amazoning

C-1
“Amazoning”
“Last of the Amazon”
National Geographic
January 2007
Joshua Hahn, MLab

SUMMARY
Besides being the world’s most biologically diverse habitat, the Amazon supplies a seemingly endless array of natural resources. It has the ability to produce half of its own rainfall. It has the ability to support an entire economy of logging and agriculture. Thus the Amazon is suffering from a restless battle between environmental conservation and economic stability. Because of human activities in the Amazon it is believed that an additional 20% will be destroyed over the next two decades. In Brazil most land is obtained illegally; more than 62,000 claims appeared to be fraudulent. Brazil’s environmental protection agency, Instituto Brasiliero do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renovaies (IBAMA) with the few members it has cannot possibly monitor the thousands of square miles of territory effectively, especially since members have been involved in conspiracies aiding the illegal export of timber. Grileiros are the alleged “land grabbers” involved with exploiting these resources; they are wealthy individuals awaiting to kill any who oppose. It began in the 1970s when the Brazilian military dictatorship stressed the policy “integrar para nao entregar” which translates as “occupy it or risk losing it”. The will of the land was based on utilizing the resources; today it fuels the motifs for land fraud and environmental crime. Environmentalists such as Dorothy Stang preached the ideals of social environmentalism. She valued the ideal family farmers who extract their sustenance in harmony with the land; she believed human rights and conservation in the Amazon are intertwined. She was sadly shot to death by two gunmen opposed of her preaching. Business owners such as Blairo Maggio of he Maggio Group believe deforestation is blown out of proportion and moreover a phobia that plagues people who cannot grasp the enormity of the Amazon. He is praised for his efforts to regenerate depleted soil; his business stands for no illegally cleared land, no slave labor, no spraying of agro toxins within 500 meters of a stream. What Maggio fails to address are the effects of the large amounts of fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides forced upon the neighboring indigenous communities whom are suffering from poisoned water and dying fish. Satellite imagery proves that many areas of the owned land is in zero compliance with conservation laws as well. Only the indigenous people can credibly emphasize the benefits of the Amazon. It provides carbon sequestering, mitigates global warming, cleanses the atmosphere and sustains a vast amount of biodiversity. The market has yet to assign such value to the Amazon.

KEY POINTS
1. In the past 40 years, 20% of the Amazon has been destroyed which is more
than in the past 450 years since European colonization.
2. According to the market deforestation is blown out of proportion, a phobia that plagues environmentalists who cannot grasp the enormity of the Amazon.
3. The Amazon has a value to biodiversity, to life which the market simply cannot comprehend.

OPINION
Precedents of failed civilizations alone need be the reason for responsible means of sustainability. Almost every great civilization has met its end by carelessly overusing its resources, of depleting them. The Amazon rainforest is a wonder, a wonder of biodiversity and a wonder of natural capitol. It can sustain life and an economy simultaneously. But human activities stem greater than what the forest can endure. Thus it faces an uncertain fate: 1) Exploitation to uphold an economy 2) Conservation to protect the environment. One tactic implemented alone will destroy the other. It is the cooperation of both, the extraction of resources combined with the responsibilities of conservation that will save the Amazon rainforest from destruction. Environmentalists and Businessmen united makes the difference a reality. Environmentalists acknowledge that life has the genetics to regenerate itself. Businessmen understand the inevitability of profit margins rising and falling on the graph. It is the responsibility of both to remember such principles.