Brazilian Supermarkets Require Deforestation-Free Meat

The major supermarket chains stepped forward to protect the rain forest. A crucial step. WalMart, Carrefour and Pão de Açúcar will work with certificates of origin for beef which they offer on the shelves of their stores. Recently, Greenpeace released a study showing that the biggest slaughterhouses in Brazil, which receive financial funds from the BNDES (Brazilian Development Bank) and other public banks, buy from farmers in illegally deforested areas. The NGO studied the entire distribution chain. (see also my yesterday's post: The Folly of an Economy Going Against the Environment)

Last week in an interview with Míriam Leitão the president of Abras, Sussumu Honda, said that the supermarket chains were taking the denunciations very seriously and would take a decision. Decision taken! The supermarkets published the following statement:

*
Wal-Mart, Carrefour and Pão de Açúcar suspend purchases from farms involved in the deforestation of the Amazon, and will work with audits and certificates of origin.

In a meeting of the Brazilian Association of Supermarkets (Abras), on June 8, the three largest supermarket chains in the country, Carrefour, Wal-Mart and Pão de Açúcar decided to suspend purchases from farms involved in the deforestation of the Amazon. The action is a repudiation of practices condemned by Greenpeace. The supermarket sector, by means of Abras, can’t associate itself with the denounced wrongdoings and will act vigorously.

The position defined by the supermarkets includes notification of the slaughterhouses, suspension of purchases from farms denounced by the federal public prosecutor of the State of Pará and the requirement of Certificates of Origin attached to the invoice/transport bill. As an additional measure, the three supermarket chains require an independent and internationally recognised audit to ensure that the products they sell are not from deforested areas of the Amazon.

This is a joint sectorial response to the report published by Greenpeace earlier this month and the subsequently civil action by the federal public prosecutor of Pará, who sent a recommendation to the large supermarket chains and 72 other buyers of animal products so that they should recede buying meat products originating from the destruction of the rainforest. *
end of statement

At least some companies take their ‘social responsibility’ seriously.

Photos from top to bottom: Hypermarché Carrefour Pinheiros - São Paulo - Meatproduct section; WalMart's Nacional store Brazil and Carrefour Bairo Santo Amaro - São Paulo. - Courtesy: WalMart and Carrefour

90605

Indians Tembé-Ténêtéhar: The Guardians of the 'Carbon Storage' in the Amazon

The indigenous Tembé-Ténêtéhar people, who live in the north-west of the federal state of Pará ,will sign the first carbon credit contract to preserve their forests.
The Indians living in Terra Indígena Alto Rio Guamá will receive money from a foreign company to keep the forest within their reserve standing as it is.

The contract for the sale of carbon credit was due to be signed last Friday, World Environment Day. Only heavy rain postponed the ceremony, which was planned to take place in Belém. The agreement will bring together the American company C-Trade and the Indians of Terra Indígena Alto Rio Guamá.

C TRADE, is an international developer of Carbon Trade Credits (aka CERS - Certified Emission Reductions) for renewable energy projects that offset the use of fossil fuels, such as solar, wind turbines, energy efficiency, forest carbon sequestration and waste-to-energy power plants.

Ronald Shiflett, C-Trade’s Director, International Utility Efficiency Partnership, is in Belém and will meet his new partners in a traditional business suit, as the Indians will show up in their traditional outfit, with cocares (feather headdress) and body paintings, done based on the jenipapo (black) and annatto (rood) fruit pulps representing their ethnic traditions.

”The C-Trade proposal is beneficial for us,” says Valdeci Tembe, community leader of Susuarana, one of 14 villages in the south of the Terra Indígena Alto Rio Guamá on the banks of the Rio Gurupi, and with Muxi Tembe, leader of the Tekowau village, one of the promoters of the proposal.

Considered one of the poorest Indian people in Pará, according to the National Indian Foundation (Funai), the Tembé-Ténêtéhar live permanently under threat from illegal loggers. Without hardly any source of income, the sale of logs from illegal cutting is one of the only income sources for some of the 216 families. Furthermore (illegal) loggers invade the reserve, and part of the reserve is already taken by marijuana plantings run by drug traffickers.

Conservative calculations of the C-Trade project show that the Indians could have a financial return of BRL 1 million (€ 350.000) annually. The offer stipulates that the Indians will receive 85% of the value of the sales of carbon credit in the international market, while the remaining 15%, will stay with the company. Only one quarter of the reservation will be subject to the contract. For each hectare of preserved forest, it is estimated that four tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) will be avoided in the atmosphere.

In Terra Indígena Alto Rio Guamá some 145.39 tonnes of carbon are stored per hectare. The volume is so large that it turns the Tembé-Ténêtéhar people in real guardians of a huge "carbon storage" of the Amazon rain forest: 40.8 million tonnes of carbon stored in an area of 279 hectares, on the border with Maranhão.

The Tembé-Ténêtéhar with their 281 indigenous lands scattered throughout the Amazon and their more than 61 extractive reserves in the region stock a total of 15 billion tons of carbon. This signifies 30% of the 47 billion tons of carbon stored in trunks, branches, leaves and soil of the Amazon forests, according to calculations of the Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia (Ipam = Environmental Research Institute of the Amazon). Experts warn that if this volume is released to the atmosphere, the effect would be a further worsening of the climate crisis.

Defining the key target of the negotiations, Juscelino Bessa, the regional administrator of Funai (Fundação Nacional do Índio is the Brazilian National Indian Foundation, or protection agency for Indian interests and their culture) said in Belém: “We are selling the idea of preservation. In addition to profit, the contract may add a social and ethnic content to the products of the forest.”

Felício Pontes, federal prosecutor with the Public Ministry in Pará, who was crucial to the negotiations, concluded: “If Brazil is a signatory of the Kyoto Treaty, nothing more is just then that the Indians receive payment for environmental services rendered to the country.”

The Federal University of Pará, also an important partner in the negotiations, established a management model for the use of the sold resources of carbon credits. The project envisages the creation of a Bolsa Floresta, similar to the Bolsa Familia, which will supply the Indians monthly with money to develop sustainable projects in the reserve.

