GEO Brasil - UNEP

ecommendations
decisive in the construction of a new agenda for the
integrated environmental administration. This is described
in chapter one. In agreement with this approach, chapter
four of this GEO report presents two alternative scenarios
for the environmental situation in Brazil.
This biased scenario, according to the UN, maintains
globalisation principles, and consequent already
ascertained impacts-income concentration. There is also
some workstation elitism and the elimination of other
types. There is growing unemployment in many
industrialised and underdeveloped countries alike. There
is excessive and concentrated consumption within a small
part of the world’s population. There is growing political,
social, economical and environmental impoverishment
with the accompanying increase in social, economical and
environmental inequalities. The desirable scenario redeems
the commitments set in the Rio-92 Conference, which were
ratified through several international conventions
mentioned in the chapter corresponding to the replies to
policies.
3 Apparent Global Dichotomy
On the other hand, the proven correlation between high
consumption levels and waste on a significantly predatory
scale found in some countries with best developed
economies in the planet. Even with resistance there has
been the implantation of regulatory consumption
parameters and these are necessary changes for the
appropriate environmental management.
Market strategies focused on the maximisation of invested
capital and expected profit, in detriment to any other aspect,
seem to answer for the mentioned resistance or, in some
cases, for the opposition of some countries in relation to
the implementation of the necessary changes. Other
difficulties are the administration mechanisms that
disregard interrelations among the several components
of the environmental system, including natural,
economical and social resources, and the significant
impacts that the “largest financial return no matter what
price” causes in terms of environmental degradation in a
planetary scale. Consequent isolated actions, arising out
of this situation, directed towards the preservation of its
own economic safety, ‘at any price ‘, are potential conflict
generators, whose dimensions only the future will be able
to reveal. Arguments which illustrate these practices defend
the idea that, “economic growth comes first, cleaning
would be a consequence”, and also that “we needed a
flexible focus”, “supporting the Kyoto Protocol would cost
our economy (North American) 4.9 million jobs”,
“sustainable economic growth is the key to environmental
progress because it offers resources to be invested in clean
technologies” (“O Globo” newspaper, 02/15/2002, p.24).
These declarations which show the United States position,
followed by Canada, and more recently, Australia, have
broken the ‘good deed chain’ - the positive domino effect
caused by the diffusion of world-wide solidarity actions,
as an example, the countries of the European Union which
ratified as a group, the Kyoto Protocol last May, 31 st ,
followed by Japan, the fourth largest world transmitter of
greenhouse gases. These countries are all committed with
the construction of the desirable future.
Apparently, resistance to change presents similar
characteristics to the economic development model
implanted in the seventies in Brazil, affecting social equity
and the natural fertility of huge forest areas that are
progressively being devastated. Recently, however, the
rhythm of environmental degradation due to excessive
consumption by the richest countries has grown
exponentially. This has begun to be considered the “normal”
price of the self-attributed hegemony disputed by some as
acceptable for those nations.
4 Two Challenges:
Taking the necessary measures which will lead to significant
changes in attitude will demand facing fundamentally
important challenges in two distinct performance areas.
These are the national one and the global one.
The national challenge encompasses two components.
The first determines a search for life quality improvement
in the already occupied areas, particularly in the great urban
concentrations that have been largely degraded in terms
of overuse of natural resources (water, for instance). They
have also represented a threat to the supply of
indispensable life infrastructure in all aspects. The second
challenge consists of guaranteeing preservation and
competent exploitation of the remaining natural resources.
This approaches the issue of sustainable management of
these resources as a condition that the expansion of these
areas that are still not so densely populated, happen in a
more appropriate way.
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