GEO Brasil - UNEP

ecommendations
c) that the government on three levels, federal, state and
municipal, supports the strengthening of the already
existing Water Basins Committees, as well as initiatives
for the creation of new committees.
6.3 Pesticides
The answer to pressures, impact and the current state of
the environment should be taken into account in order that
expected solutions may minimise negative effects. In other
words, the adopted measures must improve the
environment. The impact of the use of pesticides in the
Brazilian water basins is still a research gap in the country.
This area is in need of financial resource allocations for
surveys and for the accomplishment of more detailed
environmental diagnoses. These diagnoses should
preferably be geographically referenced; as well as include
the development of maps in appropriate scale to this sort
of evaluation.
Recommendations:
c) Future projects should assist in the definition of
territorial occupation policies in areas of subsoil water
supply. These areas are of strategic importance to the
country. They should also assist in the evaluation of
water and linear erosion in the transport of nutrients
and pesticides.
d) There is a great diversity of subjects involved in the
environmental impact issue and the use of pesticides
in water basins. There are also a great number of
government and state institution specialists that have
been trained in guidelines that were previous to
sustainability. There is lack of training for researchers
on subjects related to the sustainability of water
resources across the country. There is a lack of training
that focuses on evaluating the environmental impacts
of agriculture on water resources. Achieving the goal
of improved and updated training programs has
become a priority.
e) Give preference to governmental precautionary actions
whenever possible, in anticipation of mitigating
circumstances.
a) In general, more detailed work should be done,
counting on more time within the states aiming to
prove the need or not of survey of applied products in
the agricultural activities in water basin areas. This
should occur giving priority to studies in areas that are
believed to be more fragile and more susceptible to
human provision subsoil water contamination. This
survey will reduce project duplication and will
encourage the documentation and popularisation of
these results, which have yet to be accessed.
b) The need for training for specialists and producers on
pesticide application technology is clear. The correct
use of these products is essential for the control of
diseases/plagues of cultivation in the whole country.
In addition, the implementation of monitoring
programs aimed at mapping pesticide environmental
impacts should take place in order to allow the
definition of more focused research projects. As a result,
further government support is needed for the use of
Ecological Management strategies across the country.
This effort should also aim at assisting the concerned
entrepreneurs’ demands regarding sanitation and
commercial barriers in relation to pesticides and the
environment across the country.
6.4 Ordering and Territorial Administration
The correct use of territorial space is one of humanity’s
largest objectives. However, this objective has never been
so important as it is today. The world population growth
which has occurred in the last decades, from 2.5 billion
inhabitants in 1950 to more than 6 billion inhabitants in
2000 (United Nations data), shows the severity of the
environmental crisis. This population grows at a gross rate
of 78 million inhabitants a year and this requires a great
amount of natural resources for survival. On the other hand,
this population generates great amounts of pollution that
the environment will probably take millions of years to
decompose and recycle. The environmental crisis is felt
globally, and this is no different in Brazil. One of the solutions
to overcome the environmental crisis is correct
administration of the territory.
Recommendations
To accomplish territorial administration, it is necessary to
first become familiar with the territory. This must be done
with maps that assimilate the environmental, political and
social dynamics that occur. This mapping will demand a
territorial-synthesis unit, in order to allow the analysis of
the interrelations between activities and environmental
assets.
324