90602

The Collapse of Health Care in Pará

In June last year, the deaths of 13 babies in just one weekend in Santa Casa de Misericórdia do Pará in Belém bringing the total at 260 dead babies in just 45 days, shocked Brazil. Since then, finally, it was recognised that the chaos in health care was structural. The historically overcrowded (public) emergency hospitals had reached their peak, due to the large number of people coming from the interior, where emergency care in the municipalities is lacking completely.
The problems reported in the capital are in fact a reflection of a disorganized management system at the three government levels (federal, state, municipal), which afflicts the entire federal state of Pará, historically discriminated with unfairly low federal funds. The Plano Diretor de Regionalização da Saúde (RDP = Master Plan for Regionalization of Health Care), released in March of this year by the state government, is not much more than a piece of paper as long as there is no federal support for the financial resources required.

The RDP designed a network of regional hospital clusters in the interior, but the actual Secretary of Health of Pará, has to admit that the RDP master plan will never leave the drawing board without federal funds.

While the northern region, in its entirety, is hampered by a lack of federal funds, the situation in Pará is more severe, due to its continental size and its epidemiological profile. The federal government pays monthly through the Ministry of Health per capita the amount of BRL 8.29 (€ 2,90), to cover the health care costs of medium and high complexity. The lowest value per capita compared to any other Brazilian state, including the northern region. Tocantins, for example, with about 2 million of inhabitants, (five million less than Pará), receives BRL 12.24 (€ 4,30) monthly per capita, Roraima and Acre, respectively, BRL 14,48 (€ 5,08) and BRL 19,33 (€ 6,78).

The logic of the governmental Unified Health System (SUS) is simple. The system pays for services rendered. Each consultation or examination computed by SUS is paid afterwards. SUS pays materials and also the services of professionals. But without investments to create and structure services, most municipalities, being very poor, are not getting more resources from the SUS, other than for carried-out treatment. So they are condemned to water and bread, just waiting for fixed (federal or state) funds, which are distributed with regard to the number of citizens.

In addition to the scarce resources, small steps in pursuit of improvements are harmed by politics, as a change of government could result in a halt of concrete actions. As happened to the five regional hospitals, of which the construction started in 2003 under the previous governor. Three of the five are completed, Santarém, Marabá and Tucuruí. In Breves, as well as in Redenção, the conclusion of the hospitals is not even forecasted by the sitting governor, our (in)famous Ana Júlia Carepa. Of the hospitals ready to operate, the government is unable or unwilling to operate them at full capacity.

Most municipalities in Pará, most of them very poor, can not even offer the most basic health care of average complexity to their citizens, who as a consequence migrate in cascades to Belém in search for health care. Belém, indeed, has the largest infra-structure for health care with its hospitals, doctors and specialists, but should only treat the serious cases from the interior. But what happens is a reversal of the patient’s profile. The funds under the agreement between the municipalities and Belém should be used for the serious cases, however it is mostly used in treatments of low and medium complexity, and consumed last year BRL 178 million (€ 62,4 million), while the SUS (Unified Health System) paid BRL 175.8 million (€ 61,7 million) leaving Belém with a deficit of BRL 2.2 million (€ 0,7 million).

The emergency rooms of the hospitals in Belém are a reflection of that. Data from the Municipal Secretary of Health (Sesma) show treatment in both hospitals have reached the average of 50% being patients from the interior, and of this volume, 60% are cases of medical practice, i.e. cases without high risk to life according to the medical classification and should be treated at home in the individual municipalities.

Furthermore, the more severe cases, which, in fact, have to come to Belém in search of health service, arrive in the capital in an aggravated state due to poor transport conditions, usually in common ambulances without a doctor, without oxygen facilities for the patient, and in many cases, with only the driver, without a companion. That is, as far as, the health departments in the interior have an ambulance available. It is quite common, however, that patients are transported in vans or kombis without any infra-structure to make the pilgrimage from hospital-door to hospital-door in Belém. No place, no problem, patients are laid down on stretchers which fill the corridors.

In contrast with this, the daily paper O Liberal reported, that last year there was not a shortage of federal funds transferred to the government of the state of Pará for health care. Pará received more than BRL 1.1 billion (€ 386 million) for the 143 municipalities, with almost half of that amount just for the capital of Pará. Belém snapped up BRL 533.4 million (€ 187 million) exclusively for health care. The amount refers to all the money released by the National Health Fund (FNS) to the state of Pará.

The State Health Fund (Fespa) was the body most favoured by the federal money transfers, with BRL 231.4 million (€ 81 million).

What have they done with all that money? Hospitals are falling apart, equipment broke, emergency rooms are not functioning due to a lack of doctors, beds, medicines and equipment. Simple question: Where is all that money?

Remember Ana Júlia Carepa, the (socialist) governor of Pará? Remember her words?
We “..... believe that another world is possible and in the name of this ideal, we have built our government. In the name of this ideal, we work to transform Pará into a constitutional state.”

Constitutional state? Not when you are poor. Don’t expect health care at your side, even worse don’t expect the socialist governor at your side. Like to know where Ana Júlia spends the money:
The governor of Pará, Ana Júlia Carepa has launched an "aid" package for some ‘low-division’ football clubs in Pará. The value of the aid is almost BRL 1.5 million (€ 550.000). Among the three clubs is Remo, for which the Ana Júlia’s father is an adviser.

I end this post with some words regarding this item taken from the blog: ‘Movimento da Ordem Vigilia Contra Corrupção’, which crucifies the governor of Pará:

“
The heinous opportunism of Ana Júlia Carepa
Ana Júlia doesn’t give a damn ....... As a matter of justice, that “petralha”*) woman has to be held liable for this barbaric crime, which resulted in the deaths of nearly 300 Brazilian babies, due to her omission and neglect.

