Picture
a 30 million-year-old air-conditioning system
strong enough to cool the whole world. Capable
of adjusting global temperatures, the Earth's
southernmost continent, Antarctica, is focused
in a new book launched by the Brazilian
Ministry of the Environment on April 1,
in Brasília. "Antárctica
- Bem Comum da Humanidade" was compiled
by the Brazilian Antarctic Program (Proantar)
and offers simple explanations for many
of the mysteries of the Antarctic continent
- a true no-man's-land open to international
research but protected since 1998 by the
Protocol on Environmental Protection to
the Antarctic Treaty (the "Madrid Protocol"),
which calls it a "natural reserve devoted
to peace and science".
The Antarctic continent
is a 14-million-square-kilometre (the size
of 16 brazils) piece of land, 98% covered
in ice, where the Sun never sets and where
temperatures have been known to plummet
to -89 °C, under winds capable of blowing
at 375 km/h.
The idea of the book is
to share knowledge gathered over more than
50 years of research in Antarctica - half
of them also carried out by Brazil in its
King George Island station, situated 120
kilometers off the coast of the continent
in the Southern Ocean.
The richness of the
book's photographs, alone, are enough to
justify it - but simple, objective texts
also help bring Antarctica's problems to
light, a year after the 2007/2008 International
Polar Year. The pictures reveal some of
the continent's richnesses: a profusion
of land and sea animals and a history of
archaelogical, climactic, and biological
discoveries, amongst many other unique characteristics.
On the other hand, the book explains why
the continent is increasingly threatened
by global warming and other environmental
problems.
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Minc wants to ally technology
to traditional knowledge in indigenous lands
02/04/2009 - To ally
advanced forest management technogies to
traditional knowledge so that indigenous
populations can live with health and dignity
whilst protecting biodiversity: this was
the main goal of an intercultural dialogue
which occurred this week (May 31, April
1), in Brasília, during the seminar
"Gestão Ambiental em Terras
Indígenas" ("Environmental
Management in Indigenous Lands"). Brazilian
minister of the Environment Carlos Minc
said, at the opening of the seminar, that
bringing this knowledge together is extremely
important - and that the government is the
most responsible for protecting areas situated
around indigenous lands.
"Modern territorial
and forest management methods are also applicable
to indigenous peoples. First of all, however,
we must join forces to preserve areas that
surround indigenous lands - because farms
are getting closer and closer and often
contaminate rivers, provoke an accumulation
of soil in riverbeds and thus reduce their
depth. We want to create conservation units
surrounding these lands so as to make a
kind of protective wall which diminishes
these impacts."
During his speech to
over 100 people - such as indigenous leaders,
government technicians and NGO representatives
-, Minc was applauded when he congratulated
the Brazilian Supreme Federal Court (STF)
for its "historic decision" on
March 19 to maintain Raposa Serra do Sol
indigenous reserve (in the state of Roraima)
as a continuous territory. He also mentioned
an article recently published in Folha de
S. Paulo newspaper: according to research,
Brazil is the Amazonian country which least
protects its forest with indigenous reserves
and conservation units. (The other Amazonian
countries are Peru, Venezuela, Colombia,
Bolivia, Ecuador and Guyana.)
"From now on I
will carry this study with me: it will help
when I speak to president Lula about establishing
new indigenous lands, extractivist reserves
and national parks - the latter for biodiversity
protection, research and ecotourism."
According to the president
of the Brazilian National Indigenous Foundation
(Fundação Nacional do Índio/Funai),
also present at the seminar, "we must
deal with the future of indigenous peoples
and their lands in Brazil". He added
that biodiversity is much more protected
insided official indigenous lands.
To terena indian Joãozinho
da Silva, a Funai manager in Campo Grande
(state of Mato Grosso do Sul/MS), Limão
Verde reserve in Aquidauana (MS) is a good
example of this fact: the reserve suffered
serious degradation before expropriation
and regulation in the beginning of the 11000s.
Presently, however, vegetation is almost
completely restored and the reserve's indigenous
population has begun to healthily expand.
Terenas, guaranis and kaiowás in
Jaguapiru reserve in Dourados (MS), on the
other hand - pressured both by soy farms
and urban expasion -, face a degradingly
different situation.
