GEO Brasil - UNEP

the state of urban and industrial areas
the state of the environment in Brazil
Energy is at the origin of the main environmental impacts
faced by modern society Burning fossil material, which is
largely used as fuel, causes a large part of these impacts
The main problems derived at the local level are air pollution
in major cities, and at the global level, climatic changes
caused by the greenhouse effect
The combustion of fossil substances causes the emission
of airborne pollutants, the most important being sulphur
oxides, nitrogen oxides, carbon oxide and carbon dioxide
These emissions vary in quantity according to the fuel
used, its composition and the measures adopted to reduce
them
The quality of urban air is determined by a complex system
of stationary (industries, garbage burning, boilers etc)
and mobile sources (automotive vehicles) The interaction
between pollution sources and the atmosphere will define
the air quality level, which in turn determines the
occurrence of negative effects of air pollution on man,
animals, materials and plants (Ministry of the Environment,
2000 B)
11411 Soil Quality
The degradation of areas due to inadequate disposal of
domestic and industrial-originated solid waste in open-air
cesspools happens throughout the country and
compromises a large number of areas
The natural resources, which most suffer negative effects
by this inadequate disposal of solid waste, are the soils, the
waters (both surface and underground) and the air These
effects result largely from inadequate location and operation
of garbage dumps The soil is directly affected by waste
dumped in clandestine and open areas, causing the visual
degradation of the landscape and the contamination by
pathogenic microorganisms, heavy metals, salts and
chlorate hydrocarbons contained in leach ate, the liquid
resulting from decomposed garbage
There are many contaminated areas in the country, places
where the soil and water is compromised by the existence
of harmful substances The contamination in such places
derives from current or past industrial/ commercial
activities, in which leakage or spills of hazardous substances
may have occurred, as well as inadequate disposal of
industrial residues in the soil, garbage dumps gas station
leakage or spills, accidents and others
As for the greenhouse effect, the gases that can bring
about this phenomenon are mainly water vapour, carbon
dioxide (CO2), ozone (O3), methane (CH4) and nitrous
oxide (N2O) Human activities are intensifying the
concentration of these gases in the atmosphere, thus
increasing their capacity to absorb energy and,
consequently, raising the planet’s temperature
Human emissions of carbon dioxide – the gas that
contributes the most towards intensifying the greenhouse
effect – are mainly caused by burning coal, oil and natural
gas, as well as by destroying forests and other natural
carbon pools and sinks (which absorb carbon dioxide
from the atmosphere) Global warming caused by
increased mean temperatures is one of the probable
consequences of increased concentration of greenhouse
gas in the atmosphere, which can also cause new climate
patterns with repercussions in the wind, rain and general
ocean circulation regimes
The inventories of areas contaminated by industrial residues,
specially hazardous ones, are insufficient and available only
for a few regions In São Paulo, the state agency for
environmental control, in co-operation with the German
Agency for Technical Co-operation (GTZ), has been
developing methodologies to manage contaminated areas
since 1993 These methodologies comprise the
identification, register, inspection and re-measuring of these
areas
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