Certainly, she will not lose the opportunity to try to "scrape" a little money with the excuse to build more hospitals in a state, where she (already for two years) criminally maintains the Hospital in Santarém, all finished and equipped, closed, only because it was built by the previous governor. (By Gaúcho/Gabriela)
”

Next year there are elections, not only for a new president, but also (among others) for a new governor. Let’s hope, that the people in Pará will remember the devastating results of 4 years Ana Júlia Carepa. I doubt it, but I hope, as Pará and its people deserve better.

-
*) Petralha is the contraction of PT (Brazilian socialist party) and the Irmãos Metralha (The Beagle Boys in English). The word identifies a member of a moralistic political party that when in power, deceives, steals, kills, lies, corrupts, installing a cleptocracia, in other words a state governed by crooks)

90514

“What State is this? What Justice is this?”

When I wrote about the World Social Forum, held in Belém, I quoted the words the governor of Pará, Ana Júlia Carepa, used in her closing-speech. I repeat:

“…….. here in Pará we demonstrate that it is possible to construct a new development model for Pará and the Amazon. We feel one with these hundred thousand people, who believe that another world is possible and in the name of this ideal, we have built our government. In the name of this ideal, we work to transform Pará into a constitutional State.”
And I commented: If you know Ana Júlia and her political results, you get weak knees listening to these words.

Well, let’s have a look how weak our knees can get. First a few words as introduction.

Marajó

Marajó. A pearl dwelling in the delta of the Amazon River. With a land area of 47.573 km² (larger than the Netherlands) it is the largest island in the world surrounded by freshwater. Although its northeast coastline faces the Atlantic Ocean, the outflow from the Amazon is so forceful that the water around the island is brackish. Its beautiful beaches, creeks, vigorous nature, the primitive handicraft, the breeding of buffalos and culinary specialities created the eco-tourism attracting many a tourist to this beautiful island.
It is this island we will talk about in this post and (unfortunately) not about its beauty.

The Bishop of the Prelature of Marajó criticizes the government of the Federal State of Pará for omitting cases of paedophilia

“The omission of the State is the worst thing facing the people of Marajó in all sectors, which contributes to the persistence of sexual exploitation of young children, teenagers and to the misery in the 16 municipalities of the archipelago”, according to the testimony of the bishop of the Prelature of Marajó, dom Luiz Azcona for the Parliamentary Commission on Paedophilia, installed by the Legislative Assembly of Pará, to investigate cases of abuse and sexual exploitation of children and adolescents in Marajó.

The bishop, the first person to denounce publicly that there is an integrated paedophilia network by politicians, businessmen and other people in the towns of the archipelago, related that since 2005, when the first complaints were filed, till this very moment, nothing has been done to change this situation. He repeatedly denounced trafficking routes for girls from Melgaço, Portel and Breves to Spain, through Belém/Airport Guarulhos São Paulo/Madrid.

Dom Azcona recalled that in June 2006 there was a complaint against sailors who navigate the river Tajapuru between Melgaço and Breves, where 11 and 12 years old girls are sexually exploited in exchange for some kilos of meat or litres of diesel oil. “Until now, the authorities have done nothing. Members of the Pastoral of the Child who made the complaint and subsidized the reportage are suffering death threats”, he complained.

During his testimony the bishop presented a report, containing photos, video recordings, documents, names of parliamentarians, businessmen and other authorities involved, and statistics of social entities, a list of public and private establishments, involved in sexual exploitation of children and minors in the State of Pará.

The bishop of Marajó believes that the problem is very serious not only because of the scope and number of occurrences but also by the ‘modus operandi’, in plain daylight, near police stations, in classrooms, in the streets and public places, such as ports and bars with large movement.

“We are no man’s land, there is not one single navy vessel controlling the entry and exit. There is bio piracy, arms trafficking, distribution of drugs, and trafficking women to the exterior. The presence of the State is extinct” said dom Luiz Azcona.

In Portel you can find the sexual exploitation of girls between 12 and 17 years at the riverside and, according to the report of the church, in the bars Altas Horas, Mormaço and Tropical. In Breves, it is the central square of the town. In Anajás, gangs of lesbians are luring girls into sexual exploitation in neighbouring municipalities or tempting them to go to Suriname and French Guiana. In Bagre, at the riverside, boys and girls meet fishermen and owners of vessels, offering them “programs” that cost BRL 3,00 (one euro)

Another major complaint made by dom Luiz Azcona is that young people are enrolling in public schools with the aim to entice minors for sexual exploitation, scheduling meetings with businessmen and politicians in the region. “There are principals, teachers and public servants involved and all that happens in plain view of the police,” said dom Azcona.

Another case is the former councilman of Portel, Roberto Terra, son of the then mayor of the municipality, who was convicted for raping a 13 years old girl, but never went to prison. “The victims had to flee to not die, and the criminals are walking around freely. The municipalities continue to be miserable and with total absence of public policies.”

“What State is this? What Justice is this?” he exclaimed.
Parliamentarian Bira Barbosa, president of the CPI, said that after the official testimony of the bishop the commission had sufficient and concrete material to execute the investigations.
But as always a date for the following hearing was not set. And as always nothing will happen.

In the last two days more than twenty new cases of sexual abuse against children and adolescents, both in the interior of the capital, were brought to the attention of the parliamentarians and senators who participated in Belém in a joint session of the CPI’s about Paedophilia of the Senate and the Legislative Assembly.

Two cases are in this context of immense importance to the public. The accusations against the parliamentarian Luiz Afonso Sefer and João Carlos de Vasconcelos Carepa, a.k.a. “Caíca, brother of the Governor of the federal state of Pará, Ana Júlia Carepa. Yes, the same, who I quoted in my introduction to this article,
A dossier sent in February by judge Paulo Gomes Jussara Júnior addressed to police-inspector Socorro Maciel, who chaired the investigation in which João Carlos de Vasconcelos Carepa was accused, disappeared mysteriously, according to the judge himself.
The judge, hearing that the dossier did not come in the hands of the police, went to the post room, where he got the confirmation that the document had arrived on February 9, but then got lost.

So tell me, what will be next? Don’t dream of a conviction and prison. Forget it, be realistic! Nothing happens as usual.
“What State is this? What Justice is this?” You give the answer.

