Human problems have been population distribution. Map 3 shows where the densely populated areas are. You can see that the southeast coastal plain is the most densely populated place. Brazil’s population has grown for two reasons:
- Natural increase
- Immigration.
In 1500 the Portuguese arrived. 1600 – 1850 African slaves came. 1850 more European, Spanish, Germans and Italians and in the 20th century Japanese arrived. There are 4 reasons for migration:
- They were forced, they were slaves.
- Looking for land
- Looking for trade
- Set up industry
Economic development is rarely evenly distributed whether a city or in a region. Growth and wealth becomes concentrated in a few favoured locations, these location make up the core. Leaving other places relatively poor and under developed in the comparison these places make up the periphery.
This is a simple diagram that explains what the core and the periphery are really about.
Southeast Brazil – The core
The southeast is centred on coffee growing, gold and diamond. Real growth followed with the mining of iron ore, the production of steel and the manufacture of ships and cars. The region has become Brazil’s centre of commerce, education, administration, transport and culture.
Northeast Brazil – The periphery
Most people are farmers or landless sharecroppers. The soil, once used to produce plantation crops are now mainly exhausted and eroded. The high birth rate and lack of natural resources means the region is overpopulated. The lack of jobs, services and a guaranteed food supply has meant the migration of thousands of people from the region. Many have moved to the southeast a few have been resettled in the North.
As you can see, on this page is a table. This table shows some indication of development. The Birth rate in the southeast is 22 per km², but in the northeast its 48 per km². Life expectancy is different because in the southeast its 63 and in the northeast its 48.
The appearance is different as well, Sâo Paulo which is in the core looks high tech with high, big buildings and lots of cars, but Salvador which is in the periphery is the complete opposite there are lots of Favelas and it looks old and dirty (prone to diseases). In the northeast there are 2150 people per doctor compared to 875 in the southeast.
The Brazilian government has introduced three main projects to spread development throughout the country. Brasilia is the capital city of Brazil. The Brazilian people had expressed concern about the rapid speed of economic development and population in countries such as Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte. So in 1952 the Brazilian congress agreed to create a new capital city. In 1960 Brasilia was named the capital of Brazil.
Brasilia was successful in some ways because Brasilia’s population had reached 1.9 million by 1900. But there have been many problems its economy was based on commerce and administration rather then industry. Many people preferred to live in Rio de Janeiro or Sao Paulo and commute to work.
The idea behind SUDAM (Trans Amazonian Highway) was to build roads through the rainforest to access the city or factories nearby. The SUDAM project hasn’t been a success at all, because rain has leached and eroded the soil. Soon after colonists abandoned their new farms and moved to large urban centres on the coast and in the southeast.
The idea behind Polamazonia was to have fifteen growth poles with companies investing large sums of money to try and generate economic activity. The idea was that each centre developed and would extend outwards into the surrounding areas. There were some advantages of it, it created many new jobs, generating wealth for many Brazilian owned companies. But the disadvantages have been it has destroyed large areas of the rainforest and the traditional Amerindian way of life.
I think the Brazilian government has come up with some really good ideas, but it has also created a lot of long-term problems as well. The more roads the government build the more the rainforest will cease to exist they may not be able to see any problems at the moment but it will soon happen. It seems as if a lot of Brazilian money has gone into these projects and not all of it has come from the government some has actually come fro the people themselves.
One of the biggest problems with these projects has been he need for deforestation causing a lot of environmental concern. I believe SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT should be the way forward. This means the use of sources for economic gain in such a way that the resources will not run out or be harmed.
Instead of cutting down the rainforest they can use it for eco-tourism, they can use the rainforest as a guided tour for tourists. I think they would make a lot of money out of it. They can also use it for Agro forestry where they can sell Soya, Brazil nuts and coffee without damaging the rainforest. They can use the rainforest for medical research such as Quinine, cure for leukaemia and a cure for aids. They should also enforce a law saying for every tree they cut they must plant two more. The Brazilian people can also use the trees in the rainforest for rubber tapping this process doesn’t harm the trees and can provide a good source of trade. Greenpeace an organisation that was formed by a group of North American activists in 1971 and has 2.9 million members worldwide would think eco-tourism and Agro forestry is a good idea. Their main issues are with global warming, the protection of biodiversity and the ending of toxic pollution. They believe in being environmentally friendly so Agro forestry and Eco-tourism would be the perfect example of sustainable development.
But on the other hand the Brazilian government would rather cut the rainforest down than use it for Agro forestry. Even though in 1996 the Brazilian government, EU and G-7 groups had tried to enforce a rainforest protection scheme. It isn’t necessarily the government’s fault but they have allowed people to destroy the rainforest by using slash and burn and deforestation without any immediate action. So obviously they haven’t done enough to protect the rainforest.
Finally, something needs to be done about Brazil’s debt problems. Because of the success of Jubilee 200 where they have persuaded leaders of the world’s richest countries to cancel the debt of poorer countries. A new organisation called ‘Drop the debt’ aims to build o the success of the Jubilee 2000.
A plan called ‘Advance Brazil’ aims to develop roads, railways and hydroelectric dams, all this costing about £27 billion. But it is estimated that ‘advance Brazil’ could completely destroy 28% of the rainforest and leave 28% undisrupted. But the Brazilian government argues that the rising population needs land to improve their quality of life and the country needs to make money from natural resources to industrialise and pay off foreign debt.
Most of Brazil’s money has gone to so called trust worthy politicians who have spent most of Brazil’s money on plans that have backfired and cost brazil even more money. This is why drop the debt hopes to persuade rich countries to drop Brazil’s debt.
In 1994 Fernando Henrique Cardoso was elected president he was a finance minister in the early 90’s his plan called ‘Plan Real’ reduced Brazil’s monthly inflation from 50 per cent to about 2 per cent.
In April of this year American leaders made a free trade agreement at Quebec summit. They can to an agreement of expansion of the North American free trade agreement by no later than January 2005. The free trade area is said to be worth $11.4 trillion. Drop the debt would be for this agreement because Brazil would no longer spend so much money.
I believe that after Brazil has managed to get rid of the debt they can prosper into a developed country, but first they need start using the rainforest in a sustainable way and maybe they might profit from what they are doing. The only problem is if they want to develop they have to scrap projects like the SUDAM project and the Polamazonia project. Even though they were some advantages from these projects the disadvantages outweighed the advantages and proved more devastating not to the environment but to the people as well.
The Amerindian way of life had been destroyed and no longer existed in some parts and colonists are getting moved out of their own habitat to make way for these new projects.
Having said all this I think all Brazil has to do is find ways of developing without harming the rainforest and without harming the Brazilian people.
