comprehensive manner with funding, expertise and other

assistance. Things can not continue as they are, or the unraveling

of the Planet's ecological fabric will continue until all is ripped

asunder. The recurring Amazonian fires and the inadequate

International response are indicative of a deepening planetary

malaise from which we can run, but we can never hide. There will be

unspeakable consequences if at this juncture in history the World and

its institutions do next to nothing to address the rainforest crisis.

g.b.

*******************************

RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:

Title: Environmentalists slam Brazil over fires

Source: Reuters

Date: September 6, 1999

Byline: Joelle Diderich

BRASILIA - Environmentalists accused the Brazilian government of

doing too little to prevent and combat fires, set by farmers, that

have cast a thick haze over cities and made people sick.

Satellite images showed a sharp jump in the number of hot spots -

areas where there is a high probability that a fire is burning - in

the last days of August in the west-central states of Mato Grosso and

Mato Grosso do Sul.

A fire-induced haze has disrupted air traffic and triggered a rise in

respiratory infections and other distress among people living in the

area, especially children, state government officials said.

Roberto Smeraldi, head of a programme to protect the Amazon with

Friends of the Earth, said the Environment Ministry failed to keep

its promise earlier this year to put more emphasis on prevention and

training programmes.

"This year the Environment Ministry seemed to be taking what we

considered a more conscious, more forward-looking stance in terms of

how to combat the fires, but this has failed to translate into

practical measures," he said.

Local officials said they did not have enough money and firefighters

to battle the fires, which are traditionally set between July and

October to prepare the soil for planting.

High rates of poverty and illiteracy in the mainly agricultural

centre-west meant government efforts to highlight the dangers of

setting unsupervised fires during the dry season had been largely

ignored.

Activists also said the problem was made worse by a lack of federal

money. The Environment Ministry's budget was cut by a third as part

of a sweeping government austerity programme.

"There is no money," said Garo Batmanian, executive director in

Brazil of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). "The rest of the

government only acts, only realises that this is an issue, when the

problem begins."

Government officials were not immediately available to respond, but a

local news agency said Environment Minister Jose Sarney Filho was

irritated by the criticism.

"I didn't know that the government was now responsible for the

drought in Brazil," Sarney Filho was quoted as saying by Agencia

Estado.

Officials at the government's Environment Agency (Ibama) said that

hot spots across Brazil fell to 30,123 in August from 33,229 in

August 1998, a reduction of 10 percent.

But environmental organisations said that figure was still too high.

"I would say the fires this year are more or less within normal

levels, but we are talking about normal levels which are terrible,"

said Smeraldi. "These are normal levels which lead to irreversible

damage to the environment every year."

Experts say damage from the fires ranges from the destruction of

local flora and fauna to long-term impact on human health and loss of

revenues from tourism.

Fires set in grazing pastures frequently burn out of control,

spreading to forests where they creep through ground-level foliage,

destroying young trees and reducing the soil's protection against

erosion once rains return.

Batmanian said hotels in the Pantanal, the world's largest intact

wetland, which covers a large swath of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do

Sul, also reported a sharp drop in eco-tourism because of the fires.

###RELAYED TEXT ENDS###

This document is a PHOTOCOPY for educational, personal and non-

commercial use only. Recipients should seek permission from the

source for reprinting. All efforts are made to provide accurate,

timely pieces; though ultimate responsibility for verifying all

information rests with the reader. Check out our Gaia's Forest

Conservation Archives & Portal at URL= http://forests.org/

Networked by forests.org, gbarry@forests.org