Source: CNBB, O Liberal and Agência Pará de Noticias
90313

World Social Forum - The final balance

The previous articles described the run-up to, the opening and the proceeding of the forum. Now the final balance.

The final balance of the World Social Forum (WSF) in Belém was positive. At least according to the organizers, the mayor of Belém and the governor of the federal state of Pará. Eventually 135 thousand people participated from 142 countries, with 15 thousand participants in the encampment and 4,830 volunteers, translators, technicians and representatives of the organizers.

The governor of Pará, Ana Júlia Carepa emphasized the positive influence of the forum on the economy of the state. (I had expected that, as a socialist, she would highlight the results of this ‘human’ forum, but no, the true socialists: only money counts). She stressed that in Great Belém 40 million reais (€ 13.5 million) was spent, of which 18 million for housing, 16 million with meals and 6 million with transport. According to the governor “the choice of Belém could not be at a more opportune moment, because here in Pará we demonstrate that it is possible to construct a new development model for Pará and the Amazon. We feel one with these hundred thousand people, who believe that another world is possible and in the name of this ideal, we have built our government. In the name of this ideal, we work to transform Pará into a constitutional state.” (If you know Ana Júlia and her political results, you get weak knees listening to these words.)

But the official view is not shared by the university students, who made their appearance to the lecture-rooms on Monday after the forum. Kyone Oliveira, 18 years, of the faculty Zootecnia, says she is shocked by the state the campus is in after the forum. “They have polluted everything and then go away. I thought, that it would go this way, that’s why I have not participated. Neither my university nor the city of Belém has the infrastructure to organize a forum like this. If we as students already suffer from poor toilets, think of all those people. They improved only the roof of the lecture-room and now they say that everything is in order.”

The day after the World Social Forum 2009 ended the two campuses that hosted the event showed significant differences. While the campus of the Federal University of Pará (UFPA) was clean and quiet, on the campus of the Federal Agriculture University of the Amazon (UFRA), you could observe the mess, the stench and the dissatisfaction of the participants.

After the forum many students said they had a ........ continue reading and see more images of the event

90118

World Social Forum - The course of an event

For those who did not know that this year Belém was the seat of the World Social Forum (WSF) the participants of the forum could easily be taken for tourists on holiday in the capital of Pará. The campus of the Universidade Federal Rural da Amazônia (Ufra = Federal Agriculture University of the Amazon) - one of the main centres for this event - seemed more like a vacation colony. At least until the debates started. On the campus it was quite normal to see people walking around in swimming trunks, without shirt and carrying articles, which are typical part of a Brazilian summer, such as sunglasses, hats, sunscreen, bottles with mineral water and other paraphernalia reconciling with the intense heat.

In the youth camp, where about 12 thousand youngsters were camped - the crowds grew with the arrival of the participants - but none succeeded to sleep in the tents for a long time. Already in the early hours of the morning, the sun and the heat made sure that those who were planning to sleep longer fled their tent. “At night, as it gets still and quiet and with a touch of wind and no noise. But in the morning it is unbearable,” said Oliveira Sebastião, an economist from Mato Grosso.

The access road to the World Social Forum on the campus of the UFRA was transformed into a camelódromo (a collection of stalls). The products on offer were as varied as the variety of races walking the tarmac road to the encampment. It was said that the caiapó indian Bep, divided his attention between the discussions in the Indian Tent and his stall outside. At noon there was a long row of people, interested getting painted a certain part of their body with indian designs. Each painting took BRL 5 (€ 1.70).

Caiapó Bep was in Belém since Sunday with 60 caiapó indians from the Aldeia Kokocuedan, situated on the banks of the Rio Branco in Ourilândia do Norte. The village is located 100 kilometres from the city centre. The first difference Bep noticed was the weather. “Very hot. Even poor.”

Is the weather hot and all bad for the caiapós of Kokocuendan, the food served in their hostel, installed in the public school Mário Barbosa is even worse. “Many bad things, such as meat. Indians don’t eat this. Our meal is rich,” he said, reciting the ingredients of a good meal in the village: “many sweet potatoes, macaxeira, banana and fish.” Many indian children and adults had problems with the ‘urban’ menu resulting in diarrhoea.

Despite bad weather and bad food, life at the WSF was softened for Bep and his tribe by the gaining of some money. He and three other indians reserved time for body painting. Some asked just a simple painting, but the caiapós invoiced like ‘gringos’. The paint is made with the juice of the genipapo, roasted and grated, mixed with water and charcoal. The painting stays for 7 to 15 days.

At both sides of the entrance stalls with handicrafts, art crafts, typical regional meals, snacks and other types of objects were erected. A colourful fair.

On the campuses of the universities, you could see it all - or almost all. In the tents, ....... read the full story and see more images of the event.

90118

The World Social Forum - Preparation and Opening

The event was outlaid so ambitiously that it had to go completely wrong. The organizers had clearly forgotten that they had to do with the Federal State of Pará with its public administrators and political leaders, who are still unable to look up the word 'organization' in the dictionary, let alone find the word.
During the six-day forum (from Jan 27 to Feb. 1), 2400 activities were scheduled, which means that some 200 activities were held simultaneously about topics such as the environment, global warming, poverty, child- and slave labour, exclusion of poor countries, and of course, the destruction of the Amazônia region and alternatives to the capitalist system, which threw the world in an economic and financial crisis (I am sure, that Davos is anxious to have a look at the proposals). But the farmer, he ploughed on, so if everything raised by somebody should be found important, then it might come to something ... ever.

The World Social Forum (WSF) is regarded as the largest marketplace on the planet of ideas, with discussions for everyone.
But a month before the international event, the city was still looking for solutions to its problems. Lack of security, traffic chaos and deficiencies in public transport are some of the most serious problems of Belém. And for years it is no different. On top of all this the complaints of the population of the capital of Pará itself.

