GEO Brasil - UNEP

the state of the environment in Brazil
stages This occurrence was marked
by an exceptional rise in temperature
of sea surface in Equatorial Pacific
Ocean and caused major climatic
changes in Brazil
Virtually all South and Southeast
regions had rainfalls that surpassed
normal levels significantly from March
to August 1983 In the Northeast
Region, due to the irregular rain
regimen, El Niño’s environmental and
economic impacts in that period were
very severe After three years of low
rainfall, 1982-1983 El Niño caused one
of the major droughts in the history
of the Northeast Region (Table 4)
To avoid population mass migration
during the droughts occurring in 1979-
1983, it was necessary to create,
through work fronts, around 500,000
jobs in 1979 (89 percent of the agricultural
Economically Active Population
–EAP); 720,000 in 1980 (129 percent of
the agricultural EAP); 12 million in 1981
(21 percent of the agricultural EAP);
747,000 in 1982 (133 percent of the agricultural
EAP) and 31 million in 1983
(around 55 percent of the agricultural
EAP), according to data provided by
the Regional Development Agency for
the Northeast – SUDENE (Superintendência
de Desenvolvimento do
Nordeste) (Table 5)
The notable facts occurred due to the
El Niño event in the period of 1998 to
2000 were the incidents of looting that started in March 1998, in the municipality
of Conceição, State of Paraíba, where 600 hungry people took 500 kilos of food
from the school lunch warehouse Other 43 looting incidents happened until
beginning of May, in the States of Ceará, Paraíba and Pernambuco – where the
situation was worse
In the South Region, due to its high demographic density and economic
importance, the abnormal rise in rainfall rates causes a great impact, as the
region – which is responsible for the second GDP in the country – provides 60
percent of national production of grains and 23 percent of effective cattle-ranching
production
Among the states of the Brazilian South, the State of Santa Catarina was the
most seriously affected As a consequence of rainfall concentration over the
state, its hydrological network drainage situation and the distribution of urban
areas, 1982-83 El Niño’s impact was devastating The state was stricken by heavy
rainfall for over two months Of the 95,000 square kilometres of Santa Catarina’s
territory, 75,000 were affected, the equivalent of 135 cities, and 300,000 people
were unsheltered Out of a total of 10,700 companies in the state, 6,894 were
stricken by river floods and the activities of 64 percent of them were totally
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