GEO Brasil - UNEP

US$325 million/year) This amount is enough to build three
to four kilometres of new subway lines (MMA, 2000 B)
1153 Loss of Environmental Amenities
Pollution has a direct impact on the quality of life It
immediately reduces the opportunities for bathing and
leisure and recreational activities in rivers, bays, lagoons
and oceanic beaches It is also responsible for an unpleasant
smell, characteristic of air and surface water pollution, as
well as for the visual impact In the case of air pollution, in
addition to physical discomfort, there is also a loss of
visibility All of this can be translated into concrete material
losses, such as reduced value of properties, interruption of
important economic activities and endangering of the
natural resources
1155 Poverty and Environment
According to UNICEF, over 40,000 people in Brazil depend
directly on garbage dump collection and over 30,000 depend
on street collection, as their only income option The
presence of children and teenagers is highly significant,
representing about 50 percent of the number of informal
garbage collectors, like in Olinda, in the State of Pernambuco
(Ministry of the Environment, 2000 A)
the state of the environment in Brazil
1154 Damages to the Ecosystems
The protection and preservation of ecosystems are not only
desirable, in terms of future generations, but they also have
a great value for activities such as tourism, leisure, research
and various other economic activities The mangrove
marshes, for example, have a great economic and ecological
importance, since studies estimate that 90 percent of marine
fish consumed by man come from coastal zones, of which
2/3 depend directly or indirectly on estuaries and mangrove
areas The damages caused by the destruction of these
environments to the biodiversity of coastal and oceanic
zones are immense, in addition to the economic losses and
its social reflection on the populations that depend on them
economically
199