During the forum, the hotels and pousadas in town were fully booked - even the motels, normally operating as centres for lovers and other sex activities, had their faces adapted to accommodate participants of the event. Another 15 thousand houses were rented, the rent up to BRL 2 thousand (€ 660) for the 5 days of the forum. The hotels did not stay behind and reached the, for Belém, exorbitant price of BRL 900 (€ 300) per day, including breakfast, lunch and dinner.

To house the event and guarantee the safety of the participants the state government invested BRL 143 million (€ 48.5 million), with a third for the purchase of police cars. Ten field hospitals were built on the campus of the Universidade Federal do Pará (UFPA = Federal University of Pará) and the Universidade Federal Rural da Amazônia (UFRA = Federal Agriculture University of the Amazon), where also an encampment for 30 thousand young visitors was raised. An additional 270 hospital beds were reserved in the public and private hospitals for emergency situations.

During the days of the event about 600 thousand male condoms from the Program for the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and AIDS were distributed. (nb, 1 condom per day per participant)

Until Sunday, February 1 (the last day), the organization of the Forum hopes to greet 120 thousand people from 150 countries, including ......... continue reading and see more images

Tell me: What actually is the World Social Forum?

On Tuesday, January 27, 2009 the 9th edition of the World Social Forum opened in Belém, the capital of Pará, with an estimated 60 thousand people from around the country and 30 thousand foreigners participating. For the city of Belém an unprecedented large-scale event that would rule the entire city for 6 days.

However, a survey conducted by the media-group ORM Portal showed that the event is unknown by the Paraense (resident of the federal state of Pará).

Derived from the Latin word 'foro', forums were in ancient Rome places of public meetings where Roman citizens could speak out about urban problems. But only the patricians, who owned great estates and consequently political rights, were regarded as citizens. Participation was thus limited by social conditions. Centuries later, when the freedom of expression was established in the constitution, the absence of knowledge and information marks the opinion of those who live in the vicinity of the world’s main discussion forum on contemporary problems: the World Social Forum 2009.

But what is it? An event, a protest, a demonstration? A survey last week organized at the site of Portal ORM (http://www.orm.com.br/) showed that 50.4% of the 345 people who voted did not know what the World Social Forum is or what it serves. A worrying result particularly since it concerned a news site, which is usually visited by people looking for information and generally are well informed. Of the people who said they knew the event, slightly more than half said that they would participate in the activities.

The results in the street are similar to the virtual vote. People who live in the bordering area where the forum is held, the two federal universities, noticed changes and additional traffic, but are unfamiliar with the themes, goals and personalities, who were present this week in Belém. Some people saw the results of the preparations for the event in practice and observed the large and conspicuous presence of police and security forces. "I know that many people are coming, but do not know why. I think they will talk about street violence. What I do know is that things have improved here, never ever there was so many police in Terra Firme" says Maria Sales, who lives in the vicinity of the Federal Agriculture University of the Amazônia (UFRA).

If one of the main objectives of the Forum is, promoting the debate between young people, then the propaganda has not worked effectively for the youth in Pará, in particular those from the interior.
But there are also people who know nothing and ........... continue reading

90139

The World Social Forum 2009

Tuesday, January 27, an estimated 60 thousand people from around the country and 30 thousand foreigners started their participation in the 9th edition of the World Social Forum, held in Belém, the capital of Pará.

While the entire capitalistic controlled western world looked to Davos, on the other side of the world, the World Social Forum was held totally ignored by the world press. Well, what should the third world do with a Social Forum, in this time of international financial crisis. As if we don’t have other problems on our minds, then whining Indians, racial inequality, poverty, cutting some trees, etc. The Western world can’t give a damn about it at this moment. And although Lula, presumably, preferred to be in Davos pushing up Brazil in front of all the great leaders of this planet, he was forced to be in Belém, where this social event took place. You can’t let them, your ‘red rascal’ colleagues, President Evo Morales of Bolivia, Hugo Chaves of Venezuela, Fernando Lugo of Paraguai and Rafael Correa of Ecuador, come to Belém and find the event so important yourself that you travel to Davos.

Beyond some local and Latin American political leaders, a handful of national and international intellectuals, especially American university professors, droves of activists and a massive turnout of hopeful youth participated.

90118

In 2008 Fines for Environmental Crimes Exceeded 1 billion Euro

In 2008 more than BRL 3 billion (€ 1 billion) in fines was imposed in the Amazônia for environmental crimes. But the question is, who is crazy enough to pay the fine? For sure not the Brazilian environment criminal.

A report stipulating the by Ibama (the Brazilian Environment Authority) imposed environmental fines shows that between January 1 and December 8, 2008 22,697 reports of environmental offences were made with a total of BRL 3.25 billion (€ 1.05 billion) in fines. The figure is 38% higher than in 2007, when it was BRL 2.37 billion (€ 0.772 billion).

The bulk of the amount came out of actions against deforestation in the Amazônia. Fines for illegal logging, storage and transport of illegal timber in this region reached BRL 1.76 billion (€ 0.57 billion), accounting for 54% of the total.

Pará is the federal state, which picked together the highest amount of fines with € 196 million. Followed by Mato Grosso (€ 195 million), Amazonas (€ 148 million), Minas Gerais (€ 140 million) and Rondônia (€ 75 million).

Writing criminal reports is one, but collecting the fines is a different chapter. A study by the Instituto do Homem e Meio Ambiente da Amazônia (Imazon = Institute of Man and Environment in the Amazon region) points out that a very small portion of that money actually gets into the public purse.

According to Imazon, the value of fines collected between 2001 and 2004 was only 2.5% of the total amount of fines imposed in this period. If the same pattern is repeated for 2008, the federal treasury will only collect BRL 81 million (€ 26 million).

But there is probably some progress, whatever that is supposed to mean in the Brazilian legal confusion. According to the researcher Paulo Barreto, one of the authors of the study, there were four legal bodies where could be appealed, now there are only two. Paulo, faithful believer as he is, thinks that this might speed up the process, but he warns that one of the main constraints of collecting fines is the lack of lawyers with Ibama. "What has to be done to improve the collection of fines, is focussing on the most important cases. All the studies show that 80% of the value of the fines should be raised by 20% of the processes.”

