Composition Amazon Forest

Composition Amazon Forest

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Mac1 – Monday/Wednesday night 05/21/2014

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Firstly I would like to thank you all for your support and I hope I can enlighten you with a theme that embraces all of us, Brazilians, and also the rest of the world.

“The Amazon Forest is the lung of the World.” Although wrong, the phrase calls the attention of a few people around the world. From time to time, a discussion about the threat of the internationalization of the Amazon Forest comes back in the news. Few foreign politicians and scientists have already manifested their opinion that the Amazon Forest should become an international zone, allowing the entire world to preserve (and explore) it. It seems reasonable to hear that kind of expression, since Amazon is the most precious environmental treasure of the planet, with large biologic diversity and potable water. A research points that the Amazon Forest has 15% of all plants and animals known by the science, and the known mineral sources under the forest, excluding petrol, have the total amount of 7,2 trillion dollars, with much more to be discovered. Would interested countries leave these facts aside?

The New York Times magazine published an article discussing the fact that the Brazilian Government is unable to administrate such a great valuable and important area for the World and the way that deforestation has made some global leaders point the Amazon as world heritage. This article has unchained some hostile reaction here in Brazil. Of course the Brazilian people want to defend its territory and property. The problem is that the government of Brazil really is unable to take care properly of it. Ibama has only 644 controllers and 4 helicopters to control all that extension. The Army seems to be more concerned about the protection and is constantly sending troops from the South of Brazil to the North region. A research from Veja magazine, together with CNT/Sensus, reveals that 82,6% of the Brazilian Army people believe that the Amazon is under the risk of an international occupation.

From the legal point of view, the arguments favorable to the internationalization are based on the treaty conventions and constitutions that grant the right to peace, democracy and environment for everyone. What they forget is that every country has power to establish legal rules for their citizens without external interferences, the so-called National Sovereignty. For this reason, they have no rights about Amazon.