Environmental and Social Issues in Brazil

By Chloe Balcom

There are many detrimental environmental issues occurring all over the world. This past year an enormous amount of attention was brought to South America, specifically Brazil, due to the drastic Amazon forest fires that arose in 2019. This event piqued my interest in learning more information about the region’s environmental conditions and policies. The tropical area has numerous environmental problems due to deforestation, overpopulation, and pollution. It is extremely important to realize that what is happening in Brazil affects the rest of the world tremendously since we rely on the country for so many of our resources. 

Brazil has always had an issue with seasonal forest fires in the Amazon Rainforest, but in 2019 the fires grew more out of control than ever before. Thousands of outbreaks of fires appeared all throughout the entire rainforest. Although there is dry weather in Brazil, that is not the only cause for these eruptions of fires. Many people would like to believe that the main reason that the rainforest is being destroyed is due to natural disasters such as drought. It is sad to think that a majority of the destruction is caused by humans, on purpose.

Brazil is highly known for producing soy and cocoa as cash crops. In order to keep up with the demand, the farmers insist on an increase of deforestation to create more space for their agriculture. The political figures of Brazil seem to be completely fine with sacrificing their nature and wildlife in exchange for more money and products to trade. The current President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, would rather put the economy first and has no concern for the precious land in Brazil.

According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), 90% of the forest ecosystem in southern Brazil has been wiped out due to the expansion of growing cocoa since the 1970s. It is not only farmers who want to tear down the trees, but also landowners and anyone who wishes to build property in the location. It was also very disturbing to learn that Greenpeace discovered that more than half the wood that is used by the two largest timber-producing regions most likely come from an illegal source, according to Conservation International. It has also been discovered that people go into the rainforest and deliberately cut down trees and set fires. This is also known as “slash and burning.” Although slashing and burning intentionally causes the fire, the fire can sometimes grow to become out of the person’s control and destroy even more land than intended.

The Amazon Rainforest provides an extensive amount of oxygen to the entire world, not just South America. Without the Amazon Rainforest, the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere would decrease severely. The Amazon Rainforest is about 6.7 million square kilometers, which is twice the size of India (TowardsDataScience). It is filled with millions of different species of trees and animals. It is terrifying to see how quickly that much land can be depleted. Not only does it threaten our own lives by destroying the rainforest, but it also savagely demolishes natural habitats of animals, which risks extinction of many animals. 

In addition, animals are not the only ones living in the forest. The Amazon Rainforest is known to be a home to a number of indigenous people. These fires are not only causing complete chaos in their natural terrain, but are also murdering innocent animals that cannot escape from the fires fast enough. It truly is unfair to rip away the homes of millions of animals for our own greed and no one should not have the right to do it.

According to AZO Clean Tech, the largest city in Brazil, São Paulo, is known to be extremely overpopulated with a high pollution issue. Since a majority of the land in Brazil is taken up by the Amazon, a majority of the residents are forced to live in the main urban cities. Many people also wanted to move into the cities because of the growth of urbanization. Since there are so many people put into one area, it causes stress for water, food, and energy sources. There are also many illegal immigrants who come into Brazil, which greatly increases the population number.

Overpopulation leads to many other issues for the cities, which includes housing shortages, lack of job opportunity, crime, and less sanitation. There is simply just not enough resources to accommodate the amount of people living in the city. People are forced to live in shantytowns, or small homes with a large number of residents known as “favelas.” Favelas are built in unsafe, nonresidential areas because it makes it cheaper, but they also do not have a proper sewage system or energy source in that area, which leads to the spread of bacteria and diseases.

The crime rate drastically increases because of this issue since people cannot make enough money to support themselves legally. Muggings, robberies, kidnappings, and gang violence are common crimes that occur in Brazil. I have a friend who visits Brazil often because she has family there and she once explained to me how if she and her sisters want to go out at night they have to dress as men in order to prevent kidnapping and robberies.

The only way to fix these problems is to first recognize the numerous issues that are present and formulate different approaches that can work to make a change. No issue is going to be fixed by just talking about it. Although it is very important to speak out about the predicaments in order to bring awareness to more people, it is even more crucial to create a plan for progression in the future. No substantial change happens overnight. Brazil needs to reform and expand the residential life in the cities to assure that everyone has a home before the country can focus on expanding urbanization. The government also needs to find a way to lower the crime rate since none of their current methods are working. Additionally, if the Amazon Rainforest is going to be saved, South America needs to ensure the stop of deforestation and also to restore what has been eliminated.

Works Cited

Smith, Brett. “Brazil: Environmental Issues, Policies and Clean Technology.” AZoCleantech.com, 8 Aug. 2019, www.azocleantech.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=547.

“South America: Along the Atlantic Coast of Southeastern and Southern Brazil.” WWF, World Wildlife Fund, www.worldwildlife.org/ecoregions/nt0160.

Stewart, Matthew. “An Analysis of Amazonian Forest Fires.” Medium, Towards Data Science, 28 Nov. 2019, towardsdatascience.com/an-analysis-of-amazonian-forest-fires-8facca63ba69.

Bergen, Molly. “3 Ways Brazil's Environmental Decisions Affect the World.” Conservation International, 13 Aug. 2015, www.conservation.org/blog/3-ways-brazil-s-environmental-decisions-affect-the-world?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIia3ljqid6QIVxZ6zCh3CiAyrEAAYAiAAEgKcmfD_BwE.

“BLOG POST #4: World of 7 Billion (Due 2/16/2016).” Agro-Ecology I/II Blog, 9 Feb. 2016, mrgsag.wordpress.com/2016/02/09/blog-post-4-world-of-7-billion-due-2162016/.