For Ibama it is not just the amount of fines in their fight against environmental crime. "Together with the fine, we have the seizure of the area, the confiscation of the illegal product, the removal of livestock, the seizure of trucks, machines and the deterrent effect of an inspection." says Roberto Borges, national coordinator for environmental operations of Ibama.

According to Borges, in addition to the fines Ibama also tried to permanently seize the property of the criminals. "It started with seized timber, but we have to expand to tractors and trucks, used for the environmental crime. We have to de-capitalize the environmental criminal." he says.

Source: O Liberal
(cartoon J.Bosco)
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Forgotten Prisoners

In a country where state prisons bulge, inmates just remain behind bars, although they served their ‘time’.

Inspections carried out by the Conselho Nacional de Justiça (CNJ = National Council of Justice) in four of the 27 federal states of Brazil discovered that more than a thousand prisoners, even after they had served their criminal sentence, were still behind bars. Around 1.218 other convicts had no access to the facilities to which they were entitled - as a pardon, a semi-open regime or external work. Without a lawyer or a public defender assigned to their case, these prisoners eventually just are forgotten. This situation of neglect was found in the federal states of Rio de Janeiro, Maranhão, Pará and Piauí.

So far, 4.731 criminal processes have been analysed. After visits to the state prisons by the CNJ, 2.218 prisoners received some form of benefits which they were entitled to, but never received. The situation was most precarious in Teresina, the capital of Piauí. In eight prisons in this city, 1.087 cases were analyzed with the result that 464 prisoners were assigned additional facilities, while 345 were released immediately.

In the cities in the federal state of Pará the processes of 1.641 prisoners were analyzed. 435 prisoners (you can’t even say: convicts) were released.

But heck, why make a fuss about it? Prisons are overcrowded, so what? A detainee cost "only" BRL 1,200 (less than € 400) average a month. Who cares? Certainly not the public administration or the local politicians.

The state of Pará has nine thousand prisoners, of whom 70% (6,300) are between 18 and 29 years and herewith it is the champion again. Pará is one of the states where the prisoners are the youngest.
More than 6 thousand young people, who might be part of the economically active population of the state, but now, dominate the unproductive army under harsh living conditions in prison and police cells in the capital and the interior.

CNJ-judge, Gilson Dipp said that inspections were executed in state prisons, where local authorities have greater difficulties in terms of supervision. "The results are abhorrent. It is terrible. The people who remain behind bars are the people that lack any defence. The persons involved are poor, without the support of a public defender."

Far from being an exception is the position of a detainee accused of a crime, and is imprisoned illegally. Pará, in this respect is champion again of the most inhumane penal system. Data show that with the label 'pre-trial detention’ detainees are held in police stations for a period of five years without ever being tried.

The Brazilian Code of Criminal Procedure provides that within a period of 5 to 90 days, a detainee should be heard by a judge for the first time. The period may be extended, but from then on the detention is illegal and inhumane.
From data released by Susipe (Prison Administration), it appears that of the detainees in custody, 73 are there already for five years, 153 four years, 416 prisoners three years, 1.125 two years, 956 prisoners for a period of six months to one year, 706 prisoners with less than six months and "only" 702 prisoners are still within the established legal term. And that is pre-trial detention without any trial.
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Does the future belong to the youth ?

"Literacy and the struggle against hunger are connected, closely interdependent," Nobel literature prize winner Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio said Sunday (07/12) in his Nobel lecture to the Swedish Academy. The 68-year-old Frenchman continued with: "One cannot succeed without the other. Both of them require, indeed urge, us to act."

From a president who himself had no chance to follow a proper education, you expect the portfolio of education in his government highly favoured and enjoying all the (financial) support it deserves. Indeed the future belongs to the youth and that’s certainly true for an emerging economy as Brazil. But not so in Lula’s mind. Apparently Lula believes that if he has been able to become president without education, everyone else must be able to reach the top on his own merits. The results are disastrous and will wreck the future development of this country. Shortness of skilled personnel is already the major complaint of businesses and in several cases, foreign investors pulled out, especially in those regions desperately needing investments. Thus the North!

Although elementary education is ‘enjoyed’ by 97.6% of 7-14 year old children, this figure is no synonym for quality. The majority of the Brazilian school children between 8-14 years can neither read nor write. Data from the IBGE (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística - Institute for Statistics) also show that of all the Brazilians who can not read or write 1.7% are 14 years old, although these 58.1 thousand pupils almost finished elementary school. Nearly half of that group (approx 29 thousand youngsters) is illiterate, even though they are going to school.

IBGE also points to inequality in education based on colour or race. In absolute numbers: of the approximately 14 million illiterates aged over 15 years, nearly 9 million are black or mulatto. Of the white population 6.1% can read nor write, of the black and coloured population 14%.
In relation to gender, women show a better result than men. The female population studies on average a year longer than the male part. The female presence dominates also in the higher education, 57.1% of university students are female, compared with 42.9% male. Notwithstanding this, women still occupy only a small part of the management level.

Education in Brazil has everything to do with income. Cross-linking the data shows that the Brazilians up to 17 years are the hardest hit by poverty. In this age group 46% belong to the poorest part of the population (with a monthly income of half the minimum wage (about € 70) per capita). Most children in this situation are living in the northern and north-eastern regions.

But even a higher income and sending your child to a private school is no guarantee for better education. Matheus Aguiar, 17 years, is an exception in the 4 million participants in the Exame Nacional do Ensino Medio (ENEM = National Exam for Secondary Education).
The ENEM is a voluntary test for students of the 3rd year of secondary school. The popularity of ENEM jumped since with the founding of the Programa Universidade para Todos (ProUni = University for Everyone) in 2004, the federal government distributes university scholarships to poor students. Participation in the exam is a prerequisite for anyone who hopes to start a university education. The result of the exam requires a minimum of 45 points on a scale of 100.

