MANAUS, BRAZIL – I’m writing this in darkness on the roof of the Palace Hotel (a misnomer!) where we are staying here in Manaus.
We are a world away from Sao Paolo – or should I say a four hour flight – yet still well inside Brazil. That gives you a sense of the size of the place.
This is the heart of the Amazon region, itself at the very heart of the Copenhagen climate change talks. They are relieved here to learn that Obama is finally going to be there if, rather curiously, in the middle of the thing rather than at what many hope will be a climactic ending.
The battered white Amazon steamers and ferries are drawn up against the promenade below me the twinkling street lights dance on the water – a breadth of water so wide it’s almost an unending fast moving muddy lake.
And what is man up to here? For a start he and she are here in vast profusion, a million and a half of them. And yet here it has the feel of a developing country. The multi-ethnic Brazil of Sao Paolo has given way to a more homogenous Amazon Indian ethnicity.
Many have the appearance of having come from the rural poor, drawn here by industry – rubber – and on the run from those who have stolen their lands and felled the trees.
Here there are few tower blocks. What man is doing, heaven help us, is constructing a gigantic bridge to span these waters and carry the dreaded car across to the virgin forest wastes on the other side. The pylons stand like match sticks in the water a mile down river from here. It will be a graceful structure, one must hope it serves no disgraceful future.
The shops are poor, the market extensive, rambling and packed. Each shop and stall seems to sell much the same as the last – Christmas decorations, cooking pots, towels and cheap nylon garments. In this heat! In this humidity!
We are on the equator and you drip from every pore, your hair is soaked. We could be in Nigeria, in Calcutta, in Burma, but we are in thrusting cutting-edge Brazil. Brazil with its space programme, its helicopter commuters, its Samba dancers and its bankers.
Yes, rich Brazil and its rain forests (a stretch of trees nearly the size of Wales is felled every years to make way for cattle farming).
Suddenly we are at the very epicentre of what Copenhagen is all about. It is about this vast CO2-sapping country with its ethanol and its dams and its surging carbon-emitting development. What combustion.
So what answer can we give Brazil? Cut your emission, we can’t but you could? No, they will have to do better than that and much better than Obama’s paltry offer of, in effect, a six per cent reduction of emissions on 1990 levels. By 2020.
It’s all to play for and this country is in the thick of it. Pay us to keep our trees up to sustain the world’s lungs, goes the cry. And why not? Take a look at the matter of REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) – it’s one bit of Copenhagen that may get through.
Commentsoldest first
Copenhagen is not going to achieve much, if anything at all. As a former Tory cabinet minister quite rightly said, “These heads of state, will sit round a table, then adjourn after a lovely scandinavian lunch and we will stay at square one .” Reduction in carbon emissions, means the loss of too much money, for too many fat cats.
They don’t care about us. They constantly lie to us and always will.
Once again, our hope must never die, but the well documented climategate will not be mentioned.
adzmundo CND
We are all hoping that climate will be first on the agenda rather than simply a climactic climax.
I probably ,incorrectly was under the impression that when areas of forest were cleared ,then that land was used to grow alternatives and replant saplings.
Can’t remember whether it was C4 or some other, but a new amine which has been produced to absorb/trap C02 has been developed. At present it is too costly to use. The waste products though , which is a sticky type of solution can be buried deep with all CO2.
So in effect if carbon is burned then filtered through this amine then the CO2 does not go into atmosphere.
All these alternatives need to be discussed.
Climate is the THEME, not Obama.
This is the problem ,issues are more important than individuals. El Nino doesn’t excuse the important.
You’re naive, mix of thoughts and reactions Margaret. Too quick to comment and unwilling to absorb more information from different and varied sources.
That’s an element of journalism..to garner as much information….
Capturing information and of course reflecting public opinion.
But, this is not an evangelic call to live out the aspiration and altruism of the 1960’s.
The issue of cimate change remains unproven. Certainly a possibilty and perhaps probable.. but not an established, proven climatic reality.
By fawning, Margaret, you support.
Were you to challenge, the facts closer to reality are more likely to emerge.
I think that our respective enjoyment and celebration of incisive and frank journalism is separated by an educational and intellectual divide.
You believe in establishment values and, in fact, healthy rebellion.
I do not.
I understand and believe that the establishment is both based on and supported by a compliant and submissive social system.
You fit the mould Margaret, I do not.
I am a free thinker. You are not.
