GEO Brasil - UNEP

Thousand ha/year
by satellite images, and the photographic images from the 1970s
7 Relative Participation of Emission Sources
The comparison of the main emission sources of greenhouse effect gases is
harmed by the unavailability of trustworthy data on emissions, due to the use of
the land In spite of that problem, the comparison is done here, changes in for
information purposes only Even using low emission coefficients, due to the soil
use, it is observed that this source is the main responsible for emissions in Brazil
The deforested annual area presents a determined stability The annual average,
in the 1990s, was about 1,600 a thousand ha/year, a value which was not too
different from the ones observed in the last years of the decade, according to
data from INPE presented in Figure 5
Table 3 presents the emissions of CO 2
from the main sources The lowest
emission coefficient for the changes in soil use was considered In spite of this,
the emissions due to changes soil use are observed to be the most important
ones Nevertheless, it has also been observed that the emission growth rates
from energy sources ar higher than the emission growth rates due to deforestation
8 What Brazil is doing to
Fight the Problems Observed
in the Atmosphere
In Brazil, the emission problem and
the atmospheric pollution issue,
mainly in large cities, are quite serious
Those problems are generated by
movable sources (vehicles) and fixed
sources (industries and energy
transformation)
The transportation sector contributed
significantly towards the emission of
atmospheric pollutants in the Country
In addi tion to that, mainly in
metropolitan regions, the problem has
been increasing a lot Some of the main
reasons are:
the state of the environment in Brazil
F igure 5 - Defores ted area in the A mazon
3500
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
Source: INPE - 2000
Table 3 - Relative share of sources of emission of Co 2
Year
Soil Use
(Milllions tCO 2 )
% Energy
(Millions tCO 2 )
% Total
(Millions tCO 2 )
1990 355 64% 202 36% 557
1994 382 62% 236 38% 619
1998 446 59% 312 41% 758
the high participation of road
transportation, for both cargo
and passenger
the little incentive to public
transportation use ;
the cooling of use of vehicles
alcohol, and;
the increase in the number of
vehicles
In relation to the fixed sources, the
main problem elapses from the
burning of fossil fuels in industries,
resulting in the emission of particulate
material and of CO 2
among others
In spite of the relatively reduced
number of plants, the problems
resulting from that activity are not,
mainly in North and South regions In
the North of the Country, Diesel and
other fuel soil thermoelectrical plants
prevail, while in the South there is a
concentration of charcoal
thermoelectric plants
Source: La Rovere - 2000
117