And in this nationwide exam Matheus Aguiar ended as fifth and is the best from the federal state of Pará. Matheus is in the third year of the (private and exclusive) College Nazareth in Belém. With 93.65 points in the general section and 100 in 'editorial’ (writing an essay) he reached an average of 96.82 and the fifth place out of four million examinees. Although Matheus studies at a private school, his results of the ENEM exam are important as private colleges and universities use the results as a parameter in the selection. Matheus wants to study 'mecatronica' at the University of Brasilia,

But unfortunately the good performance of Matheus seems to be an exception. The state which yielded the fifth best secondary school pupil in the country, ranked as a whole at the 10th place from the bottom with an average of only 36.9 points. The pupils from Pará scored 4.8 points lower than the national average. Pará belongs to the sad bottom of the northern region, of which all ended up in the 10 lowest places. A region that did not go beyond an average of 36.07 points. The lowest ranking compared with other regions.

But the results of the pupils from other federal states are not much better. At the top, the secondary school students of the Federal District (capital Brasilia) with a poor 45.39 points. Let’s not forget that the minimum requirement is 45, and that all examinees (public and private education) voluntarily participate in the exam, so that they can obtain a place with a university. The nationwide average of the exam was 40.59, which is 4.41 point below the minimum requirement.
What is supposed to be the level of the schoolchildren (the largest group), which do not go for the ENEM exam, but just quit school and try to find a job.

Secondary school students pushing a "Lula-puppet" in protest against the education policies

Of course, the financial situation of students reflects in the performance. The results show that between a public school student and a private school one there is a gap. For Pará the difference is more than 16 points. The average score of students from a public school was 33.37 points (more than 12 points below the minimum requirement), while the students from a private school scored 49.95 (only 5 points above the minimum requirement).

Should a private school guarantee a better education, in Pará (as with so many things) it is a bit different. The examinees of private schools from Pará, compared with the rest of the country, show up on the twentieth place, only seven states are worse. While public schools score the 11th place from below.

The figures from the Ministry of Education unfortunately do not show how many secondary public school students have met the minimum threshold of 45. At an average of 33.37 points, few students will be able to make the (subsidized) step towards a university, I'm afraid.

Photos: Matheus Aguiar and "Lula-protest': O Liberal
Source: O Liberal, Agência Brasil
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Seven Federal States and the Federal District Concentrate 80% of the GDP

And nevertheless Pará is the champion of economic activity.

About 80% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Brazil is generated by only eight of the 27 states of the Federation, concentrated in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Rio Grande do Sul, Paraná, Bahia, Santa Catarina and the Federal District.

The concentration of the GDP in eight regions reduced by 1% (from 79.7% to 78.7%, equivalent to R$ 23.7 billion (USD 10.8 billion) between 2002 and 2006, while the Northern Region increased by 0.4%.. São Paulo alone realizes some 34% of the Brazilian GDP.

The survey of the IBGE also shows the per capita GDP in the regions. At this moment, the Federal District still has the highest GDP per capita (USD 17,090), almost three times the national average (USD 5,767) and well ahead of São Paulo with USD 8,885 and Rio de Janeiro with USD 8,043.

Pará, with all its minerals (iron ore, gold, diamonds, bauxite and whatever you want) letting his soil be robbed for a pittance, Pará with its obviously inexhaustible stock of hardwood illegally cut down and disappearing, Pará with its abundance of fish in its inner waters but ransacked scot-free, Pará does not belong to the above mentioned list of Prime Producers, Pará has just officially an insignificant share in Brazil’s GDP.

Nevertheless Pará is the undisputable leader. A sad leadership. Ranking No. 1 at the list of slave labour.

Pará remains at the top of the list of slave labour in Brazil. According to the Ministry of Labour and Employment (MTE), just this year, the Special Group for Mobile Labour Inspection held 28 operations throughout the state, during which 592 workers who were in conditions similar to slavery were “freed”. Above that a 1.000 bookings for misconduct were issued and for more than R$ 1.6 million (USD 730,000) payments for compensation and arrears of wages cashed.

The MTE calls attention to the growing rates of slave labour in states that until then, did not appear on that list. Among them, Goiás and Alagoas.

According MTE, this scenario is directly linked to the expansion of the sugar cane industry, a major protagonist in the international market for bio-fuels. And in the southern region of the country, an increase in the number of enslaved labourers is detected in fazendas which grow pine, a species widely used for reforestation. In both cases, the indecency is that slave labour is being used to support activities theoretically sustainable, for which the basic principles as respect for the environment and concern for the social aspect should be fundamental.

'Methanol is a 'clean' energy in regard to the environment. But we need it also to be clean in the sense of respect for those who work in the production of it", said the president of the Sindicato Nacional dos Auditores do Trabalho (National Association of Labour Prosecutors), Rosa Campos Jorge.

To prosecutor Jonas Moreno, the increase in the number of ‘freed’ labourers reflects the intention of the Brazilian government to step up the enforcement actions to repress this rank injustice.



In other words there are still a lot of slaves out there to be ‘freed’.

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Operação “Arco de Fogo” - Operation “Arc of Fire”

By the end of March the results of the first month of the Operation “Arc of Fire” started to be visualised. Operation “Arco de Fogo” is a hard police action, initiated by the federal government to combat the illegal deforestation of the Amazônia.

Approximately 35% of all illegal deforestation in the federal state of Pará is feeding the charcoal ovens; the other part is selective log cutting of noble wood species. Illegal charcoal is purchased by legal companies, and exported mainly to China and the USA to be used in the steel production process.
But the demand for charcoal is only one of the factors causing the deforestation. Brazil's Environment Ministry places more of the blame on farmers who clear large areas in the rainforest to create soybean fields and cattle ranches. Officials say that ranching and farming are responsible for up to 80 percent of total deforestation nationwide.

