There are 2 media bombs dominating the political debate in Brazil - besides the tabloid-style war exploiting the murder of a 5-year-old girl tossed from the 9th floor of her parents' apartment (or something like that).
No.1 is the conflict between rice farmers and indigenous peoples in Roraima, which has been escalated during last weeks since some representatives from the Brazilian Army decided to give their opinions about the case and provoke a big media war. Now there are several "bullshit experts" having their thoughts expressed in the most important media vehicles, as if they were THE wise voices on Amazon issues. My opinion? These people are contributing to misinform Brazilian population about what really matters in Roraima and they use the same old scarecrows to do it. I totally agree with Manuela da Cunha&Ana Valeria Araujo positions on yesterday's FSP. But anyway... we can talk more about WHAT this is conflict is all about later.
The media bomb no. 2 is related to "deforestation vs world food crisis". Mato Grosso State's Governor, Blairo Maggi, gave a speech on Friday about deforestation as a remedy to the food crisis: he defended that "the right to deforest" (it means opening new areas, provided that not illegally) is an inevitable mechanism to meet the growing demand for food in the world.
Mato Grosso is the in the "border" of the Amazon and other biomas; and is one of the biggest soya producer sites in the world. The State has been largely and fastly deforested in last 10 years.
Blairo Maggi defended a global dialogue on how to reach a balance between nature conservation and food production, as climate changes are already negatively affecting many production areas while investments on biotechnology are still palliative; "they could appease the crisis, but barely in the short run".
After this declaration, a lot of reactions came: Brazil's Ministry of Environment opposed to deforestation as a remedy to the food crisis ("we cannot deal with the problems using the same ineffective solutions"said the Minister), yesterday. Today, the Green Party asked for clarification from Maggi's side and there is an article in Folha de Sao Paulo where a representative of farmers's sindicate affirms that the forest has extremely low economic value, thus cattle ranching is "the business" for the Amazon. This sir also denies the connection between deforestation and violence, which is also another hot topic.
As you see, things are VERY hot down there...
1 kommentar:
Just saw this brilliant comment posted by a reader of Folha de Sao Paulo on bomb no.2:
"Mato Grosso é um Estado que produz soja para bois e porcos da China, da Europa e dos EUA, entre outros países para os quais ela é exportada. E algodão não é alimento. Restam, em Mato Grosso, a pecuária -a maior parte para exportação- e o arroz. O agronegócio está voltado para o enriquecimento dos latifundiários, e não para alimentar o povo. No "Desmatamento Grosso", não há incentivo para a agricultura familiar, por isso frutas, verduras, legumes e outros grãos são levados de Goiás e de São Paulo para lá e vendidos a um preço alto. Portanto, que know-how tem o governador Blairo Maggi para falar da produção de alimentos para a população brasileira ("Desmatar é remédio para crise da comida, diz Maggi" (Ciência, 25/4)?"
MARIA CRISTINA TRONCARELLI (São Paulo, SP)
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