hile Brazil is acclaimed as probably the most biologically diverse
country in the world, its vast natural wealth is constantly under
threat. The Atlantic Forest, which once stretched along the entire
Atlantic coast of Brazil and as far inland as eastern Paraguay
and Argentina, was decimated when the area was colonized and transformed
into the country's main agricultural and industrial base. It has
also become the main population centre with huge cities like Rio
de Janeiro and São Paulo. Today less than 10 per cent of
the original forest remains and less than one per cent of this
is pristine. These scattered forest remnants are crucial for watershed
protection, prevention of soil erosion, and conservation of rare
species - many found only in this region. Although much of the
remaining forest is now inside protected areas, these are not
effectively protected or controlled. Brush and forest fires, road
construction, tree cutting, and uncontrolled tourism are major
threats.
Deforestation remains a constant problem in the vast Amazon region.
Slash and burn, shifting agriculture, and logging destroy up to
76,800km2 of tropical forest each year, while mining
for gold displaces forest people from their land and poisons watersheds
with mercury. Elsewhere, unsustainable ranching and farming continue,
and commercial logging is expected to increase when timber stocks
from Asia are exhausted.
The Pantanal - a vast inland delta formed by the Paraguay, Paraná
and La Plata Rivers - is vulnerable to the effects of deforestation,
siltation due to gold mining activities, and pollution from agricultural
chemicals and gold mining. A far bigger threat is the plan to
construct the Hydrovia - a massive waterway transport system linking
Porto Cáceres in Brazil to Puerto Nueva Palmira in Uruguay.
The multinational project, involving the governments of Argentina,
Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, envisages draining about
1.75 million km2 of land. The Pantanal is famous for
its large bird population and scientists fear the scheme will
affect not only the hydrology but also the ecology of the entire
region through dredging and channelization.
The rich savannahs of the Cerrado region in central Brazil were
largely untouched until just over a decade ago. Since then, the
Cerrado has become Brazil's new agricultural frontier as immigrants
from the south have occupied and cleared vast areas to cultivate
soybean and other exportcrops. Destruction rates reputedly
higher than those in Amazonia threaten many of the Cerrado's unique
forests. Deforestation and intensive agriculture in the Cerrado
also pose a threat to other ecological regions in Brazil because
the headwaters and tributaries of the country's major watersheds
- the Amazon, Paraná, Paraguay and São Francisco
- all lie within the Cerrado.
Elsewhere, Brazil's coastal and marine environments are threatened
by the effects of overpopulation and agricultural and industrial
development. Most of Brazil's major cities and more than half
its population live along or near the 7,400km2 coastline.
Petrochemical complexes and paper mills dotted along the coast
contribute to coastal pollution. Other threats to delicate ecosystems
include land speculation, road construction, landfill operations,
and destructive fishing practices.
Although Brazil has some of the most progressive environmental
legislation in the world, this has proved ineffective in halting
environmental destruction. The problems include a shortage of
law enforcement personnel, the difficulty in monitoring vast,
inaccessible and remote areas, and the lack of regulations to
implement legal measures. To make matters worse, few of the legally
established protected areas are adequately managed or guarded.
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