The establishment controls you because you comply.
Your compliance is your choice.
Jon, it seems you are having a very interesting time. Yes you are right at the heart of ‘Gaia’, well, nearly. Brazil plays a fundamental roll in the wider global ecosystem but, this system is not only under threat from deforestation but, all manner of poisons from mans needs for living. Herein lays the problem, as population continues to grow, the needs of man grows exponetially but paradoxically, our supplier -Ma Earth- resources dwindle. Unfortunately, I don’t see how this can ever be reversed let alone stabilised. From small DIY wood turned blanks to giant sheets used in construction, we see the demise of the rainforests & other resources. There have been many changes in the publics willingness and considerations to environmental considerations but, it’s jsut not enough. Population control is needed first.
The cost of Not supporting Brazil in preserving the forests, will be imeasurable.
I took a look at a small supplier of tropical rainforest woods to see where the supplies originate:
http://www.exotichardwoods.co.uk/Woods_List/Botanical_List.asp
It’s interesting to see how Brazil is a main player.
Certain woods like Lignum Vitae (Pockwood) or, the stuff Bowls in Crown Green Bowling are made from, are very rare and the demand outstrips supply. One only has to grow Buxus Sempervirens in the UK to see just how long it takes to grow 5′ specimen (This is ya Box plant, the tiny leaved evergreen that is used in Topiary shaping) so, people should start planting these here on mass now.
Well I think that we should all set sail for Copenhagen, get near to the brass and secrete our way into the summit, ensuring that we get a few to cough up and sign for satisafactory deals.
M B-J: there are a few(million) reasons why your superb-strategy won’t work, but let’s not get niggly.KEEP THINKING – you’re always funny.
PS: Have you seen Thunderball?
Hello Jon,
You write:
It’s all to play for and this country is in the thick of it. Pay us to keep our trees up to sustain the world’s lungs, goes the cry. And why not? Take a look at the matter of REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) – it’s one bit of Copenhagen that may get through.
Yes indeed. Pay to keep the trees and grow back the that part of the rain forest already cut down. However see what is there using Google by entering “The Great Global Warming Swindle”
Jon Snow, while you are in Brazil I would suggest visiting an indigenous Indian community to see how they are sustaining the forest for the benefit of us all, yet they will be among the first to suffer the depradations of climate change.
You could also visit INPA, the Amazon research institute in Manaus, and ask Professor Philip Fearnside about the greenhouse gas emissions from tropical hydroelectric dams.
Please do not be fooled by Brazilian government claims that their hydroelectric schemes, for example those on the Madeira and Xingu Rivers, are a climate-friendly or green energy option – they are not in the slightest green, and they will have a dramatically damaging effect on the subsistence practices of the tribal people, destroying a culture and way of life which has endured for at least 17,000 years to maintain for a few more years our alternative industrial model, which has brought the planet to the brink of disaster in just a couple of hundred.
Look at our own country , once almost totally forested.It owns it success and world stature to the use of those forests yet no one criticises that use .How can we criticide any other country seeking to better itself unless we come up with an alternative
I unlike you both don’t know you therefore cannot form opinions about you and therefore would not even try.
My naivity comes of studying philosophy for approx 40 years. Above all, my philosophy is to speak no evil, see no evil and hear no evil. .yet there is much evil about.
I don’t get joy by antagonising as I perceive this as aggressive and do not like to be in the company of those who cause trouble.Agression makes me feel ill. These are survival tactics and meet with my own approval. I do not seek approval of others ,only where my survival is concerned.
I do not enjoy thunderball, but if I won enough money to be in the company of others who were like- minded and gentle that would be a plus.
I am free to feel and think just as you, but am subject to collectivism as I am a human on this planet , just like you. I think that anyone who thinks that they have independent thought is merely deceiving themselves.
Jon
I’m not sure why you were accusing Brazilians of considering using the oil found by Petrobras after the officials you interviewed told you the country will continue to focus on renewables. Its particularly harsh considering Brazil’s low per capita CO2 emissions and the fact it has one of the most aggressive targets for cuts in emissions at Copenhagen…
Also, by the way, the birth rate in Brazil is not that high and the correct spelling is Sao Paulo.
Surely it must be asked consumers in the north hemiphere to give up some of their countless small luxuries in order to protect the environment in general. It’s easy for strong goverments to ask the powerless people of the Amazons to give up their legal or so-called illegal activities.
Leave a comment
* Required field.