Environment of Brazil

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Brazil is located in South America. LocationBrazil.png
Brazil is located in South America.

The environment of Brazil is characterized by high biodiversity with a population density that decreases away from the coast.

Contents

Brazil's large area comprises different ecosystems, which together sustain some of the world's greatest biodiversity. Because of the country's intense economic and demographic growth, Brazil's ability to protect its environmental habitats has increasingly come under threat.

Extensive legal and Illegal logging destroys forests the size of a small country per year, and with it a diverse series of species through habitat destruction and habitat fragmentation. [1] Between 2002 and 2006, an area of the Amazon Rainforest equivalent in size to the State of South Carolina was completely deforested for the purposes of raising cattle and woodlogging. [2] In April 2012 Brazil's powerful farm lobby won a long-sought victory after the National Congress of Brazil approved a controversial forestry bill that environmentalists say will speed deforestation in the Amazon as more land is opened for producing food. [3] By 2020, at least 50% of the species resident in Brazil may become extinct. [2]

There is a general consensus that Brazil has the highest number of both terrestrial vertebrates and invertebrates of any single country in the world. [4] Also, Brazil has the highest primate diversity, [4] the highest number of mammals, [4] the highest number of amphibians, the second highest number of butterflies, [4] the third highest number of birds, [4] and second highest number of reptiles. [4] There is a high number of endangered species, [5] many of them living in threatened habitats such as the Atlantic Forest.

Biota

Climate

Geography

Climate change

Energy

Protected areas

Waste management

In August 2010 the President signed the National Policy on Solid Waste (NPSW) which became the first national law to deal with waste management. However, various states and municipalities already had laws and regulations on the books concerning waste management. The law calls for the Ministry of the Environment to compile a National Plan on Solid Waste with a 20-year horizon to be updated every four years.

Environmental policy and law

Brazil has one of the most complete environmental legislations in the world. [6] However, the laws in this legislation haven’t been adequately enforced in the past, compromising their effectiveness towards protecting the natural environment in this nation with a rich biodiversity of fauna and flora. [6]

The Brazilian Environmental Policy (1981) was the first real breakthrough concerning environmental protection and sustainability. Before this, there were polluting emissions guidelines that allowed industries to pollute to a certain extent without being liable to any environmental damage. However, after this policy was passed, strict liability was applied which determined that industries were accountable for all the pollution they were causing. Therefore, from then onwards, polluters would be responsible for all the damage they caused. [7] Just after this policy was implemented, laws were introduced that authorised public prosecutors to act in defence of the environment, and later on, another law was introduced which allowed NGOs to do the same. [7] The Brazilian Ministry of the Environment is the agency in charge of coordinating, supervising and controlling the Brazilian Environmental Policy. It is also responsible for promoting the use of sustainable natural resources and applying sustainable development within the formulation and implementation of national policies. [8]

Environmental licensing is a legal obligation before any potentially damaging and polluting activities take place in any part of Brazil’s territory. A framework has been created by the federal government called the National Environment System (SISNAMA), which includes local state government environment agencies, the National Environmental Council (CONAMA) and the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA), in order to facilitate the licensing process.

IBAMA is the Brazilian government’s main tool for providing information with regards to environmental welfare and protection, and acts as the “environmental police”. Despite its administrative and financial autonomy, it is responsible for implementing new policies and standards for environmental quality, evaluating environmental impacts, examining environmental degradation and for distributing environmental licenses. [9] IBAMA has the power to impose administrative fines, but when more serious environmental crimes are committed, it is responsible for informing federal authorities for further prosecution. [9]

The challenge Brazil is currently facing is to find a solution as to how powerful actors can be encouraged to abide by environmental regulation and enforce these policies. In order to address this, former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed a decree on July 22, 2008 that would improve the process of imposing fines and sanctions on people and institutions committing environmental crimes. [10]

Monitoring the occurrence of environmental crimes and policing areas in a country with vast expanses of forests, including the Amazon Rainforest and the Atlantic Forest has proved to be a difficult task. IBAMA and the Brazilian Armed Forces are the main organisations used by the federal government to actively protect Brazil’s natural ecosystems. The main tactics used to deter environmental degradation and to improve sustainability is to use direct force, such as fines and jail terms. This reflects the command-and-control system in which regulation and environmental protection is carried out in Brazil.

Environmental issues

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Environmental law</span> Branch of law concerning the natural environment

Environmental law is a collective term encompassing aspects of the law that provide protection to the environment. A related but distinct set of regulatory regimes, now strongly influenced by environmental legal principles, focus on the management of specific natural resources, such as forests, minerals, or fisheries. Other areas, such as environmental impact assessment, may not fit neatly into either category, but are nonetheless important components of environmental law.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Environmental protection</span> Practice of protecting the natural environment

Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment by individuals, organizations and governments. Its objectives are to conserve natural resources and the existing natural environment and, where possible, to repair damage and reverse trends.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources</span>

Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources is the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment's administrative arm. IBAMA supports anti-deforestation of the Amazon, and implements laws against deforestation where the government ceases to implement. IBAMA works to keep the forest from loggers, farming, agricultural farm grazing and anything that would threaten the Amazon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cabo Orange National Park</span>

The Cabo Orange National Park is a National park located in Amapá state in the north of Brazil, near the border between Brazil and French Guiana.