In Aug.2007 Lula and his government celebrated the fact that for the third consecutive year deforestation in the Amazônia had decreased almost to the historical lowest level of 1991 of 11.030 km2 (roughly 25% of a country the size of Holland), while the Environment Minister Marina Silva claimed that the government policy had saved 20.000 birds, 70.000 primates and some 600 million trees from being cut illegally. However in the same month satellites registered 16.592 fires, mainly in the Amazônia area and illegal deforestation had restarted at a large scale.
According to figures supplied by Marina Silva deforestation between August and November 2007 increased with 10%, mainly due to the delayed start of the rainy season, which enabled the loggers to extract the lumber from the forest to almost the end of the year.

A quick response was evidently required and Lula’s decree prohibited any sale of agriculture products, and imposed fines on all trade of meat, soy and other products originating from illegally deforested areas.
Concentrating on 36 municipalities in the Amazônia responsible for more than 50% of all illegal logging Ibama (the federal environment bureau) initiated its activities, with this decree in hand, to effectively combat the deforestation.
The operation was baptized: “Arco de Fogo” (Arc of Fire).

Operation “Arco de Fogo”, which started on the 26th of February and focused on Tailândia, a little town in the south of the state Pará, is run by Ibama with warlike support of some 1.000 military, civil and federal police agents and contingents of the national security forces. The results after its first month of action are staggering: 23 million BRR (9 million euro) in fines. Furthermore 23.300 m3 illegal logs confiscated, while 14 sawmills and 25 charcoal companies were shut down in an area of 4.200 hectares where illegal deforestation was detected.
The action did not restrict to confiscating the illegal lumber or by fining the company owners, but went a step further by dismantling illegal sawmills and razing illegal charcoal ovens to the ground. By the 25th of March, 53 sawmills were inspected, of which 14 shut down and dismantled and 1.175 charcoal ovens completely demolished. Those destroyed ovens alone would have consumed about 23.000 young trees in one month, according to average production rates.
The environmental action groups were delirious.

Given the scope of the operation it is more than likely that the name Tailândia never ever will be connected to environmental crimes, if, at least, the little town will not be wiped out completely.

The journalist Valterlucio Bessa Campelo comes in his article published in Agência Amazônia with a nicely constructed economic analysis, which I recount here. In Brazil there is a lack of reliable demographic figures and therefore Valterlucio interpolates existing figures to come to a mathematical conclusion for Tailândia.
But let’s have a look at the town Tailândia first. Tailândia has 64.000 inhabitants, a Gross National Product (GNP) in 2005 of 266 million BRR (105 million euro), of which the lumber activities represent (2006) some 67,2 million BRR (26,4 million euro) and the agriculture 28,0 million BRR (11 million euro). On the national Human Development Index (HDI) *) Tailândia figures as number 3046. In 2007 the town received 10,6 million BRR (4,156 million euro = 650 euro per capita) for education, health care etc., from the federal tax funds.

As we can see, the economy of Tailândia leans heavily on the exploration of wood products, whose value represents twice the value generated by agriculture activities. According to data from the IBGE*) some 1.400.000 m3 logs are produced annually in this area, representing 25% of the municipal GNP.
In the opinion of the federal government: All of them illegal.

A recent study carried out by the IBGE indicates that for every 1.000 m3 of logged lumber 15 jobs are created. When we transfer this figure to Tailândia we see 21.000 jobs, of which, according to another study, in average 1/3 is direct labour and 2/3 indirect. The calculation for Tailândia ends up with 7.000 direct jobs in the lumber industry.
In the opinion of the federal government: All of them illegal.

An analysis released by the government of Pará shows that 48% of the total populace is employable, of which 92,7% has indeed a job. When we transfer these indices to Tailândia we see that out of the 64.000 inhabitants, 30.720 are employable of which 28.477 have a job.
In other words of all inhabitants older than 10 years, regardless of what type of work, 25% or 7.000 have a job in the lumber industry. If and when this activity in Tailândia is eliminated the unemployment figure rises from 7,3% to 30%.

The above reconstructed figures help to understand the magnitude of the problem which develops when operations as “Arco de Fogo” are extended to other municipalities and federal states. The question is: leads an operation, which only criminalises the deforestation to a sustainable solution of the problem.
Keep in mind, that Tailândia only represents a minuscule fraction of the deforestation in Brazil.

It should be prudent, and particularly for a Lula, telling everybody his government has a socialistic signature, when operations combating the deforestation of the Amazônia go hand in hand with the necessary social actions to remain the local economy at its level. It is a mistake to belief that thousands of labourers in the lumber industry, direct or indirect, illegal or not, will not be stimulated by the instigating words of the lumber barons. The labourer thinks economically. He wants a job, preferably one he knows best. If he defends the interests of the lumber baron, he defends his income. He might not do that, if an alternative is available.

Apparently, after its operation in Tailândia, Ibama came to the same conclusion. According to the director of Ibama in Pará, Aníbal Picanço, social programs are getting in place to minimize the economic impact of the operation, as have been seen in Tailândia, where the local commerce came to a full stop after the sawmills were fined and shut down and the charcoal ovens demolished.
In the meantime it is clear that the national and international press is waiting with oversized expectations to hear from imprisoned lumber barons. While photographs of “definitely” shackled environment criminals no doubt give a double doses of XTC to the public opinion.
But after the over excitement comes the hangover: What are we doing with the 7.000 jobless people in Tailândia.

Caption of the last 5 images: Hundreds of logs of the expensive species maçaranduba, copaíba, ipê and angelim, were buried under a soybean field, close to the PA-150 state road.
Fonte first seven photographs: Paulo Santos/Reuters, Paulo Whitaker/Reuters and Roberto Stuckert/O Globo, last five: Policia Federal.

Footnotes:
*) (wiki) HDI or the Human Development Index is the normalized measure of life expectancy, literacy, education, standard of living, and GDP per capita for countries worldwide. It is a standard means of measuring well-being, especially child welfare. It is used to determine and indicate whether a country is a developed, developing, or underdeveloped country. It is also used to measure the impact of economic policies on quality of life
*) (wiki) IBGE or the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (Portuguese: Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística), is the agency responsible for statistical, geographic, cartographic, geodetic and environmental information in Brazil. The IBGE performs a national census every ten years, and the questionnaires account for information such as age, household income, literacy, education, occupation and hygiene levels.

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