Environmental issues in Brazil include deforestation, illegal wildlife trade, illegal poaching, air, land degradation, and water pollution caused by mining activities, wetland degradation, pesticide use and severe oil spills, among others. As the home to approximately 13% of all known species, Brazil has one of the most diverse collections of flora and fauna on the planet. Impacts from agriculture and industrialization in the country threaten this biodiversity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">São Joaquim National Park</span>

São Joaquim National Park is a National park in the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Serra do Pardo National Park</span>

The Serra do Pardo National Park is a National park in the state of Pará, Brazil.

Petrópolis Environmental Protection Area is a protected area of Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil.

Even though progress has been made in conserving Brazil’s landscapes, the country still faces serious threats due to its historical land use. Amazonian forests substantially influence regional and global climates and deforesting this region is both a regional and global driver of climate change due to the high amounts of deforestation and habitat fragmentation that have occurred this region.

Environmental governance is a concept in environmental policy that steers markets, technology and society towards achieving the goal of sustainability. It considers social, economic and environmental aspects in the decision making of its policies.

The Ministry of Environment and Climate Change is a cabinet-level federal ministry in Brazil. The ministry emerged from the Special Secretariat for the Environment within the now-extinct Ministry of the Interior from 1974 to 1985. It has gone through several name changes since its inception.

Trairão National Forest is a national forest in the state of Pará, Brazil. It contains a large area of Amazon rainforest with high biodiversity. It is a sustainable use conservation unit in which logging is allowed subject to a management plan, and was created in an effort to curb illegal deforestation in the area.

The Jamanxim National Forest is a national forest created in 2006 in the state of Pará, Brazil. The purpose is to ensure sustainable use of forest resources. The forest contains a sizeable population of settlers without land titles, and informal forest clearing and burning was continuing two years after the national forest had been created. Disputes over the legality of the forest creation were continuing in 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carajás National Forest</span>

The Carajás National Forest is a national forest in the state of Pará, Brazil. It covers the Serra dos Carajás, an area with large deposits of iron ore, and attempts to combine the roles of supporting mineral extraction with preserving the environment and maintaining biodiversity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amazon Region Protected Areas Program</span>

The Amazon Region Protected Areas Program is a joint initiative sponsored by government and non-government agencies to expand protection of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Imazon</span>

Imazon is a non-profit organisation based in Belém, Pará, Brazil, that is dedicated to conserving the Amazon rainforest. It has published many reports on aspects of conserving the Amazon environment, has had a significant impact on environmental policy in Brazil, and has developed tools through which deforestation may be viewed online.

The Lorena National Forest is a national forest in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. It protects a relatively small fragment of Atlantic Forest.

The Bom Futuro National Forest is a national forest in the state of Rondônia, Brazil. The forest has been subject to a massive invasion of loggers, ranchers and farmers.

The Capivara-Confusões Ecological Corridor is an ecological corridor in the caatinga biome of the state of Piauí in northeast Brazil.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Environmentalism in Rio Grande do Sul</span>

Environmentalismin Rio Grande do Sul refers to the movement constituted by scientists and laymen in defense of the environment of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Although there are some records of protests against environmental destruction as early as the 19th century, a more consistent movement only took shape in the mid-20th century, following scientific advances and realizing that the destruction and emerging threats at this time were already significant. Since then, environmentalism has proven to be a topic of growing popular appeal.

References

  1. USDA Forest Service website, Forest Service International Programs: Brazil, retrieved February 2007.
  2. 1 2 Wilson, E. O.; Peter, F. M. (1998). National Academic Press website. doi:10.17226/989. ISBN   978-0-309-03739-6. PMID   25032475 . Retrieved 2007-06-12.
  3. Brazilian Forestry Legislation Advances April 26, 2012
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Marco Lambertini (2000). "A Naturalist's Guide to the Tropics" . Retrieved 2007-06-19.
  5. Ministério do Meio Ambiente. "Lista Nacional das Espécies da Fauna Brasileira Ameaçadas de Extinção" (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2007-06-20.
  6. 1 2 "17 leis sobre Meio Ambiente". Archived from the original on 2011-07-28. Retrieved 2011-04-08.
  7. 1 2 "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-07. Retrieved 2011-04-08.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. "Ministério do Meio Ambiente".
  9. 1 2 "Institucional".
  10. "Environmental Law in Brazil - Environment - Brazil".